Winter Lecture Series: Cultural Preservation

What is culture? Beau Carroll, Tonya Carroll, Miranda Panther, Hope Huskey, and Catcuce Tiger discuss historic cultural aspects, methods of preservation and revitalization, and how Cherokee culture appears today.
About the Speakers:
Beau Carroll
Beau Carroll is a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and is the Lead Archaeologist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Historic Preservation Office. He is currently in his first year of the PhD program in anthropology at the University of Tennessee- Knoxville. His research interest include prehistoric art within dark zone caves with an emphasis on Cherokee Syllabary.
Tonya Carroll
Tonya E. Carroll was born and raised in Cherokee, North Carolina. She studied American History and Cherokee Studies at Western Carolina University, where she earned her master’s degree in Public History. In 2011, she graduated from the Duyugodv’i Right Path Adult Leadership Program. In 2016, her passion for her community and Cherokee history and culture made becoming the Department Manager of the Ray Kinsland Leadership Institute a natural fit. There, she works with several leadership programs and specialists to create a generation of life-long selfless leaders deeply rooted in Cherokee history and culture. In 2019, she was one of 21 cyclists that completed the 950-mile bike ride from New Echota, Georgia to Tahlequah, Oklahoma to remember the forced removal of Cherokees in 1838-1839. In 2021, she completed the Kituwah Ways leadership pilot program, the second tier of the Duyugodv’i Right Path Adult Leadership Program. She serves on various boards including Cherokee Talents, Inc., Sequoyah Fund, and the Beck Scholarship Trust. In her spare time, she enjoys co-organizing and volunteering at the Kananesgi Art Markets and Fashion Show for Cherokee artists. She resides in the Birdtown Community on the Qualla Boundary in Cherokee, North Carolina with Bear Allison and their dog, Jester.
Miranda Panther
Miranda Panther is the NAGPRA Officer for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Historic Preservation Office (EBCI THPO). She has been employed by the tribe in this position for 13 years. Miranda spent her childhood and raised her son in the Yellowhill community. She graduated with honors from Western Carolina University (WCU) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice. She also attended graduate school at WCU, pursuing a degree in Social Work. Miranda is responsible for NAGPRA compliance for the EBCI, which entails drafting repatriation and disposition claims, participating in consultations, securing protected reburial sites with federal partners within the Cherokee eight state aboriginal territory, and planning all reburials.
Hope Huskey
Hope Huskey is the Associate Director of The Sequoyah Fund, a native Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), located in Cherokee, North Carolina. After studying literature at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Hope returned to Cherokee to work for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. For nine years, she worked in the Business Development office, helping small businesses with planning, procurement, and financing. In 2010, she completed her Master’s Degree in Project Management at Western Carolina University. Today, she occasionally finds time to talk about the Brontë sisters, but it’s mostly lending and economic and community development. Since 2012, Hope has cultivated Sequoyah Fund’s youth entrepreneurship program, developed the Authentically Cherokee brand for Cherokee artists, and created a financial wellness program that helps EBCI members with personal credit and finances. She serves on the Board of Directors for the EBCI’s Investment Committee, Mainspring Conservation Trust, Jackson County Arts Council, and the Center for Craft. In 2017, Hope received the Native American 40 Under 40 award from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. Hope is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. She lives in Sylva, North Carolina with her daughter and two overindulged Boston Terriers.
Catcuce Tiger
Catcuce Tiger is the son of Judy Gloyne Tiger and Michael Tiger. He resides in the 3200 Acre Tract community in Whittier, NC with his wife Katie and two young sons. Catcuce is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and is a member of the Bird Clan. He earned a B.A. in American Indian Studies at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS in 2007. Catcuce then went to Western Carolina University and earned a M.A. of American History with an emphasis in Cherokee Studies in 2011. Catcuce is a state certified teacher and he works as a Cherokee Language teacher at Cherokee High School. Catcuce feels that language and cultural preservation are extremely important for the community of the EBCI. He is extremely fortunate to be able to help students learn more about their language and customs on a daily basis.

[@TheBrandi1105]

26 minutes into this video and I’m already crying.
As an Appalachian white woman who’s ancestors have lived here long enough to play a part in yours not being here, it makes me physically hurt. I feel it on a visceral level.
And to be honest, I think I feel it at this level because I’ve watched the mountain heritage my ancestors taught me die off. Except it’s not lost. It’s just not practiced anymore. It lives, recorded in museums and books by the thousands. I hurt for you knowing it was taken from you. I hurt even more seeing it become what it is today. A steaming pile of trash, technology, extreme poverty living in a mess of a white man politica with no connection with the earth.
I can only wish my ancestors (in whatever plane of existence they may be in) live with the regret of any part they played in destroying entire cultures until the last of your people hurt.
Good work folks. Strong work. The kind of work that keeps a culture alive and thriving.
Time to finish this video.

[@ciamarstudio]

My adopted mother, Maria Pearson, Yankton, initiated NAGPRA from the State of Iowa in 1990. My artwork on reclaiming the human story was influenced greatly by her passion with repatriation. I will be moving to North Carolina and would enjoy meeting you all and maybe brainstorm about this topic and artwork possibilities for the artists if interested. Really support the work you are doing. Marcia K Moore