1. Doubleweaving Two-Spirit Critiques
2. Gender Diversity - Cross-cultural Variations
It was a pleasant surprise to find out that even in Native
Indian communities, which I have never thought of (probably due to lack of
awareness), there were various "non-normatively" gender-ed people. It is a pity
that with the onset of the European domination of Indian tribes in the New
World, Native Indians were forced to restrict their gender roles into a binary
system – male or female.
In the first chapter of her text ‘Gender Diversity Cross-cultural
Variations’, Serena Nanda portrays peaceful Indian communities which accepted
and allowed the expression of various gender characteristics no matter what the
Indians’ inborn biological sex was. It was as if it didn’t matter to them at
all. For instance, men with female characteristics would wear women’s clothes
in daily lives and when they were to fight in wars, they would change their
clothes into those of men. Even in the professions/occupations of the
gender-variant Indians, they were able to pursue a chore of their choice under
the absolute flexibility of the society. Female gender variants would hunt
along with men and male gender variants would take care of the household
successfully. This positively leads to the fact that gender variant Indians
formed the central part of the gender-discussion instead of playing a marginal
role as they do in today’s world.
However, as the Europeans invaded their land as well as
culture ever since the contact, Native Indians asserts that they have been
under their ‘colonization’. As one of the means for ‘decolonization’ of the
Native tribes that still exist in North America, they are raising issues such
as abnormal gender roles present in Indian communities and conflicts that they
face due to their race, class and gender. In the writing ‘Doubleweaving
Two-Spirit Critiques’, a Cherokee author Qwo-Li Driskill shows how the
Europeans’ colonization of the Native Indian tribes constricted the gender
variation into just two roles – male and female, with the addition of an
unofficial and still disputed title, ‘two-spirited’ people (which the Europeans
decided to call people with queer gender identities). The Native Indians are not
just expressing their discontent about the general European rule laid upon them
regarding gender roles. This seems to mean something more significant to them.
In fact, through protesting against and exterminating the European cultural
remnants, they intend to overthrow the still existent European control over
them.
Another thing I found interesting was how the issue of
gender roles is further complicated by the race, class and gender identity. The
expression used, ‘doubleweaving’ which was a technique taken from the
traditional way of making baskets of a Native Indian tribe, the Cherokees,
denotes how sophisticated and complex the problem of solving gender roles is.
It seems to be a general contention that the present binary
gender system should be abolished in order to eliminate the discrimination of
the minority. I believe that the present two gender roles can be dissolved and
we can eventually come up with terms that would each signify each and every
gender present. Furthermore, in order to succeed in dissolving the binary
gender system, I think that getting rid of our prejudices and pre-conceptions
and social norms toward specific genders is an essential step. It is my firm
belief that greater gender diversity will bring out a more enriched and
interactive society.
No comments:
Post a Comment