The power and beauty of all Indigenous cultures lies within the oral tradition of each respective group. The Eastern Cherokees continue today to regenerate and reinvigorate their culture, lifeways, spirituality, dance and song, and healing practices through their daily use of oral storytelling and historical narratives. As a small Native community in the southern United States (North Carolina), the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) function as a sovereign Indigenous nation who have steadfastly remained in their original homeland, despite a forced removal of most of the tribe in the late 1830s, infamously known as the Trail of Tears. These are the descendants of those brave Giduwah ancestors who resisted the colonizer demands to remove to Indian Territory, now called Oklahoma. The oral tradition with its ancient cultural teachings and stories provide the impetus for the Eastern Band to reassert their indigeneity to their sacred homeland in the Smoky Mountains, and to practice their unique and distinctive culture so that future generations of their young will keep the language and the old ways alive.
Oral storytellers and community Elders use their spoken word art and share their vast orature in order to both revitalize the culture within their Native community, and to share cultural knowledge and educate those thousands of non-Cherokee tourists who visit there. My research into the living oral tradition of the Eastern Cherokees involved recording and collecting the oral stories shared at community events, and creating an archive in order to examine these varied stories and cultural specifics. Although it is difficult to analyze orality transcribed onto a written page, it was necessary for this formal dissertation. I have used a Native and specifically Cherokee theoretical methodology, known as Duyvkta and Gadugi, in order to frame and explicate the wealth of cultural knowledge held within this oral tradition. This dissertation may be complete, but the stories and spoken words will live on for the Eastern Cherokee, and there is much more work to be done so that the sacred Fire will continue to burn. Hvwa. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Normally a formal dissertation in English Literature would examine works of literature and apply western literary theory to examine the intricacies of the poem or story. My project attempts a more difficult task – that of taking the spoken word in the form of Cherokee oral stories and, first, transcribing this orature into written words on paper, and, second, using an Indigenous critical approach in order to present a Cherokee-centric method of understanding the rich cultural and spiritual teachings held within these spoken stories and histories. I offer the ancient concepts of Gadugi (giving of oneself and working for the betterment of the community) and Duyvkta (walking the right path of harmony and balance) as ways of learning from the ancient and contemporary stories of the Eastern Cherokee. It is the originary oral tradition which created the basic foundation of Cherokee culture and life, and I humbly wish to offer my research to the growing field of study of Native orature of Turtle Island. Sgi.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/18439 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Muse Isaacs, Sandra |
| Contributors | Coleman, Daniel, English and Cultural Studies |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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