Diné Decolonization

Abstract In 2019, Diné artist Bean (Jolene) Nenibah Yazzie and their partner, poet and Tribal health advocate Hannabah Blue (also Diné), decided to get married. Desiring a traditional Diné ceremony, they sought a medicine person who would conduct a marriage ceremony. They struggled to find one, instead experiencing the homophobic and misogynistic ramifications of settler colonialism that continue to echo in their community. As in many Indigenous cultures, pre-invasion Diné customs considered women to be powerful leaders and protectors of their communities, and these customs simultaneously accepted and even celebrated gender variance beyond the cisgender male-female binary. But with colonization came the imposition of reductive gender roles drained of both respect for women and recognition of non-binary identities.