ᎣᏓᎵ ᎦᎵ ᎡᏗᏲᎭ (O-da-li Ga-li E-di-yo-ha)

Mountain Climber, We Are All Looking For It

Abstract

The Cherokee people have had a long relationship with the medicinal plants American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) and Dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolius). The sacred relationship between the Cherokee people and ginseng is explored through consideration of traditional Cherokee story, language, as well as the impact of forced removal and differing ecological systems between our homelands and reservation. This paper will provide a brief ethnobotanical portrait of the North American varieties of ginseng, an overview of an ongoing ginseng establishment project within the Cherokee Nation in Northeastern Oklahoma, as well as discussion of the relevant ecological and sociocultural relationships that may inform the trajectory of the Cherokee Nation ginseng project. Current and potential future impacts of climate change across the multiple levels and scales of human and more-than-human relationships that ginseng shares within the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma are also discussed.