Cherokee Earth Dwellers

Ayetli gadogv - to "stand in the middle" - is at the heart of a Cherokee perspective of the natural world. From this stance, Cherokee Earth Dwellers offers a rich understanding of nature grounded in Cherokee creature names, oral traditional stories, and reflections of knowledge holders. Positioning our responsibilities as humans to our more-than-human relatives, this book presents teachings about the body, mind, spirit, and wellness that have been shared for generations. From clouds to birds, oceans to quarks, this expansive Cherokee view of nature reveals a living, communicative world and humanity's role within it.

"Cherokee Earth Dwellers will be the first book to articulate a Cherokee view of the natural world grounded in Cherokee names for that world. Weaving together a chorus of voices of elders including Hastings Shade, who created booklets with over 600 Cherokee names for animals and plants, the manuscript explores how contemporary Cherokee knowledge keepers understand and engage the natural world. The core of the book is the names themselves, including birds, animals, edible plants, reptiles, amphibians, trees, insects, plants, and fish. Far more than a word list, however, the manuscript includes explanations, anecdotes, and stories attached to each entry that chart the contours of a Cherokee understanding of the natural world. Some of these names are known and in use today by Cherokee speakers, but the vast majority are no longer in everyday use within Cherokee community. What emerges in Cherokee Earth Dwellers is a breathtaking vision of an enstoried Cherokee world, one in which all creatures interrelate in complicated ways that articulate a range of values, and the evolving nature of contemporary Cherokee community"--

"According to Cherokee tradition, the place of creation is Kituwah, located at the center of the world and home of the most sacred and oldest of all beloved or mother towns. Just by entering Kituwah, or indeed any village site, Cherokees reexperience the creation of the world, when the water beetle first surfaced with a piece of mud that later became the island on which they lived. People of Kituwah is a comprehensive account of the spiritual worldview and lifeways of the Eastern Cherokee people, from the creation of the world to today. Building on vast primary and secondary materials, native and non-native, this book provides an in-depth look not only at what the Cherokees perceive and understand--their notions of space and time, marriage and love, death and the afterlife, healing and traditional medicine, and rites and ceremonies--but also at how their religious life evolved both before and after the calamitous coming of colonialism and Christianity. Through the collaborative efforts of John D. Loftin and Benjamin E. Frey, this book offers an in-depth understanding of Cherokee culture and society"--

Cherokee historian and genealogist Emmet Starr's greatest legacy was his 1922 "History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folklore." It remains an invaluable resource for Cherokee historians and geneologists.

Presents a collection of traditional Cherokee tales, teachings, and folklore, with four works presented in both English and Cherokee.

Too often, Native American history is treated as a finished chapter instead of an ongoing story. This book offers readers everything they never learned in school about Native American people's past, present, and future.

This book explores the identity of American Indians from an Indigenous perspective and how outside influences throughout history, from the arrival of Columbus in 1492 to the twenty-first century, have affected Native people. Non-Native writers, boarding school teachers, movie directors, bureaucrats, churches, and television have all heavily impacted how Indians are viewed in the United States. Drawing on the life experiences of many American Indian men and women, this volume reveals how American Indian identity comprises multiple identities, including the noble savage, wild savage, Hollywood Indian, church-going Indian, rez Indian, urban Indian, Native woman, Indian activist, casino Indian, and tribal leader. Indigenous people, in their own voices, share their experiences of discrimination, being treated as outsiders in their own country, and the intersections of gender, culture, and politics in Indian-white relations. Yet the book also highlights the resilience of being Indian and the pride felt from being a member of a tribe(s), knowing your relatives, and feeling connected to the earth. Being Indian and Walking Proud is a compelling resource for any reader interested in Indigenous history, including students and scholars in Native American and Indigenous studies, anthropology, and American history.

From the mighty cedar of the rainforest came a wealth of raw materials vital to the early Northwest Coast Indian way of life, its art and culture. For thousands of years these people developed the tools and technologies to fell the giant cedars that grew in profusion. They used the rot-resistant wood for graceful dugout canoes to travel the coastal waters, massive post-and-beam houses in which to live, steam bent boxes for storage, monumental carved poles to declare their lineage and dramatic dance masks to evoke the spirit world. Every part of the cedar had a use. The versatile inner bark they wove into intricately patterned mats and baskets, plied into rope and processed to make the soft, warm, yet water-repellent clothing so well suited to the raincoast. Tough but flexible withes made lashing and heavy-duty rope. The roots they wove into watertight baskets embellished with strong designs. For all these gifts, the Northwest Coast peoples held the cedar and its spirit in high regard, believing deeply in its healing and spiritual powers. Respectfully, they addressed the cedar as Long Life Maker, Life Giver and Healing Woman. Photographs, drawings, anecdotes, oral history, accounts of early explorers, traders and missionaries highlight the text.