Two-spirit: Difference between revisions
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"Two Spirit" was not intended to be interchangeable with "LGBT Native American" or "Gay Indian";<ref name=NYT2/> rather, it was created in English (and then translated into Ojibwe), to serve as a pan-Indian unifier, to be used for general audiences instead of the traditional terms in Indigenous languages for what are actually quite diverse, culturally-specific ceremonial and social roles, that can vary quite widely (if and when they exist at all).<ref name=Estrada/><ref name=NYT2/><ref name="de Vries 2009" /> Opinions vary as to whether or not this objective has succeeded.<ref name="de Vries 2009" /><ref name=Pember>{{cite web|url=https://rewire.news/article/2016/10/13/two-spirit-tradition-far-ubiquitous-among-tribes/|title='Two Spirit' Tradition Far From Ubiquitous Among Tribes|publisher=Rewire (website)|first=Mary Annette |last=Pember |date=Oct 13, 2016|accessdate=October 17, 2016 |quote= }}</ref> The decision to adopt this new, pan-Indian term was also made to distance themselves from non-Native gays and lesbians,<ref name=Jacobs2-3,221/> 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.<ref name=NCIA/><ref name=NYT1>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/fashion/08SPIRIT.html?_r=0|title=A Spirit of Belonging, Inside and Out|work=The New York Times|date=8 Oct 2006|accessdate=28 July 2016}}</ref><ref name=Vowel-1>{{cite book|last1=Vowel|first1=Chelsea|editor1-last=|editor1-first=|title= Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada|date=2016|publisher=Highwater Press|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada|isbn=978-1553796800|page=|accessdate=|chapter=All My Queer Relations - Language, Culture, and Two-Spirit Identity |ref=harv}}</ref> However, the gender-nonconforming, LGBT, or third and fourth gender, ceremonial roles traditionally embodied by Native American and FNIM people, intended to be under the modern umbrella of two-spirit, can vary widely, even among the Indigenous people who accept the English-language term. No one Native American/First Nations' culture's gender or sexuality categories apply to all, or even a majority of, these cultures.<ref name="de Vries 2009" /><ref name=Pember/> | "Two Spirit" was not intended to be interchangeable with "LGBT Native American" or "Gay Indian";<ref name=NYT2/> rather, it was created in English (and then translated into Ojibwe), to serve as a pan-Indian unifier, to be used for general audiences instead of the traditional terms in Indigenous languages for what are actually quite diverse, culturally-specific ceremonial and social roles, that can vary quite widely (if and when they exist at all).<ref name=Estrada/><ref name=NYT2/><ref name="de Vries 2009" /> Opinions vary as to whether or not this objective has succeeded.<ref name="de Vries 2009" /><ref name=Pember>{{cite web|url=https://rewire.news/article/2016/10/13/two-spirit-tradition-far-ubiquitous-among-tribes/|title='Two Spirit' Tradition Far From Ubiquitous Among Tribes|publisher=Rewire (website)|first=Mary Annette |last=Pember |date=Oct 13, 2016|accessdate=October 17, 2016 |quote= }}</ref> The decision to adopt this new, pan-Indian term was also made to distance themselves from non-Native gays and lesbians,<ref name=Jacobs2-3,221/> 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.<ref name=NCIA/><ref name=NYT1>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/fashion/08SPIRIT.html?_r=0|title=A Spirit of Belonging, Inside and Out|work=The New York Times|date=8 Oct 2006|accessdate=28 July 2016}}</ref><ref name=Vowel-1>{{cite book|last1=Vowel|first1=Chelsea|editor1-last=|editor1-first=|title= Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada|date=2016|publisher=Highwater Press|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada|isbn=978-1553796800|page=|accessdate=|chapter=All My Queer Relations - Language, Culture, and Two-Spirit Identity |ref=harv}}</ref> However, the gender-nonconforming, LGBT, or third and fourth gender, ceremonial roles traditionally embodied by Native American and FNIM people, intended to be under the modern umbrella of two-spirit, can vary widely, even among the Indigenous people who accept the English-language term. No one Native American/First Nations' culture's gender or sexuality categories apply to all, or even a majority of, these cultures.<ref name="de Vries 2009" /><ref name=Pember/> | ||
It is important to remember that a Indigenous person being nonbinary does not automatically make that person Two-Spirit, and that someone can be Two-Spirit without being nonbinary.<ref name="Truthwaite">{{Cite web |title=Cutting off all my hair: a non-binary Indigenous person isn't necessarily Two-Spirit |author=Truthwaite, Ava |work=The Varsity |date=28 March 2021 |access-date=9 April 2021 |url= https://thevarsity.ca/2021/03/28/cutting-off-all-my-hair-a-non-binary-indigenous-person-isnt-necessarily-two-spirit/}}</ref> | |||
==Terminology== | ==Terminology== | ||