Thursday, February 6, 2025 4:30pm
About this Event
1327 Circle Park, Knoxville, TN 37996
A central aspect of Cherokee worldview is ᎠᏰᎵ ᎦᏙᎬ (ayehli gadogv) or "Standing in the Middle," a philosophy under which humans occupy a role in a web of complex interactions between mutually dependent organisms. Standing in the Middle emphasizes the importance of balance and reciprocity in persisting relationships. Join us for a lecture featuring Dr. Christopher B. Teuton, which is the first in a series of talks that will explore how Standing in the Middle informs ecology, conservation, management practices, epistemology, and science communication in the face of unprecedented anthropogenic (human-caused) change.
Light refreshments will be available before the lecture.
Christopher B. Teuton (Cherokee Nation) is a scholar of Indigenous oral and written literary studies, community-based cultural heritage and language revitalization work, and fieldwork exploring the perpetuation of Indigenous arts and epistemologies. Teuton is author of Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars’ Club (University of North Carolina Press, 2012), a collection of forty interwoven stories, conversations, and teachings about Western Cherokee life, beliefs, history, and the art of storytelling. His recently published book, Cherokee Earth Dwellers: Stories and Teachings of the Natural World (University of Washington Press, 2023), co-authored with the late Cherokee Nation leader Hastings Shade, articulates a Cherokee view of nature grounded in Cherokee names for that world as well as stories and reflections of Cherokee elders and knowledge keepers. Teuton is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Hosted by the Departments of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology; Psychology; History; English; and the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture. This program has been funded by a Haines-Morris Award.
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