Sharlotte Kathleen Neely is an American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

who is known for her research on Native North Americans, especially the Cherokee Indians. As of 2017, she was Professor Emerita of Anthropology at

Northern Kentucky University Northern Kentucky University is a public university in Highland Heights, Kentucky. It is primarily an undergraduate institution with over 14,000 students; over 12,000 are undergraduate students and nearly 2,000 are graduate students. Northern K ...

Early life and education

Sharlotte Kathleen Neely was born in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

on Friday the 13th of August 1948 the only child of Joseph Bowden Neely and Kathleen Bell Neely. Her father nicknamed her “Sharkey.” The family lived in Savannah until 1962 when they moved to the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

area. Neely is a graduate (1966) of Druid Hills High School in Atlanta. She earned her B.A. degree in anthropology from Georgia State University in 1970 and her M.A. (1971) and Ph.D. (1976) degrees in anthropology from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. At UNC-CH Neely was a student of anthropologist John J. Honigmann. She joined the faculty at Northern Kentucky University in 1974 and retired in 2017 as professor emerita. At NKU Neely served as both Anthropology Coordinator and Native American Studies Director. She was President of Anthropologists and Sociologists of Kentucky from 1979 until 1980.

Career

Neely's topics of study include ethnicity, indigenousness, gender roles, social organization, the origins of human behavior and institutions, and ethnohistory. Neely’s very first publication was in the ''

American Anthropologist ''American Anthropologist'' is the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), published quarterly by Wiley. The "New Series" began in 1899 under an editorial board that included Franz Boas, Daniel G. Brinton, and John W ...

'' while still a first-year graduate student. Her most recent is the book, ''Native Nations: The Survival of Indigenous Peoples'', co-edited with Douglas W. Hume. Neely started investigating Snowbird

Cherokees The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

in the 1970s and published her book ''Snowbird Cherokees: People of Persistence'' in 1991. The book is an ethnographic study of Snowbird, North Carolina, a remote mountain community of Cherokees who are regarded as simultaneously the most traditional and the most adaptive members of the entire tribe. The book led to a documentary film of the same name, which won multiple awards. In 2021 Neely was honored with a 30th anniversary edition of her book. The foreword of that edition was written by Trey Adcock (Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma) and Gill Jackson (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina). She has also written a science fiction book, ''Kasker,'' under the name Sharlotte Donnelly.

Selected publications

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Honors and awards

In 1976 the

American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 ...

recognized her for her potential for achievement. While at Northern Kentucky University , she was named Outstanding Professor in 1994, recognized by the alumni association in 1996 with the Strongest Influence Award, and by the student body in 1998 with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neely, Sharlotte Living people 1948 births Georgia State University alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Northern Kentucky University faculty 20th-century American anthropologists American women anthropologists 21st-century American anthropologists People from Savannah, Georgia