2SLGBTQIA+ Resources
Reading List: Two Spirit
“Two-Spirit” refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit, and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity. As an umbrella term it may encompass same-sex attraction and a wide variety of gender variance, including people who might be described in Western culture as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, gender queer, cross-dressers or who have multiple gender identities. Two-spirit can also include relationships that could be considered poly. The creation of the term “two-spirit” is attributed to Elder Myra Laramee, who proposed its use during the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference, held in Winnipeg in 1990. The term is a translation of the Anishinaabemowin term niizh manidoowag, two spirits.[1]
[1] University of Toronto and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. (2022). Two-Spirit community. https://lgbtqhealth.ca/community/two-spirit.php
A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby; Mary Louisa Plummer (As told to)
ISBN: 9780887558122Publication Date: 2016-04-22A compelling, harrowing, but ultimately uplifting story of resilience and self-discovery. "A Two-Spirit Journey" is Ma-Nee Chacaby’s extraordinary account of her life as an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian.
Location: Okanagan LibraryBecoming Two-Spirit by Brian Joseph Gilley
ISBN: 9780803271265Publication Date: 2006-10-01The Two-Spirit man occupies a singular place in Native American culture, balancing the male and the female spirit even as he tries to blend gay and Native identity. The accompanying ambiguities of gender and culture come into vivid relief in the powerful and poignant Becoming Two-Spirit, which takes an in-depth look at contemporary American Indian gender diversity.
Location: Koerner & Okanagan LibraryComing Out Stories : Two-Spirit Narratives in Atlantic Canada by Sylliboy, John R
Publication Date: 2017This research delves into the coming out stories of two spirited Aboriginal persons living in communities and urban environments across the Atlantic region.
Location: OnlineQueer Indigenous Studies by Qwo-Li Driskill (Editor); Chris Finley (Editor); Brian Joseph Gilley (Editor); Scott Lauria Morgensen (Editor)
ISBN: 9780816529070Publication Date: 2011-03-15This collection examins critical, Indigenous-centered approaches to understanding gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and Two-Spirit (GLBTQ2) lives and communities and the creative implications of queer theory in Native studies.
Location: Koerner & Okanagan LibraryTwo-Spirit People: American Indian, Lesbian Women and Gay Men by Lester B. Brown
ISBN: 9781560230892Publication Date: 1997-05-13Two Spirit People is the first-ever look at social science research exploration into the lives of American Indian lesbian women and gay men. Editor Lester B. Brown posits six gender styles in traditional American Indian culture: men and women, not-men and not-women (persons of one biological sex assuming the identity of the opposite sex in some form), and gays and lesbians. He brings together chapters that emphasize American Indian spirituality, present new perspectives, and provide readers with a beginning understanding of the place of lesbian, gay, and bisexual Indians within American Indian culture and within American society.
Location: XWI7XWA LIBRARY special collectionTwo-Spirit People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality by Sue-Ellen Jacobs (Editor); Wesley Thomas (Editor); Sabine Lang (Editor)
ISBN: 0252023447Publication Date: 1997-08-01This landmark book combines the voices of Native Americans and non-Indians, anthropologists and others, in an exploration of gender and sexuality issues as they relate to lesbian, gay, transgendered, and other "marked" Native Americans.
Location: Koerner & Okanagan LibrarySovereign Erotics by Qwo-Li Driskill (Editor); Daniel Heath Justice (Editor); Deborah Miranda (Editor); Lisa Tatonetti (Editor)
Call Number: PS509.H57 S68 2011ISBN: 9780816502424Publication Date: 2011-10-01Two-Spirit people, identified by many different tribally specific names and standings within their communities, have been living, loving, and creating art since time immemorial. It wasn't until the 1970s, however, that contemporary queer Native literature gained any public notice. Even now, only a handful of books address it specifically, most notably the 1988 collection Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology. Since that book's publication twenty-three years ago, there has not been another collection published that focuses explicitly on the writing and art of Indigenous Two-Spirit and Queer people. This landmark collection strives to reflect the complexity of identities within Native Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Two-Spirit (GLBTQ2) communities. Gathering together the work of established writers and talented new voices, this anthology spans genres (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essay) and themes (memory, history, sexuality, indigeneity, friendship, family, love, and loss) and represents a watershed moment in Native American and Indigenous literatures, Queer studies, and the intersections between the two. Collaboratively, the pieces in Sovereign Erotics demonstrate not only the radical diversity among the voices of today's Indigenous GLBTQ2 writers but also the beauty, strength, and resilience of Indigenous GLBTQ2 people in the twenty-first century. Contributors: Indira Allegra, Louise Esme Cruz, Paula Gunn Allen, Qwo-Li Driskill, Laura Furlan, Janice Gould, Carrie House, Daniel Heath Justice, Maurice Kenny, Michael Koby, M. Carmen Lane, Jaynie Lara, Chip Livingston, Luna Maia, Janet McAdams, Deborah Miranda, Daniel David Moses, D. M. O'Brien, Malea Powell, Cheryl Savageau, Kim Shuck, Sarah Tsigeyu Sharp, James Thomas Stevens, Dan Taulapapa McMullin, William Raymond Taylor, Joel Waters, and Craig Womack.
Location: Koerner LibraryTwo Spirit Acts: Queer Indigenous Performances by Jean O'Hara (Editor)
Call Number: YK H27 T86 2013ISBN: 9781770911840Publication Date: 2014-04-15In this collection of short but powerful two-spirit plays, characters dispel conventional notions of gender and sexuality while celebrating Indigenous understandings. With a refreshing spin, the plays in Two Spirit Acts touch on topics of desire, identity, and community as they humorously tackle the colonial misunderstandings of Indigenous people. From a female trickster story centered on erotic lesbian tales to the farcical story about a new nation of Indigenous people called the Nation of Mischief, this collection creates a space to explore what it means to be queer and Indigenous. Includes: Agokwe by Waawaate Fobister, Hot ’n’ Soft by Muriel Miguel, and Justice of the Piece, Séance, and Taxonomy of the European Male by Kent Monkman.
Location: XWI7XWA LibraryAsegi Stories by Qwo-Li Driskill
Call Number: E99.C5 D795 2016ISBN: 9780816530489Publication Date: 2016-04-07In Cherokee Asegi udanto refers to people who either fall outside of men's and women's roles or who mix men's and women's roles. Asegi, which translates as "strange," is also used by some Cherokees as a term similar to "queer." For author Qwo-Li Driskill, asegi provides a means by which to reread Cherokee history in order to listen for those stories rendered "strange" by colonial heteropatriarchy. As the first full-length work of scholarship to develop a tribally specific Indigenous Queer or Two-Spirit critique, Asegi Stories examines gender and sexuality in Cherokee cultural memory, how they shape the present, and how they can influence the future. The theoretical and methodological underpinnings of Asegi Stories derive from activist, artistic, and intellectual genealogies, referred to as "dissent lines" by Maori scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith. Driskill intertwines Cherokee and other Indigenous traditions, women of color feminisms, grassroots activisms, queer and Trans studies and politics, rhetoric, Native studies, and decolonial politics. Drawing from oral histories and archival documents in order to articulate Cherokee-centered Two-Spirit critiques, Driskill contributes to the larger intertribal movements for social justice.
Location: Okanagan LibraryUrban Indigenous Youth Reframing Two-Spirit by Marie Laing
Call Number: HQ76.3.C217ISBN: 9780367556938Publication Date: 2021-03-01This book offers insights from young trans, queer, and two-spirit Indigenous people in Toronto who examine the breadth and depth of meanings that two-spirit holds. Tracing the refusals and desires of these youth and their communities, Urban Indigenous Youth Reframing Two-Spirit expands critical conversations on queerness, Indigeneity, and community and simultaneously troubles the idea that articulating a definition of two-spirit is a worthwhile undertaking. Beyond the expansion of these conversations, this book also seeks to empower community members, educators, and young people -- both Indigenous and non-Indigenous -- to better support the self-determination of trans, queer, and two-spirit Indigenous youth. By including a research zine and community discussion guidelines, Laing demonstrates the possibility of powerful change that comes from Indigenous people creating spaces to share knowledge with one another.
Location: Online
- Last Updated: February 19, 2025