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A review by poisonenvy
Two-Spirit People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality by
informative
4.0
Two-Spirit people is a collection of essays from a variety of two-spirit indigenous scholars (mostly, not all of them are scholars, and in one case, not all of them are two-spirit/indigenous). This book examines indigenous sexuality and gender in a variety of different ways.
This book was written and published in the late 90s, and so a lot of the concepts they're working on articulating, especially around gender, have become a little more mainstream. Reading this collection, I have to wonder now how much of our understanding of non-binary gender identities are able to be articulated now, even in Caucasian communities, because of the work that two-spirit scholars put in.
One of the essays written by a white woman made me go "Wow, this person has read way too much Castaneda books, and then she went on to mention the book by name which I guess proved my point, but other than that one all of these essays were very thoughtful and well put together.
I especially enjoyed Sabine Lane's "Various Kinds of Two Spirit People: Gender Variance and Homosexuality in Native American Communities", "Traditional Influences on a Contemporary Gay-Identified Sisseton Dakota" by Michael Red Earth, and "I Ask You to Listen To Who I Am" by Doyle V. Robertson, but I found the entire collection well worth the read.
This book was written and published in the late 90s, and so a lot of the concepts they're working on articulating, especially around gender, have become a little more mainstream. Reading this collection, I have to wonder now how much of our understanding of non-binary gender identities are able to be articulated now, even in Caucasian communities, because of the work that two-spirit scholars put in.
One of the essays written by a white woman made me go "Wow, this person has read way too much Castaneda books, and then she went on to mention the book by name which I guess proved my point, but other than that one all of these essays were very thoughtful and well put together.
I especially enjoyed Sabine Lane's "Various Kinds of Two Spirit People: Gender Variance and Homosexuality in Native American Communities", "Traditional Influences on a Contemporary Gay-Identified Sisseton Dakota" by Michael Red Earth, and "I Ask You to Listen To Who I Am" by Doyle V. Robertson, but I found the entire collection well worth the read.