POV Community Engagement & Education Discussion GuiDe

Sweetgrass A Film by Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor

www.pbs.org/pov POV BFIALcMKMgARKOEuRNSd’ S ITNAFTOERMMEANTTISON

Boston , 2011

Recordist’s Statement

We began work on this film in the spring of 2001. We were living in colorado at the time, and we heard about a family of nor - wegian-American sheepherders in Montana who were among the last to trail their band of sheep long distances — about 150 miles each year, all of it on hoof — up to the mountains for summer pasture. i visited the Allestads that April during lambing, and i was so taken with the magnitude of their life — both its allure and its arduousness — that we ended up following them, their friends and their irish-American hired hands intensely over the following years. to the point that they felt like family.

Sweetgrass is one of nine films to have emerged from the footage we have shot over the last decade, the only one intended principally for theatrical exhibition. As the films have been shaped through editing, they seem to have become as much about the sheep as about their herders. the humans and animals that populate the footage commingle and crisscross in ways that have taken us by surprise. Sweetgrass depicts the twilight of a defining chapter in the history of the American West, the dying world of Western herders — descendants of scandinavian and northern european homesteaders — as they struggle to make a living in an era increasingly inimical to their interests. set in Big sky country, in a landscape of remarkable scale and beauty, the film portrays a lifeworld colored by an intense propinquity between nature and culture — one that has been integral to the fabric of human existence throughout history, but which is almost unimaginable for the urban masses of today. As we began work on the film, i reread Wordsworth and realized he was not the unfettered romanticist of my memory. until Wordsworth, all writers in the pastoral tradition — from theocritus and Virgil, through Petrarch and Garcilaso, to Marot and spenser — had idealized and allegorized shepherds out of bodily existence. Where would you ever encounter a shepherd snoring, peeing or cursing the loneliness or drudgery of his work? With Sweetgrass , we transposed the genre to the Amer - ican West, where we sought to convey at once the allure and the ambivalence of the pastoral. We tried to give a sense of what it is like to spend months at a time alone in the mountains with 3,000 sheep in one’s charge. We also — as preposter - ous as it may sound — tried to evoke what it was like to be one of those charges, to be a sheep in an impossibly large band herded up to 11,000 feet the moment the snow melts, and down again as autumn approaches. in a sense our film bestializes the humans, as John Dewey argued all art should, recoupling our humanity with our base animalism (something to which we seem increasingly oblivious). But we also subjectify and at times anthropomorphize the sheep. i wore the camera on a har - ness all day long, whether i was filming or not, so that human and ovine alike would become indifferent to it and just be themselves without constantly composing themselves for the camera. i foreswore interviews, scripting and reenactments, as i was more concerned, as James Agee famously put it, “to perceive simply the cruel radiance of what is” than to listen to peo - ple interpreting their lives after the fact, with all of the attenuation and affectation that allows. And when i was not filming — which was most of the time — i was learning, little by little, to be a herder.

As it happens, we ended up documenting the last sheep drive there will ever be into the Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains. supplementing one’s deeded land with grazing permits on barren public lands has been integral to the American West since homesteading days. But economic pressures and urban environmentalists have conspired to bring the century-old tradition to an end. the ranch has been sold to an out-of-state banker who visits for a couple of weeks each summer. the sheep have been taken to market. the herders now work as hired hands down on the flat lands, where they break horses, put up fences and help out with calving. the mountain wilderness has been restored to itself, free of visitors except for the occasional hunter or hiker. And the film Sweetgrass is complete and stands as a modest record of a world that is, suddenly, no more. spending the summers high in the Rocky Mountains, among the herders, the sheep, and their predators, was a transcendent experience that will stay with me for the rest of my days.

Lucien Castaing-Taylor , Recordist

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |2 POV FILMMAKERS’ STATEMENTS

Producer’s Statement

“i am the last guy to do this and someone ought to make a film about it.” so spoke old-time rancher Lawrence Allestad in 2001, about the fact that he was the last person to drive his sheep up into Montana’s Absaroka- Beartooth mountain range on a grazing permit that had been handed down in his norwegian-American family for generations. Filmmakers and anthropologists living at the time in Boulder, colorado, we wanted to make a film about the American West and were instantly intrigued by the topic.

We drove up to Big timber that summer, ready to make a film called “the Last sheep Drive.” our cars were loaded to the brim with three camera rigs, a bunch of radio microphones, our two kids, a dog and a babysitter. For the first few weeks we woke at 4:00 a.m. to help drive the sheep through town and then up the roads toward the hills. it was a family ad - venture for us, and a family enterprise for the ranchers — with kids, grand - parents, neighbors and passersby all helping. it soon became clear, however, that because of the growing grizzly bear and grey wolf population, taking the kids up into the mountains would be impossible. so Lucien went up without us, hiking and riding, while i filmed other events in town — rodeos, dog trials, shooting contests, haying, the sweet Grass county Fair.

When Lucien came down from the mountains that fall, he was unrecog - nizable — bearded beyond belief, 20 pounds lighter, carrying a ton of footage and limping. He would later be diagnosed with trauma-induced advanced degenerative arthritis, caused by carrying the equipment day Filmmakers Lucien castaing-taylor (l.) and night, and need double foot surgery. and ilisa Barbash When we started to watch the footage, we realized that we had two, or Photo courtesy of more, different films. (And so many different points of view that i thought Rose Lincoln/ Harvard news office about calling the film “A Piece of the Big sky.”) We decided the most compelling story for a feature film was the one that had originally interested us: the sheep drive itself — as ritual, as history, as challenge. even then, we had a good 200 hours of footage to wade through. Little did we know that this would take us about eight years. in the meantime, we went back up to film lambing, shearing, the following year’s sheep drive and the one after that; we also moved to the east coast. (We started joking that we’d call the film “the Penultimate sheep Drive.”) Most of the footage, how - ever, is from that first summer. (in 2006, the ranch was sold, along with most of the sheep. We finally settled on the title Sweetgrass .

While the journey is tremendously hard, it is undertaken not just for the literal goal of reaching (sweet) grass, but also to carry on tradition against all sorts of odds. there is a silent 1925 documentary, called Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925) by Mer - ian c. cooper, ernest schoedsack and Marguerite Harrison, about a heroic seasonal trek (transhumance) of herds and Bakhtiari herdsmen in Persia. Sweetgrass tips its hat to that film and is a tribute to past and contemporary people who still manage to eke out a bittersweet living on the land.

Ilisa Barbash , Producer

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |3 POV TBABcLKEg OROF ucNOdN TINEFNOTRS MATION cREdITS

4 Introduction Writer 5 Potential Partners Faith Rogow, PhD 5 Key Issues Insighters Educational Consulting

5 Using This Guide Background Writer

6 Background Information Kristine Wilton 6 The American Cowboy 6 Ranching, Public Lands guide Producers, POV and Legislation eliza Licht Director, 8 Sheep and Cattle Wars Community Engagement & Education, POV 8 Sheep Production Today Jamie Dobie 9 The Allestad Family Coordinator, & The Last Sheep Drive Community Engagement & Education, POV 9 Montana’s Absaroka-Beartooth Design: Rafael Jiménez Mountain Range and Copy editor: Natalie Danford Sweet Grass County 10 Sensory Ethnography 11 General Discussion Questions Thanks to those who reviewed this guide:

11 Discussion Prompts Ilisa Barbash 12 Taking Action Producer, Sweetgrass 13 Resources Lucien Castaing-Taylor 15 How to Buy the Film Recordist, Sweetgrass

INTROducTION

Sweetgrass (81 mins.) is a contemplative elegy depicting the using a grazing permit that had been handed down in twilight of a defining chapter in the history of the American Allestad’s norwegian-American family for generations. West. it follows the last sheepherders to lead their flocks of As an outreach tool, Sweetgrass asks viewers to both cele - sheep up into Montana’s Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains brate and question romantic depictions of cowboys, the for summer pasture. shot between 2001 and 2003, the film West, wilderness and ranching. it raises issues of land use, provides a rare glimpse into the beauty and the hardships of animal husbandry practices, the economics of sheep ranch - a lifestyle once central to Big sky country, now gone. it fol - ing and public policy. lows Lawrence and elaine Allestad, along with John Ahern and Pat connolly, as they drive their band over public lands,

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |4 POV PBOAcTEKNgTRIOAuL NPdA RINTFNOERMS ATION KEy ISSuES

Sweetgrass is well suited for use in a variety of settings Sweetgrass is an excellent tool for outreach and will be and is especially recommended for use with: of special interest to people looking to explore the following topics: • your local PBS station • groups that have discussed previous PBS and POV • American culture films related to the American West or ranching • Animal husbandry and land use, such as Do You Mean There Are Still • Animal rights Real Cowboys? and The Last Cowboy. • Anthropology • groups focused on any of the issues listed in the • cowboys “Key Issues” section • documentary Aesthetics • High school students and/or 4-H clubs • Ecology • Faith-based organizations and institutions • Ethnography • cultural, art or historical organizations, institutions or museums • gender roles • civic, fraternal and community groups • Land use policy • Academic departments or student groups at • Livestock/agriculture colleges, universities and high schools • Montana • community organizations with a mission to • Public policy promote education and learning, such as your • Ranching local library • “Rugged individualism” • Sheepherding

uSINg THIS guIdE

this guide is an invitation to dialogue. it is based on a belief in the power of human connection, designed for people who want to use Sweetgrass to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues and communities. in contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations un - dertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

the discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a very wide range of audiences think more deeply about the is - sues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit www.pov.org/outreach

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |5 POV BAcKgROuNd INFORMATION

The American cowboy today, true cowboys, in the original sense of the word, are few and far between, but they remain the quintessential the popular concept of the American cowboy is largely a symbol of the American old West. creative myth. the earliest cattle herders bore little resem - blance to the heroic, white Buffalo Bills of dime store novels the u.s. Bureau of Labor statistics does not collect figures or the rugged, enduring cowboys cast in dramatic and ro - for cowboys, but in 2003 there were fewer than 10,000 em - mantic light by artists like Frederic Remington and charles ployees listed under “support activities for animal produc - Russell. With owen Wister’s 1902 novel The Virginian , the ro - tion,” with most employees working on ranches and in mantic image of the cowboy as a gallant loner with a strict stockyards and rodeos. one third worked in “spectator code of honor was stamped on the mind of every American. sports,” primarily as livestock handlers at rodeos, circuses the cowboy myth soon became the cornerstone of the Hol - and other theatrical events. lywood Western genre, celebrated by directors like John Sources: Ford, Howard Hawks and Anthony Mann, who cast the white cowboy as the pioneer of the great American frontier. coffin, tristram P. “the cowboy and Mythology.” in The American Adam: Innocence, Tragedy and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century, While it is true that cowboys were indeed an integral part of R.W.B. Lewis, chicago: university of chicago Press, 1955. westward expansion and the early pioneer settlements of the 19th century, the reality is that the popular cowboy myth Holly George-Warren. “Cowboy: How Hollywood Invented the Wild West.” http://www.hollygeorgewarren.com/cowboy__how_hollywood_invent frequently leaves out the transplantation of spanish herders ed_the_br_wild_west_40870.htm into the American West. the American cowboy was often Latino or black, and if Anglo-American he was of a lower iber, Jorge. “Vaqueros in the Western cattle industry.” in The Cowboy economic class. By the 1590s, the gaucho (Argentina), va - Way: An Exploration of History and Culture, Paul Howard carlson, quero (Mexico), ilanero (Venezuela) and huaso (chile) were Lubbock, tex.: texas tech university Press, 2000. regularly hired by ranchers to drive livestock through much independent Lens. “the Last cowboy.” of the West, and for the next two centuries, they became an http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/lastcowboy/cowboys.html integral part of American cattle culture. it wasn’t until the u.s. Bureau of Labor statistics. “May 2010 national industry-specific 1800s that the population began to diversify, with new rail - occupational employment and Wages.” ways bringing in immigrants from europe, Africa, the Mid - http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_115200.htm west and the south. As these newcomers tried their hands in the ranching industry, the original spanish cowhands be - came a minority, though their slang, ways of dress and cat - Ranching, Public Lands and Legislation tle-herding methods persisted. Ranching exploded throughout the Midwest and West dur - ing the 19th century, when low outlay and overhead costs As the united states continued to expand westward, the meant high profits. Ranchers could make do with a couple of cowboys followed. transporting their herds to markets horses, a few cowboys and a small home base. around the country, the mostly young men would drive their cattle farther and farther west as new railroads were built. in 1870, there were 4.1 million beef cattle and 4.8 million up until the late 1800s, huge swaths of public land on the sheep in the 17 western states. in 1900, the same area sup - Great Plains were considered “open range,” where white set - ported 19.6 million beef cattle and 25.1 million sheep. As a re - tlers or cowboys could freely lead animals to graze. But, sult of the boom, the lands quickly became overgrazed, around the turn of the 20th century, the land began to be overcrowded and depleted, and stakeholders began pushing privatized and the federal government expanded its pow - for solutions to the problem. ers. the “wild West” soon began to disappear, along with the Ranchers could acquire up to 1,120 acres of land under freedoms that allowed for the ranching boom, leading many homesteading laws, but that acreage was insufficient for who sought work to do so on private ranches rather than even small-scale farming. to protect their livelihoods, some the open range. ranchers used barbed wire (which, by 1880, had become ac - cessible and inexpensive) to fence in public land areas they commonly used. they sometimes fenced hundreds of thou - sands of acres. others would try to gain control or posses -

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |6 POV BAcKgROuNd INFORMATION

sion of much-needed water sources. Homesteaders often By the 1970s, predominant concerns regarding land use had “squatted” on the land claimed by the cattle ranchers, lead - changed. Population increase in the united states meant ing to frequent disputes. other parties also fought to be that people were trying to use the land for more diverse pur - heard. native American tribes who had lived on the Western poses — including recreation, mining and hunting — while lands for hundreds of years claimed the landscape as sacred growing concern about the environment led to new consid - and the railroad tycoons lobbied to extend their railroads erations, such as endangered species management and across the countryside. sheepherders became especially un - wilderness protection. As demands from all sides increased, welcome as sheep grazed the precious grass to the roots. grazing terms and conditions became increasingly re - the battle for the West became one of clashing cultures and stricted, with the FLPMA providing detailed guidelines on disparate views. how land could be managed for multiple uses. congress tried and failed to establish order in the West in overall, the decrease in grazing resources led ranchers to in - the early 20th century. then the drought and depression of vest labor and funding in alternative grazing management the early 1930s presented another opportunity to enact practices, increasing operating costs. change, and in 1934 the taylor Grazing Act was passed, fol - lowed by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of Montana 1976. Ranching in the united states changed dramatically. in Montana, where Sweetgrass takes place, public lands is - sues are handled today by the Montana Grass conservation The Taylor grazing Act commission, a governor-appointed board whose mission is the taylor Grazing Act, passed in 1934, created federally to conserve, protect, restore and facilitate the “proper” uti - recognized boards to manage parcels of public land, divided lization of grass, forage and range resources. the board or - into “grazing districts,” in local communities. ganizes and administers state grazing districts and promotes cooperation among the Bureau of Land Management, the According to the act, locals in the livestock industry could u.s. Forest service, the Department of natural Resources petition the secretary of the interior to have a local grazing and conservation and state districts. district created. if the petition was accepted, a board would be formed that would manage permits, leases for land and About one third of Montana’s area is dedicated public land, improvements to the range. with about 30 million acres divided into 27 grazing districts. the increased regulation of public lands encouraged opera - Sources: tors to purchase or lease land — leading to expenses that pushed some ranchers out of business. those who received Mapes, Lynda V. “Grazing on Public Land: Helpful to Ranchers, But permits to graze on public lands were given stability and se - Harmful to Habitat?” The Seattle Times , July 28, 2008. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008076883_grazin curity, and the fees they paid went in part to improving fenc - g28m.html ing, water sources and vegetation on the land. Minor, Joel. “Battle for the Wild West: sacred Landscape or exploitable overall, public grazing land was reduced to levels many con - commodity?” Cipher Magazine, February 2011. sidered sustainable and good for the recovery of the land, http://masecoalition.org/2011/03/battle-for-the-wild-west-sacred- but the measures also reduced resources for migratory cow - landscape-or-exploitable-commodity/ boys and other workers in the ranching industry. state of Montana. “Montana Grass conservation commission.” The Federal Land Policy and Management Act http://dnrc.mt.gov/cardd/mtgrasscommission/default.asp (FLPMA) u.s. Department of the interior. “History of Public Land Livestock the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), Grazing.” http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/grazing/history_of_public.html passed in 1976 and amended in 2001, aimed “to establish public land policy; to establish guidelines for its administra - u.s. Department of the interior, Bureau of Land Management, and tion; to provide for the management, protection, develop - office of the solicitor. “the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, ment and enhancement of public lands.” as Amended.” http://www.blm.gov/flpma/FLPMA.pdf

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |7 POV BAcKgROuNd INFORMATION

Sheep and cattle Wars fibers. Before World War ii, animals were allowed to produce more wool before they were slaughtered and their meat was the establishment of public lands limited open grazing and sold as mutton. today, the value of the meat relative to the led to conflict between cattle ranchers and sheepherders value of wool has increased, so animals are slaughtered ear - whose sheep were said to be depleting the grasses. ethnic lier to be sold as lamb, meaning they also produce less wool and religious prejudice added to the tension. in the south - over their lifetimes. west, sheepherders were predominantly Mexican or indian, while in the northwest they were often Mormon or Basque As wool use declined, so did lamb and mutton consumption. immigrants from the Pyrenees region of spain and France. While the u.s. consumption of most kinds of meat has in - (today, most sheepherders are from Peru and chile, while creased or at least held steady in the past several decades, the herd owners are Basque.) eventually, legal agreements lamb and mutton (the least popular meat in the united were reached and sheepherders took their herds to marginal states) account for a much smaller fraction of the market and high altitude ranges that were unsuitable for cattle, but than beef. in the 1960s, the average American ate 4.5 suitable for sheep. pounds annually; by 2002, that had decreased to 1.1 pound. consumption is predominant within certain ethnic minori - Basque immigrants’ cultural background became significant ties, including Middle eastern, African, Latin American and in the battle over land-grazing rights. some Americans com - caribbean populations, which are focused in urban areas on plained that the sheepherders were not u.s. citizens and the coasts, while more than two thirds of Americans eat no were sending their profits abroad rather than investing in the lamb or mutton at all. the highest quality cuts are most fre - united states. the taylor Grazing Act of 1934, together with quently consumed, meaning that the remainder of the ani - the Great Depression and the immigration Act of 1924 mal is hard to sell. some of the excess meat ends up in pet (which limited the number of spanish nationals who could food, while some is exported to Mexico. enter the united states annually) slowed the influx of Basques. When there have been slight increases in consumption of lamb and mutton in the interim years, the additional needed that trend reversed after World War ii, when a shortage of meat has often come from imports. Australia and new men available for agricultural labor led congress to pass so- Zealand, in particular, have succeeded in restructuring their called “sheepherder Bills” that allowed skilled laborers to sheep and wool industries to meet the new demands, and enter the country to fill vacant positions temporarily. even - both countries now provide significant imports to the united tually, they were allowed to apply for permanent residency. states. the united states, meanwhile, has never been a sig - nificant exporter.

Sheep Production Today As the wool and sheep industries decline, research and de - the number of sheep in the united states today is roughly velopment are being conducted in hopes of reviving the in - the same as it was in 1800, about 7 million, following a spike dustry. the Montana sheep institute at Montana state up to 56 million in 1945. Given the dramatic population in - university, for example, is looking into ways to increase local crease in the same time period, 7 million marks a sharp de - producers’ role in world markets, as well as to initiate local cline in sheep production in the united states. several action, such as increasing cooperation among small wool factors have contributed to the decline, including a reduced producers in order to increase sales, and using sheep in market for lamb, mutton and wool; increasing production weed management programs by allowing them to graze on costs; and a decrease in ranch size. noxious weeds that threaten native grasses. in the united states, the markets for lamb (and mutton — Further suggestions for reviving the industry include im - the meat of animals older than 14 months) and wool are proving marketing of lamb meat both at home and abroad, linked; one’s price affects the other. Wool demand spiked finding new outlets for lower-end cuts, developing world - during World War ii, when wool was heavily used by the mil - wide export markets and reevaluating the joint wool-and- itary, but plummeted thereafter as a result of reduced need meat production model. and the increased popularity of more inexpensive synthetic

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |8 POV BAcKgROuNd INFORMATION

Sources: until summer arrives, the work is a family endeavor, with kids, grandparents, neighbors and even passersby all pitch - Jones, Keithly G. “Agriculture information Bulletin number 787: trends in the u.s. sheep industry.” united states Department of Agriculture, ing in. But after the Fourth of July, when rodeos, dog trials, January 2004. shooting competitions and haying contests break out all over sweet Grass county, the hard and lonely work of an Montana sheep institute. old-time drive into the mountains begins in earnest for hired http://www.sheepinstitute.montana.edu/ hands Ahern and connolly. it’s a grueling 150-mile round trip, the oregon History Project. climbing high into the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness — on http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/narratives/subtopic.cfm? hoof the whole way — and it lasts from July until september. subtopic_iD=384 the grass is sweet, but getting a herd of sheep to it while Russ, Anne Marie. “sheepherding Remains A Lonely Life.” nPR, July 10, 2005. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyid=4738077 staving off predators is no picnic. For connolly and Ahern, who are escorting a virtual buffet on hooves, encounters totoricagüena egurrola, Gloria. “ethnic industries for Migrants: Basque with bears or wolves are inevitable. the team’s dogs often sheepherding in the American West.” Eusko News. bark at night, as coyotes and wolves howl, keeping the http://www.euskonews.com/0212zbk/kosmo21201.html herders awake and bringing them out of their tents to fire ri - fles to scare off the wild animals. one night the dogs fail to bark, and the herders begin to lose sheep. The Allestad Family & The Last Sheep drive the last old West sheep drive — a family’s hundred-year tra - the Allestads sold their 6,000-acre ranch near Rapelje, Mon - dition of work — comes to a simple conclusion, with only a tana, and their grazing allotments in the wilderness in 2004, hint of nostalgia. in a pickup truck on the way back to the marking the end of an era for sheep grazing in sweet Grass ranch, Ahern is asked what his plans are. “i wasn’t going to county. Lawrence Allestad’s family had run sheep in the area worry about it for a week or two,” he replies. in fact, the since the early 1900s, and as many as 30 bands of sheep ranch and most of the sheep were sold in 2004. once grazed in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness at one time. under a public grazing permit that had been handed down in his norwegian-American family for generations, Montana’s Absaroka-Beartooth Mountain Allestad was the final rancher to drive his herds into Mon - Range and Sweet grass county tana’s rugged Absaroka-Beartooth range north of Yellow - sweet Grass county, located in south central Montana, is stone to fatten on sweet summer grass. home to the crazy Mountains and the Absaroka-Beartooth the family members and their hired hands conducted the Mountains. Between them lie grasslands and the Yellow - drives much as their pioneer forebears had — on horseback, stone and Boulder River valleys. south of the mountains is with dogs for herding and guarding, and armed with rifles to Yellowstone national Park. frighten away bears and wolves. over the years, better gear the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, designated in 1978, — walkie-talkies, four-wheelers and cell phones — took some comprises a total of 943,626 acres, 23,283 of which are lo - of the edge off a hard life, but still the work remained ex - cated in Wyoming. the wilderness boasts glaciers, areas of hausting and dangerous for both men and animals. tundra, canyons, streams and hundreds of alpine lakes. in Big timber, the film discovers the seasonal work-a-day the Beartooth portion, named for a peak that resembles a world of sheep ranching. under the watchful eyes of family bear’s tooth, is rather sparsely vegetated, with vast treeless patriarch Lawrence, his wife, elaine, and son, Billy, in winter plateaus and canyons, while the Absaroka section, named the herd nuzzles through the snow in search of feed. in for local native Americans (also called the crow indians), is spring, the sheep are shorn of their thick winter coats. Lambs lush, with dense forests, streams and meadows. are born and ewes have to be enticed to nurse offspring that are not their own. other lambs have to be hand-fed. Raising the Absaroka area supports bighorn sheep, mountain goats, sheep remains an intense, hands-on business. elk, deer, moose, marmots, coyotes, black bears, wolves and grizzly bears. Much less wildlife is found around the Beartooth Mountains.

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |9 POV BAcKgROuNd INFORMATION

the area as a whole is home not only to grazing land, but Sources: also to wildlife migration routes and hunting and fishing MacDougall, David. Transcultural Cinema . Princeton, n.J.: Princeton areas, all of which Montanans aim to protect from develop - university Press, 1998. ment. “sensory ethnography.” Harvard University Gazette , December 14, 2006. the u.s. census Bureau estimated the population of sweet http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/12.14/ Grass county to be 3,667 in 2009, with a population density 15-anthropology.html of 1.9 people per square mile. sensory ethnography Lab. http://www.sel.fas.harvard.edu Sources:

French, Brett. “environmental Group Proposes Protections for Absaroka-Beartooth Front.” Billings Gazette , December 28, 2010. sweet Grass county. http://www.co.sweetgrass.mt.us/ u.s. census Bureau. “state and county Quick Facts: sweet Grass county, Montana.” http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/30/30097.html

Wilderness.net. “Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Fact sheet.” http://www.wilderness.net/printFactsheet.cfm?WiD=1

Sensory Ethnography Sweetgrass recordist Lucien castaing-taylor is a leader in the field of sensory ethnography, which involves combining the research methods used in anthropology and ethnogra - phy with media or other artistic tools to document the lives of real people.

Associate professor of the humanities and of the social sci - ences at Harvard university, castaing-taylor also directs the school’s sensory ethnography Lab, a collaboration between the departments of anthropology and visual and environ - mental studies. He is also director of the Film study center, and director of graduate studies in critical Media Practice at Harvard. the sensory ethnography Lab aims “to support innovative combinations of aesthetics and ethnography” with original nonfiction media practices in both the visual and acoustic realm. the lab draws from sciences, arts and the humanities, seeking to represent human realities and social experiences more richly than is possible with words alone. the field is in - formed not only by the disciplines of anthropology — study of human beings — and ethnography — study of human cul - tures — but by the traditions of documentary cinema, sound art and the visual arts.

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |10 POV gENERAL dIScuSSION QuESTIONS dIScuSSION PROMPTS

Immediately after the film, you may want to give cowboys and American Identity people a few quiet moments to reflect on what • When you think of a “cowboy” or “sheepherder,” what they have seen. images come to mind? What are the sources of those One way to get a discussion going is to pose a images? in what ways does the film confirm or contradict those images? general question, such as: • if you were writing a job description for one of the people in • If you could ask the filmmakers or ranchers a the film, what would it say? How does the description single question, what would you ask and compare with depictions of cowboys, ranchers or farmers in why? popular culture? • Most documentaries are akin to journalism, • in your view, why has the American cowboy become an and try to tell the audience something new iconic representation of the country itself? What is it about the image that is so tied to the ideals of the united states? about the world, or convince viewers of an argument. They often feature experts and • the film doesn’t use a narrator to convey its message, nor does it directly ask subjects “What’s it like to be a cowboy?” celebrity commentators, either on-screen or still, the people in the film speak for themselves. What do in voice-overs, and combine interview you think they are saying about their lives and their testimony with illustrative actuality footage. profession? What messages about the realities of raising There are no explanatory voice-overs or sheep are conveyed by the film’s pacing and selection of interviews in Sweetgrass . It is more like a images? poem or a novel than a newspaper article, • Where do you see the influence of cowboy culture or meaning it is more expressive and evocative mythology on the united states (or the American West) than informational. What are the advantages today, especially in terms of politics, attitudes towards the and disadvantages of this approach? environment and environmental activists, gun regulations and • What did you learn from this film? What gender roles? insights or aesthetic sensations did it • though the people in the film are not the last sheep ranchers provide? in the united states, sheepherding as an occupation clearly has diminished in size and importance. What is lost as sheep • If a friend asked you about this film, what ranches and their culture disappear? would you say to him or her? • describe a moment or scene in the film that you found particularly moving or perturbing. What was it about that scene that was especially compelling for you?

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |11 POV dIScuSSION PROMPTS TAKINg AcTION

The Land • Host a follow-up panel to discuss the depiction of nature and the West in Sweetgrass , including the role • in what ways do grazing permits on public lands serve of “rugged individualism” and the “cowboy” in or contravene the public interest? in your view, what American culture. consider including speakers or should be the government policy on granting grazing artists who can discuss their own visions of the West, permits? or of human-animal relations. • At one point, Pat connolly expresses his discomfort • investigate sustainable sheep-raising practices (or and exhaustion saying, “it’s getting to me, like, i’d practices for the livestock typically raised in your rather enjoy these mountains than hate them. And it’s state). encourage your state to adopt or enforce getting to that point, i’m just, i’m hating them.” What sustainable ranching and farming practices. kinds of factors shape our relationship to land? What do you think would have to change for someone like • Host a screening and discussion of Sweetgrass at a connolly to enjoy the mountains instead of “hating 4-H meeting. them”? • John Ahern sings to pass the time. see if you can find • the mountains and landscape are as much a subject of a transcript of the songs he is half-remembering. Write this film as the people and animals. How would you your own sheepherding song or cowboy poem and describe the film’s portrayal of this “character”? record a video version to post online. • About 10,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated by The Animals humans. they provided both animal protein and skins • How would you describe the relationship between for shelter. Raise awareness by asking people in your people and animals in the film? How might your group, family or community to identify things they own description change if you had only seen the sheep on or use that rely on sheep ranching. Where are those the open range and not seen the opening portion of things made? the film or vice versa? Does the type of animal (sheep, • Analyze political advertising that uses cowboy or dogs, horses) change your description in any way? if sheep imagery. What messages are the politicians so, what do you think accounts for the difference? trying to convey and how real or romanticized are their • During the drive, a predatory animal kills at least one of depictions? Why would a politician who isn’t a cowboy the sheep. should ranchers be permitted to kill by profession choose to associate him or herself with predatory animals such as wolves, wolverines and the image of a cowboy? bears in order to protect their flocks, even if the predators are endangered? Why or why not? • What did you learn from the film about animal husbandry and/or ranching? What products do you routinely use or what foods do you eat that rely on people who raise animals? • For 10,000 years, from the neolithic Revolution to the industrial Revolution, humans lived in close proximity to domesticated livestock animals. But for the modern masses of today, this intimacy and co-dependency between humans and animals is largely lost. Animals Additional media literacy questions are available at: are now encountered in zoos or as pets in the home. What kinds of lives do the sheep, horses and dogs www.pbs.org/pov/educators/media-literacy.php (both herding and guard) in Sweetgrass seem to live?

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |12 POV RESOuRcES

FILM-RELATED WEB SITES What’s Your POV? Original Online Content on Share your thoughts about Sweetgrass POV Interactive (www.pbs.org/pov) by posting a comment on www.pbs.org/pov/sweetgrass or send an email to [email protected]. POV’s Sweetgrass companion website www.pbs.org/pov/sweetgrass the companion website to Sweetgrass offers exclusive streaming video clips from the film and a wealth of SWEETgRASS additional resources, including a Q-and-A with filmmakers http://sweetgrassthemovie.com ilisa Barbash and Lucien castaing-taylor (also available via podcast), ample opportunities for viewers to “talk back” and the official Sweetgrass site includes a trailer, reviews and talk to each other about the film and the following special information about the film and filmmakers. features:

The American Cowboy: Photos from Sweetgrass cowboys and Ranching check out this slide show for stills of the sheep, cow - AMERICAN BORDER COLLIE ASSOCIATION boys, and breathtaking Montana land-scape featured in www.americanbordercollie.org the film, as well as photos of the filmmakers ilisa Bar - bash and Lucien castaing-taylor. the ABcA site contains information regarding the registra - tion and preservation of the Border collie breed, as well as "Sweetgrass and the Future of Nonfiction Cinema" stockdog trials and exhibitions. An essay by film critic Robert Koehler AMERICAN ShEEP INDuSTRY ASSOCIATION 10 Directors Who Inspired the Filmmakers of www.sheepusa.org Sweetgrass this site is a resource to over 82,000 sheep producers, pro - From Robert Flaherty to sharon Lockhart, explore the viding the latest in industry news, events, and information. documentary filmmakers who inspired Sweetgrass filmmakers ilisa Barbash and Lucien castaing-taylor, CALIFORNIA WOOL gROWERS ASSOCIATION and watch video clips from the influential films. www.woolgrowers.org

A Q&A with the filmmakers the california Wool Growers Association website provides educational information, sheep industry news, events, and The Filmmakers in Montana resources concerning the california sheep industry at the Filmmaker Lucien castaing-taylor talks to the Big Tim - local, regional, state, and national level. ber Pioneer newspaper about how a greenhorn from the united Kingdom came to film the last sheep drive in ThE LAST COWBOY Montana’s Absaroka Mountains. www.pbs.org/independentlens/lastcowboy/cowboys.html this film’s website includes historical information and links to related websites.

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |13 POV RESOuRcES

RANChINg WITh ShEEP Land Issues www.ranching-with-sheep.com WILDERNESS.NET this website aggregates a wide range of resources for peo - www.wilderness.net ple interested in profitably and sustainably raising sheep today. it provides a sense of many of the main issues. this website explores land management issues related to grazing and other ranching practices. it includes links to rel - WESTERN FOLkLIFE CENTER evant laws and policies. www.westernfolklife.org/Fieldwork/sheep-ranching-in- the-american-west.html BuREAu OF LAND MANAgEMENT this educational site provides audio and photographic doc - www.blm.gov/wo/st/en.html umentation of sheep ranching. the Bureau of Land Management is a department of the u.s. Department of the interior. the website includes information NATIONAL COWBOY & WESTERN hERITAgE MuSEuM on land use policy and related laws. www.nationalcowboymuseum.org the national cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is Amer - ica’s premier institution of Western history, art and culture. Ethnography Founded in 1955, the museum in oklahoma city collects, pre - "ICONOPhOBIA" serves and exhibits an internationally renowned collection of http://www.jstor.org/stable/2935240 Western art and artifacts while sponsoring dynamic educa - tional programs and ground-breaking scholarly research to this article by Sweetgrass recordist Lucien taylor explores stimulate interest in the enduring legacy of our American the principles behind sensory ethnography. taylor argues West. that the fluidity and multiplicity of the human experience calls for a more open-ended, ambiguous mode of represen - MONTANA hISTORICAL SOCIETY tation. ethnographic films like Sweetgrass transcend the http://montanahistoricalsociety.org/education/ boundaries of the standard anthropological text by engag - Textbook/TextbookMainPage.asp ing viewers through their senses in a way that language and the Montana Historical society (MHs) exists for the use of dialogue often cannot allow. learning, culture and enjoyment of the citizens of, and visi - tors to, the state of Montana. SENSORY EThNOgRAPhY LAB http://sel.fas.harvard.edu Directed by Sweetgrass filmmaker Lucien castaing-taylor, Wool use this initiative at Harvard university combines anthropology and filmmaking, encouraging the study of human social ex - kNITTINg guILD ASSOCIATION perience with images as well as with words. www.tkga.com the Knitting Guild Association is the largest knitting associ - ation in America. the website serves as a starting point for knitters searching for new ideas, products, markets, patterns and fellow knitters who share the excitement of knitting.

DISCUSSION GUIDe Sweetgrass |14 HOW TO Buy THE FILM POV to order Sweetgrass , for home use, go to http://cinemaguild.com/homevideo/store.htm or call 800-723-5522. to order Sweetgrass , for educational use, call 800-723-5522.

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Front cover: A scene from Sweetgrass Photo courtesy of ‘sweetgrass’

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