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Two-spirit (also known as two spirit or occasionally twospirited, or abbreviated as 2S or 2E, especially in Canada) is a umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) social role in their communities.
Coined in 1990 as a primarily ceremonial term promoting community recognition, in recent years more individuals have taken to self-identifying as two-spirit. Two-spirit, as a term and concept, is neither used nor accepted universally in Native American cultures. Indigenous cultures that have traditional roles for gender-nonconforming people have names in their own Indigenous languages for these people and the roles they fill in their communities.
The initial intent in coining the term was to differentiate Indigenous concepts of gender and sexuality from those of non-Native and and to replace the pejorative anthropological terms that were still in wide use. Although the term "two-spirit" has been controversial since its adoption, it has experienced more academic and social acceptance than the term berdache, which it was coined to replace." Two Spirit 101 " at NativeOut: "The Two Spirit term was adopted in 1990 at an Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering to encourage the replacement of the term berdache, which means, 'passive partner in sodomy, boy prostitute.'" Accessed 23 Sep 2015 The government of Canada officially uses 2SLGBTQI+ as an alternative to the established acronym of LGBTQI+, What is 2SLGBTQI+? Government of Canada sometimes shortened to 2SLGBT or a similar variant.
Early adopters stated that a two-spirit identity does not make sense outside of a Native American or First Nations cultural framework and its use by non-Natives is seen as a form of cultural appropriation.Borresen, Kelsey. Here's What It Means To Be 'Two-Spirit,' According To Native People, via Huffington Post. 8 September 2022.
The gender-nonconforming or third-gender ceremonial roles traditionally embodied by some Native American and Indigenous peoples in Canada that may be encompassed by modern two-spirit people vary widely, even among the Native individuals or cultures that use the term. Not all of these cultures have historically had roles for gender-variant people, and among those that do, no one Indigenous culture's gender or sexuality categories apply to all Native people.
Both the English and Ojibwe terms were coined at the 1990 conference, and are not found in the historical record. Two-spirit, in English or translated into any other language, is a general term for wider audiences, and is not intended to replace the traditional terms or concepts already in use in Indigenous cultures.
For early adopters, the term two spirit was a deliberate act to differentiate and distance themselves from non-Native gays and lesbians, as well as from non-Native terminology such as gay, lesbian, and transgender. Particularly offensive was the term berdache, which had previously been the preferred term among non-Native anthropology to refer to Indigenous people who did not conform to standard European-American gender roles. Berdache, which means "passive partner in sodomy, boy prostitute", has always been offensive to Indigenous peoples. Journalist Mary Annette Pember (Red Cliff Ojibwe) and others have written that conference participants were motivated by the desire to coin a new term that could take the place of the outdated and offensive anthropological term.
Two-spirited woman Michelle Cameron (Carrier First Nations) writes, "The term two-spirit is thus an Aboriginal-specific term of resistance to colonization and non-transferable to other cultures. There are several underlying reasons for two-spirited Aboriginals' desire to distance themselves from the mainstream queer community." German anthropologist Sabine Lang writes that for Aboriginal people, sexual orientation or gender identity is secondary to their ethnic identity. "At the core of contemporary two-spirit identities is ethnicity, an awareness of being Native American as opposed to being white or being a member of any other ethnic group".
While initially focused on ceremonial and social roles within the Indigenous community, as a pan-Indianism, English-language umbrella term, for some it has come to have similar use as the terms queer (modern, reclaimed usage) or LGBTQ in encompassing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Native peoples in North America.
Journalist Mary Annette Pember (Red Cliff Ojibwe) notes that "Non-Native anthropologist Will Roscoe gets much of the public credit for coining the term two spirit. However, according to Kristopher Kohl Miner of the Ho-Chunk Nation, Native people such as anthropologist Wesley Thomas of the Navajo tribe also contributed to its creation. (Thomas is a professor in the School of Dine and Law Studies.)". Will Roscoe, like his non-Native mentor Harry Hay, was involved in the gay hippie group Radical Faeries, a non-Native community that emulated Native spirituality and engaged in other forms of cultural appropriation.
The terms used by tribes who have roles for gender-variant persons, both currently and historically, do not translate into any form of 'two spirit', and the Ojibwe form niizh manidoowag is also modern – a new translation from English that was chosen in 1990, after the term was coined in English.
With 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States alone, some critics say use of the term two-spirit risks erasing traditional terms specific to different, unique communities, that already have their own terminology for these individuals in their Indigenous languages (if they have them — not all cultures do). Since historically, those recorded as gender-variant individuals are often mentioned in the context of having held spiritual, ceremonial roles, the term two spirit – which may have nothing to do with those beliefs and ceremonies – can create a disconnection from, and forgetting of, the actual cultural beliefs and ceremonies.
At the series of conferences where the term was gradually adopted (1990 being the third of five), some Native attendees expressed concern that reservation communities would scorn the idea of two-spirit and never adopt the term.
Additional issues with two-spirit that others have voiced is that they see it as a capitulation to urbanization and loss of culture that, while initially intended to help people reconnect with the spiritual dimension of these roles, was not working out the way it had been intended. In 2009, writing for the Encyclopedia of Gender and Society, Kylan Mattias de Vries wrote:
Writing on possible misinterpretations from English speakers who hold binary gender views, Kylan Mattias de Vries says in Encyclopedia of Gender and Society: Volume 2 (2009), an academic textbook:
With over 500 surviving Native American cultures, attitudes about sex and gender can be diverse. Even with the modern adoption of pan-Indian terms like two-spirit, and the creation of a modern pan-Indian community around this naming, not all cultures will perceive gender-nonconforming members of their communities the same way, or welcome a pan-Indian term to replace the terms already in use by their cultures. Additionally, not all contemporary Indigenous communities are supportive of their gender-variant and non-heterosexual people now. In these communities, those looking for two-spirit community have sometimes faced oppression and rejection. While existing terminology in many nations shows historical acknowledgement of differing sexual orientations and gender expressions, members of some of these nations have also said that while variance was accepted, they never had separate or defined roles for these members of the community. Among the Indigenous communities that traditionally have roles for two-spirit people, specific terms in their own languages are used for the social and spiritual roles these individuals fulfill.Note: There is not always consensus, even among reporting elders and language workers, about all of these terms and how they are or were applied. See and . The following list is not .
Male-bodied two-spirit people, regardless of gender identification, can go to war and have access to male activities such as male-only sweat lodge ceremonies. However, they may also take on "feminine" activities such as cooking and other domestic responsibilities. According to Lang, female-bodied two-spirit people usually have sexual relations or marriages with only females.
For First Nations people whose lives have been impacted by the residential schools, and other Indigenous communities who have experienced severe cultural damage from colonization, the specific traditions in their communities that might now be seen as two-spirit may have been severely damaged, fragmented, or even lost. While not all communities had these ways, in those that did, for some there may be challenges in reviving older traditions, and to overcoming learned homophobia or other prejudices that may have been introduced with colonization.
Talking to The New York Times in 2006, Joey Criddle, who self-identifies as Jicarilla Apache, says that two-spirit titles are not interchangeable with "LGBT Native American" or "gay Indian": "The elders will tell you the difference between a gay Indian and a Two-Spirit." He underscores that simply being gay and Native does not make someone a two-spirit, which requires participation in tribal ceremony.
When Indigenous people from communities that are less-accepting of two-spirits have sought community among non-Native LGBTQ communities, however, the tendency for non-Natives to tokenize and appropriate has at times led to rifts rather than unity, with two-spirits feeling like they are just another tacked on initial rather than fully included. Cameron writes:
In academia, there has since 2010 or earlier been a move to "queer the analytics of settler colonialism" and create a "twospirit" critique as part of the general field of queer studies. However, much of this academic analysis and publishing is not based in traditional Indigenous knowledge, but in the more mainstream, non-Native perspectives of the broader LGBTQ communities, so most of the same cultural misunderstandings tend to be found as in the outdated writing of the non-Native anthropologists and "explorers".Russell, Steve (2002). "Apples are the Color of Blood", Critical Sociology, Vol. 28, 1, 2002, p. 68 (quoting López (1994) p. 55)
Some two-spirit societies (past and present) include: 2Spirits of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario; the Wabanaki Two Spirit Alliance in Nova Scotia; the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (est. 1998) in San Francisco, California; Central Oklahoma Two Spirit Natives in Oklahoma City; the East Coast Two Spirit Society and the NorthEast Two-Spirit Society in New York City; Idaho Two-Spirit Society; the Indiana Two-Spirit Society in Bloomington; Minnesota Two Spirits; the Montana Two-Spirit Society in Browning; the Northwest Two-Spirit Society in Seattle, Washington; the Ohio Valley Two Spirit Society of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Southern Illinois; the Portland Two Spirit Society (est. May 2012) in Portland, Oregon; the Regina Two-Spirited Society in Regina, Saskatchewan; the Texas Two Spirit Society in Dallas; the Tulsa Two-Spirit Society in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Two-Spirit Society of Denver in Denver, Colorado; and the Wichita Two-Spirit Society in Wichita, Kansas.
According to German anthropologist Sabine Lang, cross-dressing of two-spirit people was not always an indicator of gender identity. Lang believes "the mere fact that a male wears women's clothing does not say something about his role behavior, his gender status, or even his choice of partner". Page 62 Other anthropologists may have mistakenly labelled some Native individuals two-spirit or berdache because of a lack of cultural understanding, specifically around an Indigenous community's worldview, and their particular customs concerning clothing and gender.
According to non-Natives including author Brian Gilley and anthropologist Will Roscoe, the historical presence of male-bodied two-spirits "was a fundamental institution among most tribal peoples", Page 8 with both male- and female-bodied two-spirits having been documented "in over 130 North American tribes, in every region of the continent".. However, Ojibwe journalist Mary Annette Pember argues that this depiction threatens to homogenize diverse Indigenous cultures, painting over them with an excessively broad brush, potentially causing the disappearance of "distinct cultural and language differences that Native peoples hold crucial to their identity".
Don Pedro Fages was third in command of the 1769–70 Spanish Portolá expedition, the first European land exploration of what is now the U.S. state of California. At least three diaries were kept during the expedition, but Fages wrote his account later, in 1775. Fages gave more descriptive details about the native Californians than any of the others, and he alone reported the presence of homosexuality in the native culture. The English translation reads:
Although gender-variant people have been both respected and feared in a number of tribes, they are not beyond being reproached or, by traditional law, even killed for bad deeds. In the Mojave people tribe, for instance, they frequently become medicine persons and, like all who deal with the supernatural, are at risk of suspicion of witchcraft, notably in cases of failed harvest or of death. There have been instances of murder in these cases (such as in the case of the gender-nonconforming female named Sahaykwisā). Another instance in the late 1840s was of a Crow badé who was caught, possibly raiding horses, by the Lakota people and was killed.Walker, James: Lakota Society, edited by Raymond J. DeMallie, p. 147. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.
Lang and Jacobs write that historically among the Apache, the Lipan, Chiricahua, Mescalero, and southern Tonto Apache have alternative gender identities. One tribe in particular, the Eyak, has a single report from 1938 that they did not have an alternative gender and they held such individuals in low esteem, although whether this sentiment is the result of acculturation or not is unknown.
Among the Iroquois, there is a single report from Bacqueville de la Potherie in his book published in 1722, Histoire de l'Amérique septentrionale, that indicates that an alternative gender identity exists among them., citing
Many, if not all, Indigenous cultures have been affected by European homophobia and misogyny.; ;
Some contemporary Zapotec peoples peoples in Mexico embody the traditional third gender role known as muxe. They consider themselves to be " muxe in men's bodies", who do the work that their culture usually associates with women. When asked by transgender researchers in 2004 if they ever considered surgical transition, "none of the respondents found the idea interesting, but rather strange" as their essence as muxe is not dependent on what type of body they are in.
The term berdache has always been repugnant to Indigenous people. De Vries writes, "Berdache is a derogatory term created by Europeans and perpetuated by anthropologists and others to define Native American/First Nations people who varied from Western norms that perceive gender, sex, and sexuality as binaries and inseparable." The term has now fallen out of favor with anthropologists as well. It etymology from the French language bardache (English equivalent: "") meaning "passive homosexual", "catamite" or even "boy prostitute". Bardache, in turn, derived from the Persian language barda meaning "captive", "prisoner of war", "slave". Page 7. Spanish explorers who encountered these individuals among the Chumash people called them "joyas", the Spanish language for "jewels".
Use of berdache has now been replaced in most mainstream and anthropological literature by two spirit, with mixed results. However, the term two spirit itself, in English or any other language, was not in use before 1990.
The 2009 documentary film Two Spirits, directed by Lydia Nibley, tells the story of the hate-murder of 16-year-old Navajo people Fred Martinez. The film was shown on Independent Lens in 2011, and was the winner of the annual Audience Award for that year. In the film, Nibley "affirms Martinez' Navajo sense of being a two spirit 'effeminate male', or nádleeh". Martinez' mother defined nádleeh as "half woman, half man".
Fire Song, a 2015 film directed by Adam Garnet Jones follows a gay Anishinaabe teenager in Northern Ontario who is struggling to support his family in the aftermath of his sister's suicide. [8]
In 2017 two-spirited Metis filmmaker Marjorie Beaucage released Coming In Stories: Two Spirit in Saskatchewan as a way to raise awareness about the experiences of two-spirited individuals living in Saskatchewan, Canada. The film is available on Vimeo. [9]
In the 2018 indie film, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, a Lakota people character – Adam Red Eagle, played by Forrest Goodluck – is sent to a conversion camp for identifying as winkte and two-spirit.
The 2021 film Wildhood directed by Bretten Hannam, follows the storyline of Link and his brother Travis (Avery Winters-Anthony) who are fleeing their abusive father. During this journey Link (Phillip Lewitski) discovers his sexuality as a Two-Spirit person and rediscovers his Mi'kmaw heritage. [10]
Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, Fancy Dance (2023 film) a film by Erica Tremblay a Seneca–Cayuga Nation writer and director highlights the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women through the disappearance of her sister Tawi (Hauli Gray) the film follows the story of Jax (Lily Gladstone) butch lesbian living on the Seneca-Cayuga Nation reservation in Oklahoma. [11] and her niece Roki (Isabel DeRoy-Olson).
Lovecraft Country, a 2020 HBO television series, features Yahima, an Arawak two-spirit character. Showrunner Misha Green addressed the fate of this character by tweeting "I wanted to show the uncomfortable truth that oppressed folks can also be oppressors. It's a story point worth making, but I failed in the way I chose to make it." The term two-spirit is used anachronistically in the series, being set in the 1950s whilst the term itself was coined in the 1990s.
RuPaul's Drag Race and Canadas Drag Race both have had various Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Drag Queens compete. Two-Spirit Drag Queen Anita Landback, a Mi'kmaw nurse practitioner by day competed on Season Four of Canadas Drag Race, and on Season Five two self-identified Two-Spirit Drag Queens, Jaylene Tyme who is Zagime Anishinabek with ties to Métis Nation Saskatchewan and Xana who is Métis, competed.
With the urbanization and assimilation of Native peoples, individuals began utilizing Western terms, concepts, and identities, such as gay, lesbian, transgender, and intersex. These terms separated Native cultural identity from sexuality and gender identity, furthering a disconnect felt by many Native American/First Nations peoples in negotiating the boundaries of life between two worlds (Native and non-Native/Western). The term two-spirited was created to reconnect one's gender or sexual identity with her or his Native identity and culture. ...
Some Native Americans/First Nations people that hold to more traditional religious and cultural values view two-spirit as a cultural and social term, rather than one with any religious or spiritual meaning. ... Since historically, many "berdache/two-spirit" individuals held religious or spiritual roles, the term two spirit creates a disconnection from the past. The terms used by other tribes currently and historically do not translate directly into the English form of two spirit or the Ojibwe form of niizh manidoowag.
Perception of Western gender binary
The binary nature of two-spirit, or the idea of having two spirits in one body, is not a theme found in the traditional gender roles for Native people, and concerns about this misrepresentation have been voiced since the 1990 conference where the term was adopted. Traditional Native Americans asked about the concept rejected the "Western" gender binary implications of the term "Two Spirit", such as implying that Natives believe these individuals are "both male and female".
Traditional Indigenous terms
While some have found two-spirit a useful tool for intertribal organizing, "the concept and word two-spirit has no traditional cultural significance". Not all tribes have ceremonial roles for these people, and the tribes that do usually use names in their own languages." Two Spirit Terms in Tribal Languages " at NativeOut. Accessed 23 Sep 2015
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!Language
!Term
!Literal translation
!Description Aleut language tayagigux' "Woman transformed into a man" ayagigux' "Man transformed into a woman" Blackfoot ninauh-oskitsi-pahpyaki "Manly-hearted-woman" This term has a wide variety of meanings ranging from women who performed the roles of men, dressed as men, took female partners, or who participated in activities such as war. ááwowáakii "A male homosexual" (1989). 9780802071361, University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802071361 a'yai-kik-ahsi "Acts like a woman" There are historical accounts of individuals who engaged in homosexual relationships, or who were born as men but lived their lives as women, possibly for religious or social reasons. These individuals were viewed in a wide variety of ways, from being revered spiritual leaders, brave warriors and , to targets of ridicule. Cheyenne A cross-gender or third-gender person, typically a male-bodied person who takes on the roles and duties of a woman. have had specialized roles within Cheyenne society, including officiating during the Scalp Dance, organizing marriages, acting as messengers between lovers, and accompanying men to war. Cree language "A woman who dresses as a man" "A man who dresses as a woman" "A woman dressed/living/accepted as a man" or "someone who fights everyone to prove they are the toughest" "A man dressed/living/accepted as a woman" Possibly not a respectful term. Others have suggested it is a third gender designation, applied to both male-bodied and female-bodied people. "One who acts/lives as a man" "One who acts/lives as a woman" Crow language batée A word that describes both Trans woman and Homosexuality males. Lakota language "wants to be like a woman" Male-bodied people who in some cases have adopted the clothing, work, and mannerisms usually considered feminine in Lakota culture. In contemporary Lakota culture, the term is most commonly associated with simply being gay. Both historically and in modern culture, usually winkte are homosexual.
Most historical accounts, notably those by other Lakota, see the winkte as regular members of the community, and neither marginalized for their status, nor seen as exceptional. Other writings, usually historical accounts by anthropologists, hold the winkte as sacred, occupying a liminality, third gender role and fulfilling ceremonial roles that can not be filled by either men or women. In contemporary Lakota communities, attitudes towards the winkte vary from accepting to homophobic. Navajo language or "One who is transformed" or "one who changes"Franc Johnson Newcomb (1980-06). Hosteen Klah: Navaho Medicine Man and Sand Painter. University of Oklahoma Press. .Lapahie, Harrison, Jr. Hosteen Klah (Sir Left Handed). Lapahie.com. 2001 (retrieved 19 Oct 2009)Berlo, Janet C. and Ruth B.
Phillips. Native North American Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, . pg. 34 In traditional Navajo culture, nádleeh are male-bodied individuals described by those in their communities as "effeminate male", or as "half woman, half man". A 2009 documentary about the tragic murder of nádleeh Fred Martinez, entitled, Two Spirits, contributed to awareness of these terms and cultures. A Navajo gender spectrum that has been described is that of four genders: feminine woman, masculine woman, feminine man, masculine man. Ojibwe language ininiikaazo "Women who functioned as men" or "one who endeavors to be like a man" (2025). 9780873518017, Borealis Books. ISBN 9780873518017According to academic Anton Treuer, sex, gender, and work were often related in Ojibwe culture, but variation was accepted. Ikwekaazo (men who functioned as women) and ininiikaazo (women who functioned as men) lived and worked as their gender, not their sex, and could take spouses of their own sex. Both ikwekaazo and ininiikaazo were considered spiritually strong and honored ceremonially. ikwekaazo "Men who chose to function as women" / "one who endeavors to be like a woman". agokwe or agokwa "man-woman" Male-assigned. The Ojibwe word agokwe was used by John Tanner to describe gender-nonconforming Ojibwe warrior Ozaawindib (Floruit 1797–1832). Okitcitakwe "warrior woman" Female-assigned Warao language "twisted women" Zuni language Men who at times may also take on the social and ceremonial roles performed by women in their culture. Accounts from the 1800s note that lhamana, while dressed in "female attire", were often hired for work that required "strength and endurance",Matilda Coxe Stevenson, The Zuni Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Fraternities, and Ceremonies, (BiblioBazaar, 2010) p. 380 while also excelling in traditional arts and crafts such as pottery and weaving.James, George W. New Mexico: The Land of the Delight Makers. Boston: Page Co., 1920. Notable lhamana We'wha (1849–1896), lived in both traditional female and male social and ceremonial roles at various points in their life, and was a respected community leader and cultural ambassador.Suzanne Bost, Mulattas and Mestizas: Representing Mixed Identities in the Americas, 1850-2000, (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2003, pg.139Matilda Coxe Stevenson, The Zuni Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Fraternities, and Ceremonies, (BiblioBazaar, 2010) p. 37 Quote: "the most intelligent person in the pueblo. Strong character made his word law among both men and women with whom he associated. Though his wrath was dreaded by men as well as women, he was loved by all children, to whom he was ever kind."
Indigiqueer
Another contemporary term in use, as an alternative to two-spirit, and which does not rely on binary conceptions of gender, is Indigiqueer. Originally spelled Indigequeer, the term was coined by TJ Cuthand, and popularized by author Joshua Whitehead. Cuthand first used Indigiqueer for the title of the 2004 Vancouver Queer Film Festival's Indigenous/two-spirit Program, and has written that he came up with this alternative term, "because some LGBTQ Indigenous people don't feel as comfortable with the two-spirit title because it implies some dual gender stuff, which some people just don't feel describes their identity."" Okanagan College Library Indigenous Studies - Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer". Accessed 23 May 2022" All My Relations Podcast - Indigiqueer". Accessed 23 May 2022
Cultural issues and protocols
Definition and societal role in Indigenous communities
Though "two-spirit" has gained far more mainstream recognition and popularity than the traditional terms in Indigenous languages, acceptance of the term is not universal. While use of "two-spirit" to replace the offensive berdache proceeded, particularly in academic practice, the word has sometimes replaced culturally-specific terms and their attendant Indigenous knowledge, leading to criticism about its potential to dilute or erase culture. Writing for Encyclopedia of Gender and Society: Volume 2 (2009), an academic textbook, Kylan Mattias de Vries says: "Nations and tribes used various words to describe various genders, sexes and sexualities. Many had separate words for the Western constructs of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, Intersex, cross-dressers, transgenders, gender-variant individuals, or 'changing ones', third genders (men who live as women), and fourth genders (women who live as men). Even these categories are limiting, because they are based on Western language and ideas rooted in a dichotomy relationship between gender, sex, and sexuality. This language barrier limits our understanding of the traditional roles within Native American/First Nations cultures."
Given title and role
Traditional Native American cultures that have ceremonial roles for gender-variant members of their communities may require that these people be recognized and assigned this role by tribal elders. In these cultures, a traditional third-gender ceremonial or social role is a given title that cannot be self-selected. For these communities, two-spirit differs from the mainstream Western use of Sexual identity and gender identity labels because it is a sacred, spiritual and ceremonial role that is recognized and confirmed only by tribal elders of that two-spirit person's Indigenous ceremonial community. In these tribes, two-spirit people have specific duties, and the two-spirit title is not granted unless the person is fulfilling these ceremonial roles.
Appropriation
The increasing visibility of the two-spirit concept in mainstream culture has been seen as both empowering and as having some undesirable consequences, such as the spread of misinformation about the cultures of Indigenous peoples, pan-Indianism replacing culturally-specific teachings and traditions, and cultural appropriation of Indigenous identities and ceremonial ways by non-Natives who do not understand that Indigenous communities see two-spirit as a specifically Native American and First Nations cultural identity, not one to be taken up by non-Natives.Cameron, Michelle. (2005). Two-spirited Aboriginal people: Continuing cultural appropriation by non-Aboriginal society. Canadian Women Studies, 24 (2/3), 123–127.
Two-spirit societies
Among the goals of two-spirit societies are Support group; outreach, education, and activism; revival of their Indigenous cultural traditions, including preserving the old languages, skills and dances; and otherwise working toward social change.
Academic use of umbrella terms
Writing in March 1998 to advise colleagues and peers in the anthropology profession on the accurate and respectful use of language for Native American subjects in anthropological research and archeological projects, Alice Beck Kehoe, a non-Native Professor Emeritus at Marquette University who attended the Annual Inter-tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conferences, recounts her observations of the discussions that resulted in the term two-spirit at the 1990 conference: "At the conferences that produced the book, Two-Spirited People, I heard several First Nations people describe themselves as very much unitary, neither 'male' nor 'female', much less a pair in one body. Nor did they report an assumption of duality within one body as a common concept within reservation communities; rather, people confided dismay at the Western proclivity for dichotomies. Outside Indo-European-speaking societies, 'gender' would not be relevant to the social personae glosses 'men' and 'women', and 'third gender' likely would be meaningless. The unsavory word 'berdache' certainly ought to be ditched (Jacobs et al. 1997:3-5), but the urban American neologism 'two-spirit' can be misleading." She cautions that modern identity umbrella terms such as two-spirit can't be relied upon for accurate and respectful historical scholarship because they are too general and are produced out of modern contexts that their subjects do not come from. Additionally, she recommends against folding Native and two-spirit gender and sexual identities under the "Indo-European tag 'third gender.'" In academia "one catchword obfuscates the diversity created in human societies and the fluidity conceptualized in many American Indian cultures." She concludes that the best course of action for anthropological professionals when generating language around historical Native artifacts, remains, or societies is to consult with Native professionals "or look into dictionaries, for the people's own words for the social personae 'man,' 'woman,' and whatever additional personae may be recognized."
Historical and anthropological accounts
Unfortunately, depending on an oral tradition to impart our ways to future generations opened the floodgates for early non-Native explorers, missionaries, and anthropologists to write books describing Native peoples and therefore bolstering their own role as experts. These writings were and still are entrenched in the perspective of the authors who were and are mostly white men. ~ Mary Annette Pember (Red Cliff Ojibwe)
I have submitted substantial evidence that those Indian men who, both here and farther inland, are observed in the dress, clothing and character of women – there being two or three such in each village – pass as sodomites by profession. ... They are called joyas, and are held in great esteem.
Some sources have reported that the Aztecs and Incas had laws against such individuals,
though there are some authors who feel that this was exaggerated or the result of acculturation, because all of the documents indicating this are post-conquest and any that existed before had been destroyed by the Spanish Empire.
The belief that these laws existed, at least for the Aztecs, comes from the Florentine Codex. Evidence exists that Indigenous peoples produced many codices, but the Spaniards destroyed most of them in their attempt to eradicate ancient beliefs.Fitch, Nancy. 0General Discussion of the Primary Sources Used in This Project" . The Conquest of Mexico Annotated Bibliography. Accessed: June 14, 2008.
Berdache
Before the late twentieth century, non-Native (i.e. non-Native American/Canadian) used the term berdache (), in a very broad manner, to identify an Indigenous individual fulfilling one of many mixed gender roles in their tribe. Most often these anthropologists applied the term to any male whom they perceived to be homosexual, bisexual, or effeminate by Western social standards, though occasionally the term was applied to lesbian, bisexual and gender nonconforming females as well. This led to a wide variety of diverse individuals being categorized under this imprecise term. At times they incorrectly implied that these individuals were intersex (or, "hermaphrodites"). Will Roscoe
(2012). 9780674064690, Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674064690
Media representation
Film
In the 1970 film Little Big Man, the Cheyenne character Little Horse, portrayed by Robert Little Star, is a gay man who wears clothing more commonly worn by women in the culture. He invites the protagonist, Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) to come live with him. In a departure from most portrayals in Westerns of the era, Crabb is touched and flattered by the offer. Although this depiction of Little Horse for Two-Spirit Folk is connected to negative stereotypical representation, and furthers the narrative that Two-Spirit Folk are something to be laughed at.
Television
In the 2019, second season of American Gods, Devery Jacobs (Mohawk people) plays a young Cherokee woman, Sam Black Crow, who self-identifies as "two-spirited" (although in the American Gods, she is mentioned in passing as being bisexual). Her character, raised by a white mother and estranged from her Native father, speaks of looking to older ancestors to try to find her own beliefs, much like the other humans in the series. In an interview Jacobs says, "I identify as queer, and not two-spirited, because I'm Mohawk and we don't have that" and that Neil Gaiman (author of the novels on which the series is based) advocated strongly for her to be cast in the role.
Social media
Through the #Two-Spirit on TikTok scholar Francesca Marino has argued that the representation from the hashtag allows for content creators to have a contrastive, pedagogical, and metamorphic meaning of Two-Spirit. This practice of using the hashtag on TikTok can then be seen as embodying practices that are seen as particularly relevant in disrupting colonial heteropatriarchy. [12]
Tributes
In 2012, a marker dedicated to two spirit people was included in the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display in Chicago, Illinois, that celebrates LGBTQ history and people.
Self-identified Two-Spirit Folk
"Self-identified" here is meant as a contrast to the way a traditional two spirit must be recognized as such by the elders of their Indigenous community when the term is used as a synonym for a traditional ceremonial role (for which there will be an already-existing term in that culture's Indigenous language). Inclusion in this list is thus not an indication of whether the person is recognized or not.
See also
Archival resources
External links
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