Christopher B. Teuton

Osiyo nigada. My name is Chris Teuton and I am Professor in the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington-Seattle. I am a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and member of Echota-Tanasi Ceremonial Grounds in Park Hill, Oklahoma. I teach courses on Indigenous literature and storytelling, Indigenous Studies, and Indigenous research methods. I am grateful to have been taught by many elders, mentors, colleagues, friends, and students both inside and outside academia. My scholarship involves Indigenous oral and written literary studies, community-based cultural heritage and language revitalization work, and fieldwork exploring the perpetuation of Indigenous arts and epistemologies. I have published five books. These include Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars’ Club (UNC Press, 2012), winner of a 2013 American Book Award, and Cherokee Earth Dwellers: Stories and Teachings of the Natural World (UW Press, 2023), a Second Place Awardee of the 2023 Chicago Folklore Prize. Co-created with the late Cherokee National Treasures Hastings Shade and Loretta Shade, Cherokee Earth Dwellers presents a Cherokee ecology explored through Cherokee creature names, environmental relationships, traditional stories, and philosophical discussions with fluent Cherokee speakers and knowledge keepers. My most recent book publication, The Cherokee Natural World: Stories, Language, and Teachings (UBC Press, 2025), is an open access, media rich digital publication expanding from the print publication of Cherokee Earth Dwellers. Containing dozens of videos, interviews, and recordings of oral traditional stories and teachings,  the center of the publication is the presentation of over 600 recorded Cherokee creature name pronunciations by Cherokee Nation elder and linguist Dr. Thomas N. Belt. 

Much of my leadership and service focus on increasing the understanding, reach, and impact of Native American and Indigenous Studies as an academic discipline. Our field is grounded in Indigenous research methods, which arise out of the ethical, sustainable, and living knowledges of our communities and are enacted through our relations and our accountability to them. I try to act out of my evolving understanding of what it means to be a good relative in support of Indigenous communities, sovereignties, and decolonization. To that end, I strive to make space for Coast Salish communities and knowledges in my work at UW.