Homosexuality: Two Spirits

As a post-colonial scholar, and a gay man, I am most interested in the intersections of Queer theory and Post-colonial theory.   Many argue that the two cannot be combined.  Personally I think it is wrong to be so close minded.  When it comes to sexuality, colonization twists and distorts it. Homi K. Bhabha even thinks that the “Other” binary is based on a sexual relationship between the two (For further reading on this Check out Bhabha’s Location of Culture). Therefore, I think it extremely necessary to study the formation of sexuality within the colonial context.  I know my thesis is going to be aimed at answering the question of whether or not homosexuality exists within the pre-colonial world, or whether it is a product of European colonization.  

Therefore the issue I’d like to deal with this week is homosexuality pre-Colonial Native tribes.

When I first formulated the hypothesis above, I was deeply invested in the concept that homosexuality did exist on its own within the pre-Colonial world.  Yet, after having read this article by Walter L. Williams—Author of Spirit and the Flesh—I have begun to think differently.  The article can be found here http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/11/two-spirit-people-north-america .  Williams talks about the concept of “two-spirit people” which I have never heard of before, although it reminds me of Aristotle’s own analysis of gender and sexuality.  Before Europeans showed up, Williams says that “Native Americans have often held intersex, androgynous people, feminine males and masculine females in high respect…Rather than emphasizing the homosexuality of these persons, however, many Native Americans focused on their spiritual gifts.” It would seem that homosexuality wasn’t applied to a person, it existed with not connotations.  Williams goes on to say that people that fit the mold of performing two gender roles were the most useful to tribal life, they could do everything that both males and females did (¶ 6).  Homosexuality didn’t exist as a taboo, it was natural.  Same sex relationships weren’t seen as people possessing certain sexuality.  They just were.  Williams then states that it wasn’t until “the 20th-century, [that] homophobic European Christian influences increased among many Native Americans, [and] respect for same-sex love and for androgynous persons greatly declined” (¶ 7).   The physical act, and the physical characterization of feminine males and masculine females, was given a name and associated with an attitude of disgust and sin.  The act of same-sex within the Native world was normal without the influence of colonization, but when Europeans gave it a name and a meaning—homosexuality—the understanding and respect of it changed.  Apparently after, these two spirit people were expelled from their tribes and faced a variety of setbacks including suicide and death (Williams ¶ 7).

Quite frankly this whole thing pisses me off!  Why does religion and colonization destroy everything that is initially considered sacred? Language and words create trouble and define the way we see our lives.  There was no such concept of homosexuality.  Not all is lost, because apparently there has been a recent movement to regain respect for these individuals that have been destroyed by colonial mentality. 

It looks like I might have to reconfigure my thesis because it is much more complicated than any simple understanding of sexuality.

I’m going to end this post with a little documentary that talks about the word “Bedarche” and how it came to define two-spirit people as homosexuals.