User:Secephalopod/Two-spirit
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Two-Spirit (also two spirit or, occasionally, twospirited) is a modern, pan-Indian, umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ceremonial and social role in their cultures.[1][2][3][4]
The term two-spirit was created in 1990 at the Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering in Winnipeg, and "specifically chosen to distinguish and distance Native American/First Nations people from non-Native peoples."[5] The primary purpose was to encourage the replacement of the outdated and considered offensive anthropological term berdache.[6][4] Even though this term is not universally accepted—it is criticized as a term of erasure by traditional communities who have their own terminology and disapprove two-spirit's "western" binary implications[5]—it has generally received more acceptance and use than the anthropological term it replaced.[6][7]
"Two Spirit" was not intended to be interchangeable with "LGBT Native American" or "Gay Indian";[2] it was created in English (and then translated into Ojibwe), to serve as a pan-Indian unifier for general audiences instead of traditional terms in Indigenous languages for what are actually quite diverse, culturally-specific ceremonial and social roles(if and when they exist at all).[1][2][5] Opinions vary as to whether or not this objective has succeeded.[5][8] The decision to adopt this term was also made as a means for individuals under the two-spirit identity to distance themselves from non-Native gays and lesbians,[9] as the term and identity of two-spirit "does not make sense" unless it is contextualized within a Native American or First Nations framework and traditional cultural understanding.[3][10][11] The gender non-binary ceremonial roles traditionally embodied by Native American and FNIM people intended to be under the umbrella of two-spirit can vary widely. No one Native American/First Nations' culture's gender or sexuality categories apply to all, or even a majority of, these cultures.[5]
In contemporary society, two-spirit traditions and revival are challenged by cultural damage and loss among their communities from the impacts of colonization, such as residential school systems for First Nations people.[12] Increased visibility, while being seen as empowering, has also had undesirable consequences. These include the spread of misinformation of Indigenous cultures, Pan-Indianism and cultural appropriation. [12]
- ^ a b Estrada, Gabriel (2011). "Two Spirits, Nádleeh, and LGBTQ2 Navajo Gaze". American Indian Culture and Research Journal. 35 (4): 167–190. doi:10.17953/aicr.35.4.x500172017344j30.
- ^ a b c "A Spirit of Belonging, Inside and Out". The New York Times. 8 Oct 2006. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
'The elders will tell you the difference between a gay Indian and a Two-Spirit,' [Criddle] said, underscoring the idea that simply being gay and Indian does not make someone a Two-Spirit.
- ^ a b Pruden, Harlan; Edmo, Se-ah-dom (2016). "Two-Spirit People: Sex, Gender & Sexuality in Historic and Contemporary Native America" (PDF). National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Center.
- ^ a b Walters, Karina L.; Evans-Campbell, Teresa; Simoni, Jane M.; Ronquillo, Theresa; Bhuyan, Rupaleem (2006). ""My Spirit in My Heart": Identity Experiences and Challenges Among American Indian Two-Spirit Women". Journal of Lesbian Studies. 10: 125–149 – via ILLiad.
- ^ a b c d e de Vries, Kylan Mattias (2009). "Berdache (Two-Spirit)". In O'Brien, Jodi (ed.). Encyclopedia of gender and society. Los Angeles: SAGE. p. 64. ISBN 9781412909167. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ^ a b "Two Spirit 101 Archived 2014-12-10 at the Wayback Machine" 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
- ^ Medicine, Beatrice (August 2002). "Directions in Gender Research in American Indian Societies: Two Spirits and Other Categories". Online Readings in Psychology and Culture. 3 (1). International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology: 7. doi:10.9707/2307-0919.1024. ISSN 2307-0919. Archived from the original on 2012-12-08. Retrieved 2016-06-25.
At the Wenner Gren conference on gender held in Chicago, May, 1994... the gay American Indian and Alaska Native males agreed to use the term "Two Spirit" to replace the controversial "berdache" term. The stated objective was to purge the older term from anthropological literature as it was seen as demeaning and not reflective of Native categories. Unfortunately, the term "berdache" has also been incorporated in the psychology and women studies domains, so the task for the affected group to purge the term looms large and may be formidable.
- ^ Pember, Mary Annette (Oct 13, 2016). "'Two Spirit' Tradition Far From Ubiquitous Among Tribes". Rewire. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
- ^ Jacobs, Thomas & Lang (1997), pp. 2–3, 221
- ^ "A Spirit of Belonging, Inside and Out". The New York Times. 8 Oct 2006. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
- ^ Vowel, Chelsea (2016). "All My Queer Relations - Language, Culture, and Two-Spirit Identity". Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: Highwater Press. ISBN 978-1553796800.
- ^ a b Cameron, Michelle. (2005). Two-spirited Aboriginal people: Continuing cultural appropriation by non-Aboriginal society. Canadian Women Studies, 24 (2/3), 123–127.