Margaret Bender

Margaret Bender is a Professor and Department Chair of Anthropology at Wake Forest University, where she has taught since earning her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago. Her work centers on the interplay between language and culture, particularly in the context of the Cherokee language and its revitalization in North Carolina and Oklahoma. She collaborates with Cherokee first-language speakers on projects such as digital dictionaries, storybooks, and immersion education materials.

• Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Chicago
• A.M., Social Sciences, University of Chicago
• A.B., English, Cornell University

Her research explores how language encodes worldview, focusing on linguistic sovereignty, language revitalization, and cross-cultural translation. She has documented the adaptation of Christian texts into Cherokee, highlighting structural and ideological shifts. Her recent projects include co-authoring The New Voice of God: Christian Language in 19th-century Cherokee with Thomas N. Belt.

Margaret Bender’s scholarly output spans sociolinguistics, indigenous orthography, and the sociocultural implications of language loss. Her work often intersects with Native American communities, emphasizing practical applications in education and identity preservation. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support these efforts.

Scientific awards are not explicitly mentioned in the provided texts.

She mentors students in Cherokee language studies and has trained individuals like Jacob Daunais and Madison Stafford, who contributed to immersion programs and pedagogical materials. Bender actively partners with the Eastern Cherokee Indian reservation community, leading student trips to the Cherokee Indian Fair and collaborating on the New Kituwah Academy Elementary’s language revitalization initiatives.