A "Good Birder": Legitimacy and Inequality in the Environmental Practice of Birding in the Greater Boston

• In Event: Environmental Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 16: Culture, Identity, and Environmental Meaning

Abstract

This paper develops the concept of the “good birder” to analyze how identities and norms are constructed in the contemporary environmental practice of birding. Building on “good farmer” scholarship, we argue that the birdwatching (or “birding”) provides a parallel site where legitimacy hinges on ecological stewardship, ethical conduct, and social recognition. Drawing on the first author’s ethnographic participant observation, both online and offline, along with thirty-one interviews with birders in the Greater Boston Area, the study shows that the good birder identity is unevenly distributed, often racialized, and tied to access to resources, social networks, and visibility. While some birders frame birding as universally inclusive, others highlight important barriers such as transportation, disability access, and experiences of social exclusion. Like the good farmer concept, the paper demonstrates how environmental practices that appear apolitical are in fact contested terrains shaped by race, class, and social position among birders. Conceptualizing the good birder thus highlights the cultural boundaries of environmental participation and offers a new lens for examining equity and legitimacy in contemporary environmental sociology.

Authors

• Lan Huang, Boston College

• Brian J. Gareau, Boston College