Gregory Bigler

Gregory H. Bigler and the University of Oklahoma Press will soon publish “Rabbit Decolonizes the Forest: Stories from the Euchee Reservation.”

Blurb:

Before their forced removal to Oklahoma in the 1830s, the Euchee people lived in Georgia and other southeastern territories. Today the Euchees are enrolled members of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, but they possess their own language, culture, and traditions. This unique collection by Euchee citizen Gregory H. Bigler combines traditional di’ile (Euchee tales), personal recollections, and contemporary stories to portray a way of life often hidden from view.

Written in an engaging, down-to-earth style, the stories in this book immerse the reader in the everyday experiences of the Euchee community. With his gift for storytelling, Bigler welcomes readers into the lives and culture of the people whose stories he has heard or observed throughout his life and career as a lawyer and judge. Unforgettable characters appear or reappear in various settings, and these figures, whether animal or human, are bound to bring forth a chuckle or leave the reader wanting to learn more about their history. Some of the tales address serious legal injustices, while others poke gentle fun at lofty academic constructs. In the title story, for example, the mischievous character Shajwane (Rabbit), resolves to decolonize the forest, to strip away its “false narrative,” by literally removing all new growth from the trees.

These stories bring to life Euchee traditions that include family ties, the stomp dance, and communal cooking and feasting. Woven throughout is the sacred element of spirit. As Bigler explains in his introduction, the “spiritual” for Euchees signifies not a Western quest for peace or centeredness but a world filled with animate spirits that interact with all of us—as we see them, feel them, or seek them out.

The Euchee people are unknown to most Americans. They inhabit a small area southwest of Tulsa and have yet to receive federal recognition. Yet even in their modern-day lives—as these stories capture so beautifully—the Euchee people remain fiercely determined to show “they are still here.”

Gregory Bigler has posted “Foundations of Tribal Society: Art, Dreams, and the Last Old Woman,” published in the UCLA Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance, on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

The Last Old Women is a story written in the traditional Euchee de’ela style. These de’ela, told in our language, often involved animals, usually told to children. Unfortunately, these are seldom heard any more for many reasons, not the least of which is the changing, or disappear-ing, structure of Euchee society. This de’ela, is a parable about what can happen when we no longer tell our stories, no longer use our language, no longer gather together to remember. The story illustrates how simple structures within our traditional tribal society may require explanation to those not of our tribal society, sometimes including own people. When we discuss traditional people and their beliefs rarely do we articulate the issues using the forms to which they themselves subscribe. Forms matter, process matters.

Following the Last Old Woman an essay lays out how art, language and ceremony comprise our tribal societies. But these cannot exist in-dividually if we wish self-determination to mean anything. Art, culture, language, traditions, and ceremony—society—are intricately woven together. One is the other: art (for us mostly song and dance) is sacred and the sacred has life. One can look to various markers to see how this lack of a coherent society impacts tribal people. Our languages disappear, ceremonies cease. Native Art is produced for outsiders. Many traditional Indigenous People face an uncertain future unless space is created for our society. Yet our traditional people still dream this future into existence. But our advocates and attorneys must help to implement this dream. Thus, we must celebrate our tribal forms, and recognize the work done by such as Rabbit and the Last Old Woman so that their end does not arrive.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Greg is Euchee strong.