Service as survivance: Marie-Lys Jane Chambraud Thwaites, Warriors and Healers of the Eastern Band of Cherokee: Peoplehood, Survivance, and Military Service in World War I (1917-1924)’, PhD dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic, 2025 | settler colonial studies blog

Service as survivance: Marie-Lys Jane Chambraud Thwaites, Warriors and Healers of the Eastern Band of Cherokee: Peoplehood, Survivance, and Military Service in World War I (1917-1924)’, PhD dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic, 2025

09Nov25

Abstract: My research examines the contributions of the Eastern Band of Cherokee warriors during World War I, emphasizing Indigenous agency, cultural survival, and community within a settlercolonial framework. It explores how these warriors navigated military service as both an assertion of sovereignty and a means of survival, using their enlistment to resist colonial erasure while maintaining their cultural identity. Through the application of the Peoplehood model and the concept of survivance, this study analyzes the interconnected roles of land, language, sacred history, and ceremonial practices in sustaining Cherokee identity. Furthermore, this study incorporates an Indigenous feminist perspective to emphasize the role of Eastern Cherokee women in maintaining the resilience of Cherokee communities and supporting the healing of warriors. The women served during the war as nurses, officers and occupied a generally white and male centered environment. After the war, some former warriors and women participated in political actions to improve the lives of indigenous peoples. They also had to learn to reintegrate themselves in their community and society after such deep traumas; and for that they used their traditional healing practices and traditional stories. By combining archival research, oral histories, and an analysis of military service, my work contributes to ongoing discussions of Native sovereignty, military service, and the legacies of Indigenous resilience before, during, and after World War I. It underscores the enduring importance of Indigenous storytelling, archives, and collective memory in documenting the survival and revitalization of Cherokee culture in the face of historical violence and cultural suppression.

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