Podcast Series with Professor Jaquetta Shade-Johnson: Episode 4

Hi Everyone,

We hope that all of you have been enjoying the podcast series with Professor Shade-Johnson. If you missed the first three segments and are interested in watching them, they can be found on the Podcast and Blog webpages. In her third segment, Professor Shade-Johnson compared and contrasted the Cherokee tribe’s structure to other Native American cultures, discussed the effect of colonialism on the organization of the tribe and shed light on organizations that support its citizens. In this fourth and final segment, Professor Shade-Johnson starts by discussing her college curriculum on indigenous literature. She provides an example of her Spring 2022 class in which all the literary works covered were by living indigenous women. Her approach was not only to study historical texts, but also lived experiences and she often incorporates this type of dialogue as one of the priorities in her classes. She shares how she has been able to bring Nobel laureates such as Joy Harjo to speak in her classes, which has allowed her students to gain visibility and exposure to prominent female figures from the community.

Professor Shade-Johnson also discusses ways in which indigenous wisdom can be preserved in our own lives, including through continuance, preservation projects and incorporating practices in our current day-to-day activities. She also shares her message for the youth with a high degree of praise for the current generation and how there are many more tools available to current generations than there were to past generations.

If you are interested in exploring any of Professor Shade-Johnson’s work, please visit www.jaquettashade.org for a glimpse into her world. We hope that you have found this series useful.

Thanks for watching!

Gabby