The Global Pigeon by Colin Jerolmack

I think it should be clear to all my regular readers that right now I am relistening to all the episodes of You're the Expert, a comedy panel show where comedians talk to an expert. I may be the only person listening to these episodes from ten years ago, but there's something sort of nostalgic about listening to these shows in a pre-COVID world. If you ask me about anything right now, I'll tie it back to YTE. Anyway, Colin Jerolmack was on the show talking about his book The Global Pigeon and I was immediately intrigued (here's the episode link). 

I am a political scientist. And I stand by my feeling that it's super important. If you don't think it's important, I suggest you take a closer look at the world around you right now. BUT. I also think the sociologists and anthropologists have a claim to important things. And their methodology is SO MUCH FUN. Participant observation is my absolute favorite academic thing to read. Richard Fenno's Home Style is a classic. Fenno was a political scientist, but he embedded himself with eighteen members of the House of Representatives and wrote a book that's literal theory is that there are nested circles of constituencies, which makes me laugh because why did you need to spend YEARS to figure that out. ANYWAY.  I love that book. Did anyone else read Gang Leader for a Day and then wonder why they didn't become a sociologist? OH! What about the ethical debacle that is Carolyn Ellis who embedded herself into a community, wrote a condemning book about them, and then lots of other people wrote about how unethical Carolyn Ellis was? SOCIOLOGY, MAN. SO GOOD. 

Okay, I need to get back on track. So when Jerolmack was on this podcast talking about how he's an anthropologist, but he studies pigeons, I almost peed myself laughing. By definition, anthropology is the holistic, scientific study of humanity. And he opens with PIGEONS. I want you know that I had to pause the podcast because I was laughing so hard. Is this funny to anyone else? Anyway, it's not really about pigeons. He is really interested in what role these animals play in modern urban life, so it does end up being about humans, but I still insisted on calling this book the pigeon book as I was reading it. 

And boy did I like this book. Friends, I was riveted. Basically, the author noticed that people interacted with pigeons in a park, embedded himself with people who race pigeons (like rooftop racing) in New York City, then traveled to Berlin to embed with some Turkish immigrants who raise tumblers, a type of pigeon that tumbles acrobatically and dramatically in flight. Then he spent some time at the end of the book going to a crazy pigeon race where the prizes are literally millions of dollars. THERE ARE PHOTOS. RIVETING. 

And Jerolmack is a sociologist, so he's really interested in human-animal relations and all roads lead back to that. I think it's interesting that this is such a male-dominated hobby. I think it's interesting that pigeon racing hasn't really caught on outside of a few major cities. I think it's interesting that it's such a communal hobby, even though it appears to be very much a solitary endeavor at first glance. I think it's SUPER interesting how pigeons are treated in different cities and countries. Are they a nuisance who cause a lot of damage? Are they part of a long cultural heritage that should be respected? ARE THEY BOTH?

If any of this is interesting to you (seriously, at least watch the video of the tumbling pigeons!), read this. Sure, it's an academic book, but it's readable and surprisingly accessible for ethnography. 5/5 stars  

Lines of note:

In public places, strangers are often expected to - at most - briefly acknowledge one another and then divert their attention elsewhere. Although strangers may wish to engage in sidewalk interactions, rules of civility dictate that they need an excuse to do so. Erving Goffman observed that dogs are a "classic bridging device" between strangers in public, and studies of urban parks confirm that dogs "facilitate encounters among the previously unacquainted." In public places like Father Demo Square, pigeons too may act as a sort of interactional prop among strangers - in addition to focusing the attention of those already associated. (page 31) 

Because pigeon flying was historically the domain of working-class white men who passed on the practice, and their coops, to their sons, the number of flyers declined precipitously over the second half of the 20th century as many upwardly mobile whites migrated from New York's outer boroughs to the suburbs. But pigeon flying is not dead yet, and by making the four-mile trip to Joey's pet shop, Carmine got to socialize with other elderly and middle-aged Italians who commuted in from more genteel neighborhoods like Carroll Gardens and Bensonhurst. Carmine also mixed with young and middle-aged Hispanic and black men who flew pigeons in the immediate vicinity of the pet shop. These men reflected a newer cohort of flyers that picked up the hobby from ethnic whites as kids when they moved into neighborhoods in transition such as Bushwick and Easy New York. (page 80)

Rather than sitting idle or passively having their life structured by television, these retired men provided their own structure and narrative to their life - the birds and coops required their constant labor and attention. Interestingly, they work of keeping pigeons (e.g., feeding, bathing, and raising them) also has clear parallels to the kind of domestic "care work" that is traditionally coded as feminine. Though none of the flyers framed it this way, pigeons seemed to provide an opportunity for men to perform care work without it posing a threat to their masculinity. (page 102-103)

Most flyers were fascinated by pigeon biology, genetics, reproduction, the homing instinct, and so on. Yet when I asked them if they felt an affinity to nature, I was usually met with a blank look that followed a simple "no" or "not really." I saw no evidence that pigeon keeping was part of, or led to, a more general connect to nonhumans...The men were thus attached to the birds not primarily because they were ambassadors of the wild but because they were products of the men's own hands. (page 105)

...spoke to Ahmet Dede, a pudgy, boyish-looking man in his early 30s from Istanbul, he lamented, "This leisure activity is actually a waste of time. You don't earn money by doing this. I would be happier, for example, if I studied - if I was in your place and interviewed you instead of you interviewing me. I would be a happier person if I studied instead of taking care of pigeons, working in . . . the imbiss, and I don't want my child to pay too much attention to pigeons." (page 126)

This was brought home in the common occurrence of curious Germans, including dog walkers, who happened upon the coops and marveled at the frantic tumbles of the pigeons. Such chance encounters usually resulted in amicable interactions between the Turkish men and ethnic Germans, but in each instance the Germans asked why the men kept pigeons. Every answer the men gave highlighted the origins of the bird or the animal practice. Such discussions were never had about people's pet dogs, as keep dogs is taken-for-granted animal practice. (page 130)

...Turkish caretakers gained satisfaction in their mundane interactions with the birds, through raising them and through the simple aesthetic appreciation of watching them in flight. Some kissed the birds, and Turan tenderly spoke to a sick baby pigeon as he fed it special food through a funnel....Some of the men referred to caring for pigeons as an "escape."...The escape that the tumblers afforded was not a flight from society altogether, but rather a temporary respite from tedious routines and the estrangement of living in a foreign city. (page 130-131)

Things I looked up:

Coca-Cola spelled out its logo in pigeons (page 50) - I mean, I don't think it really looks like the logo, but what do I know? 

Gary Player (page 196) - a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. Also, he was a supporter of apartheid, so you decide what to do with that information. 

Hat mentions (why hats?):

He regularly wore fingerless gloves, a thick gold chain with a medallion, and a bicycle hat (one said "Brooklyn" on the brim while another was emblazoned with "USA"). (page 91)