AIS Chair and Professor, Dr. Christopher B. Teuton (Cherokee Nation) has recently published his third book, Cherokee Earth Dwellers: Stories and Teachings of the Natural World. To celebrate, there will be a book launch and signing held at wəłəbʔaltxʷ Intellectual House on April 6, 2023 from 4-6:30pm. All are welcome.
Teuton's work centers around Ayetli gadogv—to "stand in the middle"—which 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. During his lifetime, elder Hastings Shade created booklets with over six hundred Cherokee names for animals and plants. With this foundational collection at its center, and weaving together a chorus of voices, this book emerges from a deep and continuing collaboration between Christopher B. Teuton, Hastings Shade, Loretta Shade, and others.
In a recent press release, Teuton shared the importance of the topics discussed in his book. "'The teachings shared in Cherokee Earth Dwellers are made all the more urgent by the endangered health of the Cherokee language,” writes Teuton. In northeastern Oklahoma, home to the Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, there may be fewer than two thousand fluent first language speakers of Cherokee."
You can read the full press release on Native Oklahoma Magazine.