Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America

This history of Indigenous traditions of gender, sexuality, and resistance reveals how, despite centuries of colonialism. This work aims to decolonize the history of gender and sexuality in North America, honoring Indigenous people who saved their cultural life and spiritual beliefs by taking them underground.

Before European colonization in 1492, Indigenous communities included people who identified as neither male nor female, using tribally specific identities like aakíí’skassi, miati, or okitcitakwe, and more. Centuries of violence and persecution imperiled the existence of what are now called two-spirit people, a modern umbrella term for feminine and masculine qualities in one person. This book draws from written sources, archaeological evidence, preserved art and oral traditions, spanning centuries. It reveals how colonialism’s written archives used language erase and skew perceptions of history. Ultimately, this book tells a tale of modern resistance.