Cherokee Earth Dwellers, Anitsalagi Elohi Anehi: Stories and Teachings of the Natural World

Cherokee Earth Dwellers documents the knowledge of the late Hastings Shade, respected Cherokee elder from Oklahoma, encompassing the natural world and its teachings as well as the Cherokee language used to describe it. The idea for the book began with Shade's family as a way to present his lists of more than 600 words naming birds, insects, animals, plants, and so on, in order to preserve an important part of the endangered Cherokee language; however, the book expanded its breadth to include stories and teachings about the place of humans in the world. These come from the words of Shade, his family, Cherokee community members, and the observations and experiences of Christopher Teuton, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle.Myths, legends, prophecies, family stories, Cherokee language (in phonetics and syllabary), and detailed illustrations all provide context for Shade's knowledge and philosophy, for which Teuton's narrative voice provides context: “They are shared in the spirit of gadugi, the Cherokee value of people working together for the benefit of all” (p. 11). In addition, Teuton's method and presentation deliberately attempt to reflect Cherokee values.As a result, Cherokee Earth Dwellers will be of interest to multiple audiences. Folklorists will find details of lore about plants and animals presented in the cultural context of Cherokee categories. They will also appreciate how Teuton consciously endeavors to serve the community source of this knowledge and to represent its values. Anyone interested in Cherokee folklore will find, in this book, myths, new variants, personal experience stories, and humor, many of which Teuton relates as they occurred in conversations. Those interested in the Cherokee language will find a glossary of terms, as well as words and phrases throughout, many of which have disappeared from use. Anyone seeking a sustainable way to be a human in the natural world at the present time will find a Cherokee perspective that has succeeded for millennia, “to stand in the middle: ayetli gadoga” (p. 2). Those interested in the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of Indigenous cultures will find a wealth of information. Finally, Cherokee people who are “continuing students of Cherokee culture” (p. 13) will find this book useful in their efforts to connect with the language and traditional beliefs in a Cherokee way.The limitations of this work are also its strengths: It portrays the knowledge of an individual and his community at a particular time and place. Because culture is not monolithic, knowledge and beliefs vary across communities and individuals even when they share larger cultural patterns. The US government forcibly removed more than 15,000 Cherokee people from their homelands in the Southern Appalachian Mountains to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in 1838. Their current environmental knowledge reflects the western environment, which shares some but not all flora and fauna with the Southern Appalachians region. Other tribes that were likewise removed to Oklahoma have influenced Cherokee beliefs there, more so than among Eastern Cherokees, who descend from about 1,000 individuals who stayed in the Southern Appalachians. The Cherokee language has also diverged into western and eastern dialects, which were distinct even before Removal, coming from the Overhill towns versus the eastern Kituhwa towns.Although Teuton is not a folklorist and does not use the terminology of folklore theory, his work seems implicitly aware of those concerns. For instance, he considers issues concerning his place as an observer and his status within the Cherokee community, which he first addressed in Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars’ Club (University of North Carolina Press, 2012). Although Teuton grew up “outside traditional Cherokee culture,” he recognizes that being a Cherokee, friend, relative, researcher, and student of the elders “positions me as a guide for the reader” (p. 13).Regarding cultural categories of knowledge, Teuton follows Cherokee cosmology—as taught by Shade—to organize the book. He begins with the traditional teachings of following Duyukdv, the straight path, and the importance of Ayetli Hidogesdi, “You Will Stand in the Middle” (p. 19). The main body of the book presents the Middle World, Elohi; the Sky World, Galvladi; and the Under World, Elohi Hawinadidla. Each chapter contains a variety of selections. The Sky World chapter, for example, begins with recounting a conversation at the Cherokee Heritage Center about the Sky World, among Teuton, Loretta Shade, and Sequoyah Guess; other conversations also enliven the chapter. Teuton then connects this with the book's narrative voice to retellings of myths told to ethnologist James Mooney in the 1880s and to other previously published myths. The narrative voice frames stories like the “Origin of the Milky Way” with teachings and beliefs about the afterlife. Direct quotations, stories, and directions for living from Hastings Shade appear in sidebars throughout, in both English and the Cherokee language. A vocabulary list of names of birds ends this section.Vocabulary entries appear in Cherokee syllabary, then phonetics, then a pronunciation. For example: “[syllabary characters] Tsawolade (jah-wohl-deh) bluebird. When you see the first bluebird in spring then the weather is going to change for the better” (p. 168). Interspersed through the vocabulary are illustrations and short stories by Shade and others. An index and a glossary enable the reader to search in English or Cherokee for a particular entry.For readers interested in the Cherokee language, these entries are a useful resource. Like many other American Indian languages, Cherokee is highly endangered. The Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band, and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are making serious efforts to preserve and teach the language, but the outcome of those efforts still hangs in the balance. Because the Cherokee language is based on verbs, which are beyond the scope of Teuton's work, this book will not teach anyone to have conversations in Cherokee. That being said, Teuton's knowledge of the verbs and the structure of the language inform his writing. For example, he discusses the distinction in the language between events that the speaker witnessed and those that were not witnessed, and what this means for how Cherokee people understand knowledge and storytelling.The fundamental Cherokee values of respect and reciprocity shine through these pages and may inspire anyone seeking a more sustainable way to interact with life on our planet. As lifestyles change, the wisdom of Cherokee elders, particularly their traditional ecological knowledge, may disappear. Cherokee Earth Dwellers provides a multifaceted look at this knowledge and its underlying philosophy in ways that will appeal to folklorists and many others.