Barbara R. Duncan

Barbara Reimensnyder Duncan (1952-) grew up on a farm in central Pennsylvania. She received her Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982. She moved to North Carolina where she has worked Cherokee people as a collaborator on cultural projects. Her collections of Cherokee stories are presented in the exact words of the people, in ethnopoetic format. Living Stories of the Cherokee received the Thomas Wolfe Literary Award and World Storytelling Award. Her work on Cherokee sites, Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook with co-author Brett Riggs, received the Preserve America Presidential Award and Willie B. Parker Peace Prize. Duncan also has trained Cherokee tribal members to serve as tour guides on the trails. In 2008 New Native Press published her first book of poetry, Crossing Cowee Mountain.

The North Carolina Folklore Society recognized her contributions to the study of North Carolina Folklore with the Brown-Hudson Folklore award in 2008.

At the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Duncan works to revitalize Cherokee traditions of dance with the Warriors of AniKituhwa, to share Cherokee clothing styles of the 1700s, and to revitalize traditions of fingerweaving, textiles, and feather capes.