Portland Public Library

Reclaiming two-spirits, sexuality, spiritual renewal, & sovereignty in Native America, Gregory D. Smithers ; foreword by Raven E. Heavy Runner

Label
Reclaiming two-spirits, sexuality, spiritual renewal, & sovereignty in Native America, Gregory D. Smithers ; foreword by Raven E. Heavy Runner
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Illustrations
illustrationsplates
Index
index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
Reclaiming two-spirits
Nature of contents
bibliography
Oclc number
1262798168
Responsibility statement
Gregory D. Smithers ; foreword by Raven E. Heavy Runner
Series statement
Queer action/queer ideas
Sub title
sexuality, spiritual renewal, & sovereignty in Native America
Summary
"A sweeping history of Indigenous traditions of gender and sexuality that decolonizes North America's past and reveals how Two-Spirit people are reclaiming their place in Native nations"--, Provided by publisherReclaiming Two-Spirits decolonizes the history of gender and sexuality in Native North America. It honors the generations of Indigenous people who had the foresight to take essential aspects of their cultural life and spiritual beliefs underground in order to save them. Before 1492, hundreds of Indigenous communities across North America included people who identified as neither male nor female, but both. They went by aakíí'skassi, miati, okitcitakwe or one of hundreds of other tribally specific identities. After European colonizers invaded Indian Country, centuries of violence and systematic persecution followed, imperiling the existence of people who today call themselves Two-Spirits, an umbrella term denoting feminine and masculine qualities in one person. Drawing on written sources, archaeological evidence, art, and oral storytelling, Reclaiming Two-Spirits spans the centuries from Spanish invasion to the present, tracing massacres and inquisitions and revealing how the authors of colonialism's written archives used language to both denigrate and erase Two-Spirit people from history. But as Gregory Smithers shows, the colonizers failed--and Indigenous resistance is core to this story. Reclaiming Two-Spirits amplifies their voices, reconnecting their history to Native nations in the 21st century --Publisher website
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Reclaiming 2-spiritsSexuality, spiritual renewal, & sovereignty in Native America
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