Exploration into Non-binary identities: Two-Spirit
Presentations Notes
As a group we decided to present our project on exploring Non-binary identities. We chose this concept as a lot of genders that are under the non-binary umbrella are not highlighted in society or unknown of discriminated again. I chose to do my section of the project on Two spirit Americans as I had little knowledge on the gender, only coming across it on whilst watching a Tiktok.
Within my research I found a journal article by Qwo-Li Driskill explain Two-spirit from a first-person point of view, stating – “Two-Spirit” is a word that resists colonial definitions of who we are” (Driskill). Driskill emphasis’s the need from the Two-spirit title to reclaim and conquer the offensive colonial term ‘Berdache’. They continue – “I’m not necessarily “Transgender” in Cherokee contexts, because I’m simply the gender I am” (Driskill), highlighting why some Native people are not fully connected to the LGBTQ+ community as it is a returning to their cultural and spiritual roots more than defying societal norms. Furthermore, within my presentation I highlight the sacredness and the importance that the Two-Spirit identity has because as mentioned in Neptune’s video there is appropriation that occurs from people outside the Indigenous community trying to co-opt the identity whilst not understanding the gender that is “resilient and precious” (Neptune) to Indigenous Americans.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn8XKbi1jts
(Speaker:1)
Work cited
DRISKILL, QWO-LI. “Stolen From Our Bodies: First Nations Two-Spirits/Queers and the Journey to a Sovereign Erotic.” Studies in American Indian Literatures, vol. 16, no. 2, 2004, pp. 50–64. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20739500. Accessed 21 Mar. 2021.
Neptune, Geo. “What Does “Two-Spirit” Mean? | InQueery | them”. Youtube. Them. 11 December, 2018 .https://youtu.be/A4lBibGzUnE. Accessed 21 Mar. 2021
Palau, Kymon. #Indegenous #Native #Nativetiktok #twospirit”. February 24, 2021. Tiktok. @kkymonn. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeAESX6d/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2021
Ramos, Paola. “BESE Explains: Two Spirit”. Youtube. BESE. 17 April,2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBH6wVOjolg. Accessed 21 Mar. 2021.
“The Indigenous Doctor Helping Trans Youth”. Youtube. THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION. 8 Jan, 2020. https://youtu.be/4Hj-a5AE-VM. Accessed 21 Mar. 2021
“Two-Spirit” Indian Health Service, https://www.ihs.gov/lgbt/health/twospirit/#:~:text=Traditionally%2C%20Native%20American%20two%2Dspirit,a%20distinct%2C%20alternative%20gender%20status. Accessed 21 Mar. 2021.