Understanding Indigenous Gender Relations and Violence: Becoming Gender AWAke PDF
Preview Understanding Indigenous Gender Relations and Violence: Becoming Gender AWAke
Catherine E. McKinley Understanding Indigenous Gender Relations and Violence Becoming Gender AWAke Understanding Indigenous Gender Relations and Violence Catherine E. McKinley Understanding Indigenous Gender Relations and Violence Becoming Gender AWAke Catherine E. McKinley School of Social Work Tulane University New Orleans, LA, USA ISBN 978-3-031-18582-3 ISBN 978-3-031-18583-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18583-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Dedication and Acknowledgment I dedicate this book to my mother, Margaret “Maggie” O’Connor, who set the stage and whose path I followed in working for gender equity and supporting women, gender expansive people, mothers, and families, for a greater quality of life. This book is drawn from over a decade of community-based participatory work with Indigenous peoples. I honor and acknowledge these peoples1, especially those of the Gulf South, on whose unceded land I am honored to live and work. I respect these diverse Indigenous peoples’ sacred connections to their ancient homelands, along with their continued historical, political, and sovereign rights. I also acknowledge those left out of federal or state recognition and those no longer with us due to settler colonial genocide and forced relocation. This work aims to offset dominant Western European narratives, and instead, highlights and centers work with Indigenous peo- ples and women (Arvin et al., 2013). Not only do Indigenous societies provide a counter-narrative to the Western settler colonial patriarchy, but they also offer exam- ples of aspirant, transcendent, and alterNative2 gender scripts. Because “Indigenous feminisms have the potential to expose and destabilize patriarchal gender roles” (Nickel, 2020, p. 2). I integrate the experiences of Indigenous women who sit at the relational intersections of sexism, racism, and settler colonialism. Two-Spirit3 (Fiola, 2020), gender expansive, and gender nonconforming people can illuminate much for cisgender people by exposing the assumptions, weaknesses, and implica- tions for those who do not ascribe to such prescriptive or rigid roles (Pyle, 2020). 1 In particular, I acknowledge the Mississippi Band of the Choctaw Indians, the United Houma Nation, the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, the Bayou Lafourche Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw People (BCCM), the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of Louisiana, the Addai Caddo Tribe, the Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb, the Clifton Choctaw, the Four Winds Tribe Louisiana Cherokee Confederacy, the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of BCCM, the Isle de Jean Charles Band, Natchitoches Tribe of Louisiana, the Louisiana Band of Choctaw, and the Pointe-Au-Chien Indian Tribe 2 I introduce the concept of alterNative to denote how historical oppression altered Native/Indigenous gender relations and how historic and decolonized gender relations offer an emancipatory alterNa- tive pathway forward. 3 The vision of Two-Spirit people was given to Myra Laramee, an Indigenous person, in the form of a powerful dream, specifically meant for Indigenous peoples. v vi Dedication and Acknowledgment References Arvin, M., Tuck, E., & Morrill, A. (2013). Decolonizing Feminism: Challenging Connections between Settler Colonialism and Heteropatriarchy. Feminist Formations, 25(1), 8–34. https:// www.jstor.org/stable/43860665 Fiola, C. (2020). Naawenangweyaabeg coming in: Intersections of Indigenous sexuality and spirituality. In S. Nickel & A. Fehr (Eds.), In good relation: History, gender, and kinship in Indigenous feminisms (pp. 136–153). University of Manitoba Press. Nickel, S. (2020). Introduction. In S. Nickel & A. Fehr (Eds.), In good relation: History, gender, and kinship in Indigenous feminisms (pp. 1–22). University of Manitoba Press. Pyle, K. (2020). Reclaiming traditional gender roles: A two-spirit critique. In S. Nickel & A. Fehr (Eds.), In good relation: History, gender, and kinship in Indigenous feminisms (pp. 109–122). University of Manitoba Press. Preface Can you think of a society or community not organized by settler colonial heteropa- triarchal (heterosexual and patriarchal) and heteropaternalistic (father head of nuclear family structures) gender structures (Arvin et al., 2013)? Go ahead, plan a vacation—where to? Examples of gender-e galitarian or women-centered societies are largely absent. To find hints of where they have been buried or covered up, it is necessary to pull out the interwoven tapestry of the history of the United States and critically examine the history of Indigenous gender relations for glimmers of hope. Historically, the precolonial societies of many Indigenous peoples have been struc- tured in female-centered, complementary, and egalitarian ways (Suzack et al., 2010). This is not to romanticize or idealize societies with real strengths and weak- nesses. However, the possibility that a society not organized through heteropatriar- chal gender relations creates contrast and a pathway for emancipation for all. It opens a possibility for it to be realized again, realized anew. In my experience listen- ing to the life histories of survivors of violence, women who grew up with exposure to violence had the hardest times becoming free of violence because they had not been exposed to an alterNative. Such is the case for many, if not most women with Western European ancestry from which settler colonizers first arrived. Structures of settler colonial historical oppression are those that persist and result from settlers coming from a foreign place to take over the land to make it their home; the logic of settler colonialism is that of elimination – to eradicate, remove, and assimilate Indigenous people to make way for settlers to take over land to build wealth; this process requires the exploitation of labor, often in the form of chattel slaves and often a feminized and racialized workforce (Arvin et al., 2013). Such heteropatriar- chal societies often have not been exposed to an alterNative, another way. Although settler colonialism disrupted the complementary and more egalitarian roles of many pre-colonial Indigenous communities, likely because they posed an incredible threat to the patriarchy, Indigenous history can offer some aspirant gender dynamics, representing an alterNative1 option to what replaced it. I intro- 1 The concept, alterNative, denotes how historical oppression altered Native/Indigenous gender relations and how historic and decolonized gender relations offer an emancipatory alterNative pathway forward. vii viii Preface duce the concept of alterNative to denote how settler colonial structures of historical oppression altered Native/Indigenous gender relations and how historic and decolo- nized gender relations offer an emancipatory alterNative pathway forward. Although Freire (2000) posed that those who have been oppressed hold the key to all who have been sickened by oppression, this work synthesizes the Black les- bian feminist’s critical work of Audre Lorde (2007) and rejects the notion that it is the job of the oppressed to liberate the oppressor. Lorde (2007, p. 133) states: “No woman is responsible for altering the psyche of her oppressor, even when that psyche is embodied in another woman.” Still, after 12 years of examining the set- tler-colonial dynamics, resilience, liberation, and transcendence of Indigenous peo- ples, I have inadvertently found a key unlocking liberation for me as well. As a woman with settler ancestors, primarily from Ireland, and also from Sweden and Nordic cultures, I learned that the British, pilot-tested the tools of settler colonial- ism on my own ancestors in Ireland (Gershon, 2022). I have learned, whether your ancestors are those of settler-colonialists, the colonized, or a combination therein, our liberation and humanity is interlinked. Just as the structures of settler colonists were collective, so must the tools for emancipation (Lorde, 2007). I did not have access to my own liberation directly. As a woman with settler colonial ancestry, I was implicitly taught only to think only of others, which precluded directly address- ing my own liberation. Being disconnected to any cultural or ancestral memory of the more egalitarian gender roles that were present in precolonial Celtic, Norse- indeed across African, European, preChristian and precolonial contexts across the world (e.g., Booth, 2006; Fuglestad, 2006; Luppi, 2019) -- I was subsumed in the internalized and over-defined heteropatriarchal and heteropaternalistic gender roles. Internalizing the devaluation of women, it felt inappropriate, improper, unaccept- able, indeed like a betrayal to care about my own humanity in the ways it was appropriate to think of others’ humanity. Ironically, as I became aware of how expansive Indigenous gender relations changed over time as a result of settler colo- nial historical oppression, I became aware of how prescriptive heteropaternal and heteropatriarchal settler colonial gender roles hurt everyone, myself included. Thus, I dedicate my liberation to these peoples with whom I have worked for well over a decade, and with whom I hope to continue to serve and honor with reciprocity, respect, and humility. I hold up Indigenous women as examples of an alterNative gender expansive script (those that challenge conventional heterpatriarchal and het- eropaternalistic gender roles). This example may be a demonstration that an alter- Native exists, one that can be striven for and honored for its strengths. New Orleans, LA, USA Catherine E. McKinley Preface ix References Arvin, M., Tuck, E., & Morrill, A. (2013). Decolonizing Feminism: Challenging Connections between Settler Colonialism and Heteropatriarchy. Feminist Formations, 25(1), 8–34. https:// www.jstor.org/stable/43860665 Booth, K. M. (2006). Conceiving the Nation: The “Politics of the Womb” in Kenya, the United States, Greece, and Ireland. Journal of Women’s History, 18(2), 151–157. https://doi. org/10.1353/jowh.2006.0034 Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th Anniv. ed.). Continuum. Fuglestad, F. (2006). Precolonial Sub-Saharan Africa and the Ancient Norse World: Looking for Similarities. History in Africa, 33, 179–203. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20065770 Gershon, L. (2022). Britain’s blueprint for colonialism: Made in Ireland. https://daily.jstor.org/ britains-blueprint-for-colonialism-made-in-ireland/ Lorde, Audre. (2007). Sister outsider: Essays and speeches. Crossing Press. Luppi, F. (2019). The (De-) Coloniality of Gender in Irish Plays from the Beginning of the Twentieth Century to the Late Thirties. Anglistica AION: An Intersciplinary Journal, 23(2), 155–165. https://doi.org/10.1353/jowh.2006.0034 Suzack, C., Huhndorf, S. M., Perreault, J., & Barman, J. (Eds.). (2010). Indigenous women and feminism: Politics, activism, culture. UBC Press. Overview and Structure of This Book This book aims at fostering the reader’s capacity to live gender AWAke. It extends and deepens the framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence (FHORT) by delving deep into its resilience, transcendence, and wellness compo- nents while centering gender. Living gender AWAke encompasses living in align- ment with agility (AWA). To live in alignment, is to live from ones’ center and in accordance with one’s authentic self, with agility, by nimbly responding to life’s constantly shifting situations with clear awareness of how gender and other socio- structural factors affect daily life. This book focuses on the first part of the process of living AWAke by becoming decolonized from prescriptive gender roles that inhibit living in alignment with one’s true or authentic self. Understanding the changing gender roles for Indigenous peoples over time enables greater understand- ing of how structural sexism and misogyny hurt people across personal and political spheres. This book is a synthesis and extension building upon an expansive body of pre- liminary work on violence against Indigenous women and children, gender roles, and how heteropatriarchal and heteropaternalistic gender (re)appears in the home– life balance. This book begins by providing a synthesis of the key conclusions and perspectives gleaned from a decade of prior empirical research with Indigenous peoples; insights gleaned from this work provide an overview and introduction as to how settler forms of structural sexism and the patriarchy affect the daily lives of women and gender expansive people. Next, a deeper examination of the insights gleaned from each of the empirical works that informs the overarching FHORT are focal. Because the original works may be found elsewhere, this book takes a sec- ondary look to extend, synthesize, and examine “big picture” conclusions that may be drawn from this work, how they are related to Indigenist gender roles, and the implications for gender equity and gender roles more broadly. The book is struc- tured with empirical research informing the following two parts: 1. Part I: The Problem—How Settler Colonial Structures of Historical Oppression Drive Gender-Based Inequities and Violence and Strategies Toward Emancipation 2. Part II: Woman-Centered and Gender Expansive Protective Pathways xi
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