The Two-Sprit of homosexual and transsexual people in the Indian tribes of America
Article published on the website of the platform of e-learning Lumen (United States), freely translated by Silvia Lanzi
Two-Spirit (Also Two Spirit or Twospity) is a modern definition-umbrella used by various North American natives to describe the gender-variant individuals of their communities. The term was adopted in 1990 to an international meeting of homosexual natives as a substitute for the anthropological term berdache. Their spiritual role is recognized and confirmed by the native community. While some have found a useful tool for the Inter organization, not all native cultures conceptualize genre in this way, and many tribes use names in their languages. While the Pan-Indian terms are not always appropriate or Benacetti, this has received a better welcome than berdache.
The occupations of the third and fourth gender role, traditionally embodied by Two-Spirit people, include both male and female jobs and clothes. Not all tribes/nations have rigid genre roles, but among those that are there, some believe that there are at least four: female women, masculine women, female men, masculine men.
The presence of Two-Spirits with a male body "It was a fundamental institution in many tribes", And according to Will Roscoe, Two-Sprits were documented with both male and female bodies "In more than one hundred and thirty North American tribes, in every region of the continent".
Terminology
Before the end of the twentieth century, non-NATIVE anthropologists (non-American/Canadian non-Natives used the generic term berdache (/bərdæ mark/) to indicate a native individual who embodies one of the many mixed genre roles of his tribe, but now this term has fallen into disuse. Anthropologists used it mainly to identify effective native men. Its etymology, however, has a meaning that is now considered obsolete and potentially offensive: it derives from French Bardache (the English equivalent of "Bardash") and means "Passive homosexual", "Catiite" or even "Prostitute". Bardache, in turn, derives from the Persian برده "Barda" what does it mean "Prison", "prisoner of war", "slave". The Spanish explorers who had met Two-Spirit among the chumash had called them "Joyas", or "jewels".
The use of berdache was generally replaced by the most appropriate Two-Spirit, which in 1990 gained ever greater popularity during the third annual Inter -annual conference of Native American/First Nations homosexuals in Winnipeg. Two-Spirit It is a term chosen to express their different approach to gender identity and variance, in contrast with that imposed by non-NATIVE, and also to replace the terms berdache and gay, also imposed and not indigenous.
"Two-Spirited" or "Two-Spirit" Usually it indicates a native person who feels his body simultaneously manifesting both a male and female spirit, or a different balance of male and female characteristics, which are usually noticeable in male men and female women.
Many indigenous communities have specific terms in their languages for the gender-variant members of their communities and for the social and spiritual roles that these individuals hold, including lakota (Wíŋkte) and Navajo (nádlee).
For some tribes, the definition and historical and social role of the Two-Sprit materialize in having two identities that occupy the same body. Usually clothes are a mix of traditionally male and female articles, or men's clothes one day and another woman. According to Dr. Sabine Lang, a German anthropologist, many tribes have distinct social and genre roles. Some specific roles sometimes covered by Two-Spirit born male include:
- transmit oral traditions and songs (Yuki);
- predict the future (Winnebago, Oglala Lakota);
- give lucky names to children or adults (Oglala Lakota, Tohaon O'Odham);
- produce vases (Zuni, Navajo, Tohaon O'ODHAM);
- act as sensals (Cheyenne, Omaha, Oglala Lakota);
- Create feather ceremony dresses for dances (Maidu);
- hold special roles in the dance of the sun (Crow, Hidatsa, Oglala Lakota).
Some studies on Two Spirit identities among biological males define them as one "Form of social failure, women-men are seen as individuals who are unable to adapt to the male role assigned by their own culture" And who have lost their male power in the group, so they appropriate female roles to trace the social scale within the tribe. However, Lang claims that the problem with the "bankruptcy" approach "It is probably in the fact that the woman-man ambivalence is neglected in both roles". Compared to the studies of RB Hassrick, Lang disputes an alleged example of women considered inferior to men in Lakota society:
"The fact that Lakota men did not like to be called 'heart of woman' in the meetings of the advice is less likely that it means that women were considered lower than the role of the warrior was clearly distinct from the role of the woman: clearly a warrior had it Status of 'man'. Since the Winkte Lakota (on which Hassrick's interpretations are based) are culturally called 'non-men', the rules valid for male roles did not apply to them ".
Lang says later that "Men forced to wear female clothes for being humiliated are everywhere [...] distinct from women-men".
The transvestism of the Two-Sprit people is not always an indicator of their gender identity. Lang believes that "The simple fact that a man wear dresses as a woman says nothing about his role behavior, his gender status, or even the choice of his partner [...]".
Two-Spirit people, regardless of their gender identity, can go to war and have access to male activities, such as the ceremonies of the sweaty hut for men only, but they can also take part in "female" activities, such as cooking and others household chores.
Two-Spirit can have relationships with people from both sexes. According to Lang, the Two-Sprits born in female bodies usually have sexual relationships, or marry, only with women.
The partners of the Two-Sprits do not receive any special recognition, although some believe that after having sexual relationships with one of them they would obtain magical skills, or would obtain obscene nicknames from the Two-Spirited person, who believe they carry "luck", or in the event of male partners, would receive a sort of increase in masculinity. In historical literature there are no examples of sexual relationships between two Two-Sprit individuals (with the only exception of the Tiwa tribe), while now, in the Two-Sprit communities, they are common. Since the Two-Sprits born in a male body refer to each other as "Sisters", Lang assumed that having a relationship with another Two-Spirit would be an incestuous relationship.
In many tribes it was believed that the relationships between Two-Sprit and not Two-Sprit were neither heterosexual, nor homosexuals (in modern terms), but more hetero-noise; The European settlers, however, considered them homosexuals. Historically, the Two-Sprit partners were not perceived as such, and traced a very clear line and the Two-Spirit.
Although in many tribes the Two-Sprits are respected and feared, they are not immune from being taken up or even killed for their bad actions. Among the Mojaves, for example, the Two-Sprits frequently become medical experts and, like all those who have to do with the supernatural, risk being suspected of witchcraft, which is important in the case of a bad harvest or a death . In these cases there have been episodes of murder (as happened in Sahaykwisā, a Two-Sprit born in a female body). Another case took place in the late 1940s: a Two-Sprit Crow born male had been captured by the lakota, probably while stealing horses, and killed.
According to some relationships, however, there was no alternative identity among the Comanche. This is also true for some Apache groups, except for the lipans, the chiricahua, the Mescalero and the dilzhe'e of the South. According to a 1938 report, a particular tribe, the eyaks did not consider this possibility and had a low esteem of these individuals, even if it is not known if this is due to the care.
Williams wrote that Irquois play no specific role for gender-variant individuals, although there are hints in this sense by Bacqueville de la Potherie, in his book published in 1722, Histoire de l'amérique septentriole, which indicates the existence of these people among the IROQUAIS.
Many, if not all, the tribes have been influenced by European homophobia/transfobia.
Some sources report that the Aztecs and the Incas had laws against this type of people, although there are authors who do not believe if it is actually like this, or that this is a result of the acculturation, since all the documents are rear to conquer e that all the previous testimonies were destroyed by the Spaniards. It is believed in the existence of these laws, at least for the Aztecs, due to the Florentine code. According to Dr. Nancy Fitch, a history teacher at the California State University in Fullerton,
"There is evidence that the indigenous peoples have written many codes, but the Spaniards destroyed most of them in an attempt to eradicate their ancient beliefs [...] Unquestionably, the Florentine code is a problematic primary source. Apparently the natives had produced the manuscript in the seventeenth century by writing in Nahuatl under the supervision of the Spaniard Fra 'Bernardino de Sahagún. Has its compilation raised important questions: does the manuscript represent the vision of the losers or winners? [...] Much of the Spanish project was substantiated in the colonization of native minds [...] to make things even more complicated, even if it seems that the original manuscript has been compiled in Nahuatl more or less around 1555, there are no evidence of it . The authorities of the new Spain confiscated the manuscripts of the friar in 1575, and in different periods the Spanish monarchy ordered him to interrupt his work. The oldest known version of the manuscript is the summary that Sahagún wrote in Spain. In 1585 he published his revised version which, thus supported, correct some errors and integrated things that, in the previous summary, had ignored. This new version of Sahagún is commonly known as the Florentine code ".
Historical report
Don Pedro Fages was the third in command in the Spanish expedition Portolà (1769-70), the first European exploration of what is the state of California today. During the expedition, at least three diaries were held, but Fages later wrote his report, in 1775, giving, compared to the others, more detailed descriptions of the natives, and only he reported the presence of homosexuality in the culture of the natives. Here is the translation of the step:
"I presented substantial evidence that those Indians who, both here and in the hinterland, we saw themselves dressed as women and taking on their character (there are two or three in each village) pass through sodomites of profession [...] they call them 'Joyas' , and are kept in high regard ".
In the media
The 2009 documentary Two spirits, directed by Lydia Nibley, tells the murder dictated by the hatred of the sixteen year old Navajo Fred Martinez, who was a nádleehí, that is, declared male at birth, but by female nature.
Acknowledgments
In 2012, a dedication to Two Spirit people was inaugurated at the Legacy Walk, an outdoor installation in Chicago dedicated to history and LGBT people.
People who call themselves Two Spirit
- Alec Butler
- Chrystos
- Raven Davis
- Kent Monkman
- Massey Whiteknife
Original text: Two-Spirit
