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Indigenous Women in Canada: The Voices of First Nations, Inuit and Mtis Women
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Activism and Governance


n tnt cr5 iess ss it It Ka t s t si as I lien I ab rid of he Ka ii en keha: Li Nation, litter! i d by Kim olnderson 1 turtle ( l,m ne, LLut/sa/ie Liorean, Joanne ()ttere)e e h 1 5 /yne /eanBoun hard I cs temmes ,ttito litones an Quebec par $ila,,on I aouoiuta by ( nv/e lee/air /1 ruing on the \\ all: \lens ReIlei. rion on Gerald Vi,enors Strategies of Sun is a! by (Lrro/i,,e I Jan Si mperttig I )utraize I )ut ing an I pidemic of letal AIohol Syndrome \\ tth the \pproprtate Qualifications: Aboriginal People and I mplovment Equity by Patti L)o1/elkdu eli \lattnnomal Rca! Property Solutions 5n by J/,ztbst/, Bait, \\ otiten and the C anadian I epa! System: Ixamining Situations ol Ilvper Responsabilitv by I iii / \ 1ii( Stolen Sistei s \ I lutnan Rights Response to [)iscriminattotl and \tolenee Against ltidigetious isotticn in I anada by 1llllui!tI I)!tifllsitiOlisi/ h) ,Vitize U (ifllel 1 Sisters in Spirit I ras el tip Quilt iatiofl of( 1ii((/si \nn,is itt: \Vliose I lomelatid, X hose Voices? by Isabel, P iitktiuitt limit \\ otneti of I attada hi Ruiktuutit Initit %imuen of ( sillsO/ii I ettdr r Bascd \nab sts and I)tllertng \Xrlds tesss by ( lltIni 1). Sii,/i ltitutn,itiisiial I luman Rights Standards and Instruments Relesant to Indigenous \Vonien 1 LI. (i/tote Lb h
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Storytelling and the Arts


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Our Coming In Stories
ALEX WILSON

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Cette]etnrne two-spirit aeimetque iaperc eption et / xpression tie son identit sont trs differentes tie cc qui prvaut dana les autres cultures canadiennes, Ct cite en eat reconnaissante car die ea cerraine qu une Identite two spirit eat don neuse de pouvoir Cet article prsenre lea rsultats dune recherche quantitative quia explore Ia question dccc que ltdentitveut dire a dautrepcuple two spirit ct comment cepouvoir iaen titairc apparaic dana un contexte ae racisme dhomophobie cC tic sexisme qui eat connu deplusieurs. My family is from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, a com munity several hours north of Winnipeg. The Swampy Cree dialect ofour community has no word for homosexual and no gender specific pronouns. Rather than dividing the world into female and male, or making linguistic distinctions based on sexual characteristics or anatomy, we distinguish between what is animate and what is in animate. Living creatures, animate objects, and actions are understood to have a spiritual purpose (Ahenakew). Our language and culture are rooted in this fundamental truth: that every living creature and everything that acts in and on this world is spiritually meaningful. This understanding is reiterated in the term twospirit, a self-descriptor used by many Cree and other Aboriginal lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people. When we say that we are two-spirit, we are acknowledging that we are spiritually meaningful people. Two-spirit identity may encompass au aspects of who we are, including our culture, sexuality, gender, spirituality, community, and relationship to the land. As a two-spirit woman, I know that an understanding and expression of my own identity is very different From those that prevail irs most other Canadian cultures and I am very grateful for this. For me, two-spirit identiw is cmpoweririg. As an educator and psychologist. I wanted to learn more about what our identity means to other twopint people and how this empossered identity appears within the context ofihe sustained racism, homophohia, and sexism that most of us have experienced. This article presents findings from a qualitative research project that explored those questions. Make Sure You Get Your Words Right The Shoshone two-spirit writer Clyde Hall entitled his contribution to an anthropological collection about two spirit people: You anthropologists make sure you get your words right (Jacobs, Thomas, and Lang 272). This admonishment is long overdue. Anthropologists and gay historians have produced a substantial body of work on sexuality and gender in Indigenous North American com munities (Angelino and Shedd; Callender and Kochems; Driver; Gutierrez;Jacobs;Jacobs,Thomas, and Lang; Lang 1996, 1998; Lewis; Parsons; Roscoe 1987, 1991; Simms; SteuFenson;Thompson; Balboa, Chanca, Castillo, and Las Casas in Trexier; Williams). While this work has formed the basis of a critique of Western cultural assumptions about sexuality and gender, it has only rarely focused on or been informed by the lives of contemporary two-spirit people (Wilson 1996). Similarly, while this work may have helped to create a more comfortable and safe living space for nonAboriginal lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people, only a few of these authors appear to have thought about how their work might contribute to the well-being ofcontemporary two-spirit and other Aboriginal people. Two-spirit people have also been underserved by other social sciencedisciplincs, which historically viewed gender, sexual, and racial identicyasdiscretcdevelopmental strands Wilson 1996). Feminist researchers have examined ways in which cultural constructions of the self are produced (Cever), the multilayered texture of identity for women of colour (Etter-Lewis). and conscious community identity as a liberation strategy (Robinson and Wsrd; Salazar). This proxy literature may help us work through some of the theoretic density of two-spirit identity. However, ifwe want to understand the ways in which two-spirit identity

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effects self-discover. polittcal resistance, and social change for Aboriginal people and communities, we need to talk to two-spirit people (Keating l)93).
Indigenous Research Methodology

they were. Around or soon after they reached school age. their sense of self began to fragment and they responded by cutting themselves loose in some sense. Eventuall a more integrated sense of self began to return and, finally. they came into their identities as two-spirit people.
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The research described here began as an exploration of the question. How does the empowered identity of a two-spirit person appear within the context of sustained homophohia. sexism, and question could only he answered by two-spirit people and that, ifl wanted them to share their knowledge and experiences, I needed to work in ways that were congruous with their values, ethics, and practices. The design and methodology of this research were guided by teachings from Cree and Ojibway cultures, the communities to which most of the research participants belong. These principles, which include the communal ity of knowledge (knowledge does not belong to any one individual), relational accountability (we are accountable to each other for everything that we do), reciprocity (we give back to our communities and each other), and holism (we must care for all of being, including the physical. emotional, mental, and spiritual elements), have informed and guided other Aboriginal scholars research design 4 (Cardinal; Hermes; Martin; Meyer; Native Womens Research Project; Steinhauer 1997; Steinhauer, E. 2003; Weber-Pillwax 2001, 2003; Wilson 1996, 2000, 2001; Wilson, S. 2004). Research activities also incorporated community research protocols developed by Aboriginal community members in Manitoba (Graveline, Wilson, and Wastasecoot). These protocols include accountability; respect for and adherence to an Aboriginal worldview, relationship building, and giving back to the community. Respect for an Aboriginal worldview requires a researcher to respect the integrity and authenticity oi Aboriginal peoples knowledge, ex perience, understandings, and voice. I sought to preserve the authority of Aboriginal voices by inviting two-spirit communitymembers to participate in personal interviews and group discussions and collaborate in all stages of the research process, from data collection through analysis to the presentation of findings. Research activitieswere based in Northern Manitobaand in Winnipeg. Eight people who identify as two-spirit and who were willing to reflect on and share their experiences joined me for individual open-ended and unstructured interviews and group discussions. The participants. who ranged from eighteen to fifty plus years of age and repre sented a continuum ofgender identities, were encouraged to explore and share in detail their lived experiences as two-spirit people. The information they shared was re corded and then analyzed using a voice-centred relational method. As the data was reread and discussed, I recognized a shared narrative arc in the participants stories. Early in their lives, they had been relatively comfortable with who

Beginning Together

At the start ofour first meetings, participants were asked to introduce themselves in whatever way they were comfort able. In addition to their name, almost every participant also mentioned their home community and/or the First Nation to which they belonged. Others offered more detail. For example, after stating her name, one participant then identified the First Nation community in which she was born and the communities from which each ofher parents came. She offered her family clan name and identified the home community of her partner. Introductions such as these made it clear that participants identities extended well beyond any individuated sense of self: They revealed identities in which their sexualities, families, histories, communities, place, and spiritualities are inseparable from each other and understood in the context of their whole lives. Many of the participants grew up in northern bush communities. As children in these and other small and isolated communities, they relied heavily on crearivityand imagination in play. with activities that reflected a close connection to family and place. They played with siblings and cousins and neighbours, at family and friends homes, in the bush, acting out their own plays or playing doctor, chef, house, and Sasquatch. As children, many participants were able to slip unchallenged across, between, and along gender boundaries. These same participants, however, were later reined in for gender trangressions: Ijust likedplaying [games! with girls. Ihad what could be called a ir4tciendat 1.3 but somehow I didn cc mysetfas a lesbian or even attracted to girls. Ijust saw it as affection,... I didn even know there was a woid for it until high school But what the hell was a Yesbe-friends anyway? Fragmentation While early in their lives, participants had found comfort and safety grounded in family and place. there also came a time when those things began to fracture. Although only two participants had attended residential schools. each referred to the devastating impacts that residential schools have had on their lives, families, and communities. Many ofus have heard stories about residential schools, but It IS easy to forget how totalizing that experience was: Thejirst thing they did uas ,liz u/c us by boy/iri (,til rI e,ir p na/v ft. By go this wajs bty go this t, zy
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As children, they relied heavily on creativity and imagination in play, with activities that reflected a close connection to family and place.... Many were able to slip unchallenged across, between, and along gender boundaries. However, they were later reined in for gender trangressions.
schools did not get to learn the simple daily how to of and love lessons that affection, caring. provide. ordinarily our families and communities schools noted, the not attended who had As one [us] Some on repeated was All the residential school shit emotionally, sexually, being participants talked about and/or culturally abused by family members and others struggles with depression, anger, and self and their destructive behaviours. As they moved towards their teens and their racial, sexual, and gendered idenr,tv became more apparent, participants had typically encountered racism, hornophohia, and sexism. For some, this began in their family homes. One lighthaired, blueeyed participant was teased by older siblings who suggested she was not her fathers child. Another participant described how their family life changed when their mother remarried:
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A u/lire man raised us. He did not knou or care about A ho riginalpeople. nor did he ncourage to retain our culture W /;,,da r (ri abusir e and rxd uphr; ning. ueren a//or! ed to speak (,ree and soon forgot it. As m siblrnc got olar the) uere notematis ally tim CU /issii the home So eientudl/i / alone bad to deal nit! liO/ehll (dliii, I) parent. a/,oJ,ij/,m 0711 sLi,l has I remember ofun f/e/iii aukuard and un omforrahis arounul 71300 peo/lc / nerc bieri n /511 ti a) or /101) / did,i kno,, U I) / test siiflciest I no c 1 a Ii iit d,d, t h (ie doi OIJe ; . , U 0711! ,Ito d! nilki Phii/t )r:n)/ h 1) 3 is s7s im pedil Bo 571(515 1 PU the ,rile And //ha, hon fro,ii aunt/Per p/ansi 5 a u if/ 1 i Ia cr i 1, ii o, of 771) /1/5 01 IO)/ 07 jist i/it/n: fcs/ /i/, I fit ,Pli
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Some inscribed their fractured sense ofselfon their skin: my arm from cuts because of scars 1 have a little all this, said one participant. Another lamented. 1 reached the point where I was stifled, I could not move, I cut myself Nothing I did made sense anymore. I knew I was on the wrong track. Others numbed themselves with alcohol and drugs. One related that. lhc first tin eight and starting drinking with me I got drunk I dritik mother regularls by fourteen. By seventeen, I a weekly basis with me friends and taking drugs at home. Turning thirteen proved traumatic for anothcr part ic int who drank, took drugs and smoked liii tift tng I was all tucked first time: I remember cr11 ig and 31(31 a prct ft sight lii)
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openly explore their sexuality until they had left their communities. One participant described the aftermath other move to the city: I started to really think and feel things about my sexual identity. I thought about all the ramifications and had all the same doubts, denial, fears, anger. acceptance, and finally joy. While it does not seem unusual or Aboriginal people who are gay to he over whelmed by their struggle to find a place to comfortably be themselves in the unfamiliar culture of a new city, it may also be a place where they find important supports and opportunities to explore their identity.

they have no ansuer or sas hecause that is the uay has always been done, run away from them.

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.Iy spirituality is a cross betueen the Bible and Vitue spirituality You can believe in so,ne aspects /of the Bible! but not let it run you. On a spiritual side, / lave come to acknoulede that we are a iervpouerfil peopk History states that we had our ways oflit tog in harmony with the land It makes sense to me and yet, that Bible itfluence will always be there to remind me ofwhere I grew up.

In the narratives of two-spirit people, coming in is not a declaration or an announcement. Rather, it is an affirmation of interdependent identity: an Aboriginal person who is GLBT comes to understand their relationship to and place and value in their own family, community, culture, history and present-day world.
Coming Togethen Finding Out Selves Again Several participants described points in their lives when they recognized their own ability to interpret their experi ences and choose their identity. In one group discussion, a participant offered this response to another persons description of their confusion about identity: I think we all went through that. it sucks! And it still does, but we have to try to remove those chainskind of/ike Black people had toand admit it, say it: We are the only ones that enslave us now, Many participants came to this recognition with guidance and support from other people. Participants described how their own understandings of sexuality, gender, spirituality, and traditional culture emerged and merged: When Ifirst came out, I came out as a lesbian, I thought I had to ick a side. That was okay for a while. I was comfortable with having relationships with women. Butthe more emotionally/mentally/spiritually/physically healthy and confit4ent I became, the more Irecognizedthat I was also attracted to menwhich is not to insinuate healthy equals stra:ht but that I became mare aware ofrnys4fand who I am.
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Assuming control of their experiences and identity (particularly with respect to their sexuality and spiritualit>) empowered participants and brought them closer to an integrated sense of self: So too has their naming. The self-descriptor two-spirit clearly resonates for participancs drawing together the cultural, sexual, spiritual, and historic aspects of their identities: Ifirst heard the term during a two-spirit gathering.... At the time I was about two years into my coming out process very comfortable with it. But/was reallysearching for how my culturefit into the queer culture. Ididn see mys4fanywhere in the pride marches, demomtratio,u. gay scene, or support groups. So when 1 heard our own histories around being gay / was thrilled Itjust made sense to me that we would have a place. apurpose nations.... I identi with it more than any other labeL like bi-sexual which is too centred on sex.... lam more than that.... Two-spiritness [is] someone who has both masculine andfeminine energies rather than man and woman spirits. It may be semantics but to me the word man and woman are separate and oppositefrom one another therefore it suggests gender roles and rules... a very white, middle-c/ass. Christian constructman aggressively in charge and uomen is a passive folhweit Nat very cultural as our nations tended to be balancesL But when you say masculine andfrminine energies that could mean anyone or anything Being tsoo-spiritedis an identity that I have to a knowl edge on a personal level / know I am and! can say myse.fthat lam.... Thmy knowledge there wai nocret wordfor gay.,.. iVor understanding gays and lesbians is something we are itruggling with. But we are getTing better at it.... / love telling others about the history C

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When I started learning about Aba riEinal spirituality all seemed so mystical. There was a sacredness that seemedso in nc/s morepure.... Ihad a hih schoolteacher who a/so became my traditional teacher He explained that it is not just that things are done, but also how md why. He a/nays encouraged me to question and debate lie 1 a:d :jier you ask someone why and
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lii he specific our people / would sa that lain gay. though I UOUld a/co mention that I am iwospirzted I think that it:c iniporrant to let other; kijon that there en / 1 / ni hea rd of the term in 1 99 14 is the term started coiiiing to the Pride parades.. / am proud to be a Fint Aition, person; it na; kind of /,ke icing on a cake to know that we had our own identity within an i4entiiy. Coming-in On the wall of the main cabin a sign was posted: said, Pow-wow, Saturday night. When I read it, I felt diza, overwhelmed by my imagining what the dance might be. Two-spirit people dancing. I have lived with dreams of dancing, dreams where I spin around, picking up my feet. I have many feathers on my arms and on my body and I know all the steps. I turn into an eagle. Arms extended, I lift ofithe ground and begin to fly around in big circles. Would this be my chance? I waited patiently for Saturday night to come, listening.... When the drumming starred, I was sitting still, listening and watching...And then a blur flew by me and landed inside the circle ofdancers that had formed.... Itwasa two-spirit dancingas irshould be. After that, more two-spirits drifted into the circle. I sat and watched, my eyes edged with tears. I knew my ancestors were with me; I had invited them. We sat and watched all night, proud of our sisters and brothers, yet jealous of their bravery. The time for the last song came. Everybody had to dance. I entered the circle, feeling the drumbeat in my heart. The songs came back to me. I circled the dance area, and in my most humble moment, with the permission of my ancestors, my eleven-year-old two-spirit steps returned to me.... (Wilson 1996: 316>
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from their culture and soc io-historic.tl position. For two spirit people, ss ho typically live with sustained r.icism, homophohiaand sexism, the process (if Loming in to their identity is likely to he cry diflerent from the cunvcrtiional coming out story circ ulated in m.unstream (. is t p1culture. I t these R H identity: ci is an independent an callv declaration of and, their announces their sexuality a friend or family memberat the risk of being met with anger, resistance, violence or flat-out rejection or abandonment. In the narratives of two-spirit people, however. coming in is not a declara non or an announcement. Rather, it is an afErmation of interdependent identity: an Aboriginal person who is;a Hf comes to understand their relationship to and place and value in theirown family, community, culture,hisroryand present-day world. Coming in is not a declaration or an announcement; it is simply presenting oneself and being fully present as an Aboriginal person who is ci in. The two-spirit people who collaborated in this project described times when they felt grounded and whole and stated what their identity means to them:
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narratives. oming out a person musters courage anticipating conflict. to

Ifrel like I am really a part ofthe circle, like I belong to the Great Mystery to something bigger It is a Mystery or Creator or uhatever but things seem to make sense once Ifrund the two-sptrit community it was and is healing. Two-spirit is healing. Things started to clear.... I realized that it wasn about colonization and oppression.... It wasnt about measuring up andcomparingandnot beinggoodenough orsmart enough.... ituasntabout uasnts.... Itzsabout ourstrength, our land.,.our hearts.
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The final word goes to a participant who more often than not preferred to listen and observe during our discussions, but closed our last group meeting with this statement: It has taken me a long time to see that I am valuable. Non that I see it and fel it, everything seems possible. I looked to so many places by travelling and even dating exotic people. But here the answer was riht within me, and the answer is in our communities. W are our communities and they are us. Being two-spirited nians / vn aluavs at home. Conclusion 1 he narratise arc of these stories of tsso_spirit people is really about journeing along a circular path. It is our nature to be whole and to he together. We are horn into a circle of family, communirv, living creatures, and the land. Our encounters with racism, homophohia. and sexism may disturb our balance and we sometimes lose our place in the circle. For those ofus who lose our place, our traditions, history, memories, and collectise expcri

As my friend Wayne Badwound said, Coming in thats what two-spirit people do. As a final step toward the development of their identities as two-spirit people participants began to take responsibility for and control of the meaning of their own experiences and identities. Their reflecrionson sexual identity, traditional cultureand spiritualirv revealed that rather than trying to fit them selves into an established identity, they were embracing and developing identities that fit who they are, including two-spirit identity. Participants described the fit between two-spirit identity and their own understandings of the distinct cultures, histories and traditional knowledges of Aboriginal peoples. Two-spirit identity is one that reflects Aboriginal peoples process of coming in to an empowered identity that integrates their sexuality, culture, 11 other aspects of who they understand and gender and a know themselves to be. As the two-spirit people ssho participated in this research make clear, their understandingof sexualit is inseparable

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seemed to dels ss estern gender roles, I-cr example, \X illiams I I ))6) argues that one aniliro pologists sexual experiences in the held privileged h ins ss ith informanon about Indigenous sexual practices that can floss he iru_orpor.oed rito mainstream safe-sex It teratitre for gay men. ltrreximplt in arti, uSc luded in out ti t/rI! li/1l ess in and I e.ip) none of the auth ropologi sis is ho had conducted research with two spirit people described ways they had contributed posuivelv to the communities in which they had conducted research none, that is, other than \\il hams, who described himself as a status symbol fAir the Mayan man who was both his lover and his informant. Specihc Indigenous Sc holars have identified respect, reciprocitY, and responsibility as three bask principles of Indigenous research methodologs.
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rr : i \Ai, .l!Xj, o, 1 5Xj. I84 1 i,niturtcl l[f,H no coils lfess I )) I. flu-lilies \I Rcsearc Ii sic ihd as a Situated I ,rss ants .i Ito caiuons \ietIiodolog Rcspon tit4Ii Stun/lu t,i / tltiiti,tti 1 III) (I)))> I I 55 16& l,i ohs. .l lierdac lie: A Brief Reviess ofth I.irctatu. (./uu 14,0 lii (it o/ruu/ogL r 2 ( o ) I I 008 I: 2540. J.ic ,rbs, S., \\ lhomas, and S I aug. liio-Spir Prvk i. tin ago: I. nisersirv of Illinois, I 0, heating A. Ms th Smashers, Myth Makers: icc liiiicues iii the dorks of Paula (unn Allen. Glaija Anialdua, ,incl Audre I orde, (,ri,j / Essays: Gty asi 1 I tnbi,i Wriier of (.olor Ed. Id S. Nelson, New York: I larnngmon Park Press, 1993, 73.95 I aug. S. Men,I nti, U.omcnAsMi.n (YarxgingG te4.r ,, ,Vit, ic ,lnut,, an ( ihirre. Ansi in: University ofTczu Press, I 1)98, I sng. S. I NO. I r,iceling> oman: ConductingaFIdork Project on (ender Variance and HornosexuaIityAmc North American Indians, Eds, E. L,ewin and W. L. (hit ill 1/it he/il, I,rharsi: University of Chico Pza.

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References Ahenakew, Freda. (-ec I Inguage ,Strutturcm: A (ret Approacir. \\ inn peg: Pem In ica ii Publications, I 9 Angelino, Ii., and C. 1.. Shedd. A Note ott Berdache. Anitr,, ,in 1 A,it/rro i nt /nol S (I o)95 1: 1 2 1 2(. Blackwood, F.. Sexuality and (ender in Certain Native American Irihes: I lie Case oI( .ross -. ;ender Females. ,S,giu. /ou,na/ o/ U. o,nr,i in ( Ai/turt einiil Socu0 I>) (11)8ii: 2--il ,illender, (, and I M Kochems. I he North mer ci is Beidaclie. ( j,rrtfl .lnt/noupuu/nii 1-i i (I 1>5 u. .>i
-

I esvin, I.llen and \Xillians Leap 1996, Out in t I, rban>, Ill: University of Illinois Press, I ewis, 0. I 9,41, Manly-Hearted Women Among dir North Piegan. American Anthropologist 43: I7347, \latidelhaum, 1). //n PLitus Ciw. New Haven Yak University Press, I 936 Martin, K. \XUys of Knowing. Being and Doing A I heoret cal I- ramework and Methods for Indinms amid lridigemiism Re-search. l4nctng Di3senI ,Iutr,iltiti Sru:Jw.r 6 (200I: 2032I4. Meyer, sj, ,sari,c !iauajian tftisWmolOKVl ontemp.sT ,s,rnra(l!e, I, npuhlished doctoral dissertation. Hiv*id 1duatuon: CambridgC MA. (,raduamc School
of

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Research Project. commkflhs7 .4ni/> u if II, I 1 1 (tS1l.S)(C711c Infrr4flttOfltW1* i,) 0mm. u ( tim I, null I!i IPii/1grt10145 \,,tunmi,lI lncnmiitc of ti%tice, 2003. I .ir 11 . I i I h fun i Ia man.u. ,4rnericnA 15 1)16 1l 28 flu nlnuuun I ,itc! I. V \\ ard. A Bclmctin Self Fa Grew 11111 \r ci tue s I)isbelief . 0 uhiiYaIlfl RcsittJD .\iiuniIk sir,, in \,neri,,.ilt I e,nalcAJI /n lnurtlnrriz/ri Rr/7111n1Tf Ri$M (nit! Nc*Y0 I :IIiein .\. Rogers. and 0. lAstflW). 103. N I 8 ress, I t I {.rtiuenu Ia l b!nluuugraphs of Berdache afld A1tttfl k uc \\ stUmp N,rrtis Americafl O ci ,,t, If
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tiflioi,uocsu,ilit 4 ( i (i)STh 1-1 l o,oe, \X Ld. / ci z the Spirit. -1 (,,j (ne ,ct,i lw/,i, l,iiJo,,c: \w \ork: St. \lariin% Press, I 988. oe \V. I b /o ,ii I,,,, I on,zi Al hciqcieru e: PATRICIA MONTURE I, tics er,ctv cl \csv \ 1eso. o l>riss, I 9) I laijr, C. I hod \\orld \\i.ins Iu\t: Iuvn the Kohkum would be Mad at me I()liii,, ot (. iiti,isrn md ( ulttir.ml loIiiis, inie;j fl ccq,. / I, /e,iiii Pit, it,, cf (Sit! Iii (icr). Id,. (,Iii,,k and I). Pat.tm ,N ess York: Routleclge, I 9) I 93I 06. Sun ins, S. I.. ( row Indian I (erm.mphrodires. Imer ,in [9Qi): 550-81 .lnriropo/utt kohkurn would he triad at me cteticnson I,. ,1anitoha /sJtti, Itop/e OIU/IlOli Oie.s ill/cry: it she were still here. Ilntc,,aI no/ ( ontcsnporary A pci . Win mpeg: I he for dying my hair ( otmn.,iI on 1loittosexti.ility and ReIigion I 95. hiding the gray Steinhauer, I). Native Eduv.mtion: A I earning Jomirnes, (hey, Im not 50 vet) Lnpuhlished masters rhesis, I,,nisersits of \Iherta : wearing make-up Edmonton, Conada, 1997, and fancy clothes, Sieinhauer, E. Ihoughts on an Indigenou s Rescarvh supposed to love who you are MethodoIogs (inad,an Journal of Niltive Lduc ation and how the Creator made you. 26 (2) (200.3): 69-81. not supposed to try and change that, Thompson. M. 1 994. Gay Soul: Finding rite 1/car t oJGay Spirit and tstt,ire, San Francisco: Harper. Kohkum would be mad at me Iiexler, R.Sex and Conquest: Gendered Violence, Polit ical if she were still here, Order, and the European Coiiquest o/heA merzcas. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995. kohkum never had to live with Weher- Pu Iwax, C. Identity Formation and (.onsciousne ss white people with Reftrence to Northern Alberta C,ree and Mtis least not how I have live with white peop le. Indigenous Peoples. Un published doctor.ml dissertatio n. i have them every day, all day, University otAlberta: Edmonton, Canada, 2003 . at work, Weber-Pillwax, C. Indigenous Research Meth odology: (maybe I have it wrong, maybe they got me) Exploratory Discussion of an Elusive Subject. Journal kohkum just had the indian agent of Educational Thought 33 (1) (1999): 31 -45. telling her what to do Weher-Piliwax, C. What is Indigenous Rese arch? every now and again Ctnadian Journal fNatrre Education 25 (2) (200 1): reserve used to be refuge 166-174. (maybe it still is) Williams, W. U, Being Cay and Doing Field work. Out in the Field, Eds. E. Lewin and W. I cap. Urba na: but, see University of Chkago Press, 1996. 71 -85. I listened to what the white folk told Williams, W U. [he Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Dirers ity get an education in American Indian Culture. Boston: Beacon Press, got me a job 1986. in a fancy university \ilson, Alex. Daih,n Berdache [he ISo- Spirrt Race: A Reiitw of the / iterature. Unpublished qualifiing paper. I hide my hair and the evidence Harvard (;raduate School of Fdw.arion: (am bridge, of gray injun wisdom. MA, 2001, I hide my face, behind a mask Wilson .Alex. Flow We Find ( )nrselves: Identity of revlon easy, breezy, beautitul 1 )evelopment and Iwo Spirit People. Hart ard lduc,ztwnal R,iieu 66 (2 (1996) 303 I I hide. ,ikon. \Icx, I irzng Wll. Aboriginal WSne (,uliur 5 \ n, ,rl (Or maybe, I just like i ar paint) Identp and t //ne c, Win mpeg: Prairie \VSmens Heal th (entre tor I x ellence, 200 \\ikon, Ales. Iwo spirit People. l:o lopctlitoJIeoiiiiit l/eories. Id. I ( ode, New Yirk: Routledge, 2000 : Patio it Iitti, pn trt .i;pir ,irlc,t \\ Eon, ,. ,16e,jr,/c 1, 1 ( ,rtuwcly. Toronto: len woo d,
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