Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country

Abstract

Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country. By Brian Joseph Gilley. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006. Pp. xiv + 214, preface, acknowledgments, notes, bibliography, index. $16.95 paper) "Two-Spirit" represents nowadays an empowering, self-claimed identity. This book explores how Two-Spirit men occupy and renegotiate membership between multiple identities including native, gay, and traditional. It draws on the author's four years of participant observation of and interviews with Two-Spirit men in Colorado and Oklahoma. Gilley gives the reader an intimate look at a group of gay men searching for "self- and social acceptance." They want a useful, positive role within contemporary Native society where tradition has cultural currency and homophobia now co-opted represents a traditional value. The multiple meanings of the term "Two-Spirit" celebrate both the male and female spirit and highlight the flexibility of gender identity. Maintaining a foothold in the gay and Indian worlds is the most challenging part of being Two-Spirit. Some anthropologists argue that Two-Spirit people have historically held valued social roles in Native culture having little to do with their sexual identity. Yet homophobia, originating from European Christian colonization, takes on a life of its own within present-day Native communities, actively constraining Two-Spirit men's power to meld gay and Native identities. It at once alienates them from their own people and leaves them susceptible to racism and the deleterious effects of bar culture in the Anglo gay community. Thus, "cultural compromise" becomes a vital identity-building process as these men struggle to reintegrate Two-Spirit as "a form of personhood" among contemporary American Indians. Simplicity of design and the author's well-written text make this book an easy, straightforward read. However, two faults invite comment. First - though I realize authors do not have much say about a publisher's marketing techniques, including cover art - the reader can be put off by the cover illustration: a stock photo of feathers, two yellow, one violet and one green against a white background. This image, which I searched out online, is tided "Dyed Turkey Feathers." In Native American regalia-making, feathers, turkeys and specific colors do have symbolic value, but on this book cover the feathers seem to be playing on gay stereotypes in the Anglo world. In Chapter Five the author shows that Two-Spirit people perfect material art traditions as part of their social role and are unsurpassed in their beadwork. For cover art, a picture of a dress, beaded buckskin, medallion, fan, staff, or drum and rattle actually made by a Two-Spirit person would have been far more appropriate. Second, though Chapter One, "Seeking Self- and Social Acceptance," properly explains the limitations of Gilley's sample, the preliminaries portraying his researcher role and the ambiguities surrounding it lack relevant information. …