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Native American & Indigenous Studies

Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) is an interdisciplinary field that explores the diverse and complex experiences, histories, cultures, and contemporary lives and challenges of Native and Indigenous peoples in the Americas and beyond.

Welcome + About

Welcome to the Native American & Indigenous Studies subject guide for Indiana University Bloomington

We're glad you're here. This guide contains information pertaining to the subject areas of race, migration, and Indigeneity. Here you'll find featured contenthelpful resources and services for scholarsinstructional support informationresearch & writing tipsnew titles, and recommended resources. You can also hover over each item in the navigation menu to the left for a brief description of what you'll find there; if you're using a mobile device, there is also a summary on each page.

The subject specialist and library liaison for this area is nicholae cline. If you would like to contact them, please use the profile box located on the left-hand side of this page. If you would like to request a purchase for our collections, you can use this form.

To learn more about who we are and the services we offer, including links to key general library services, take a look at the About Us page of this guide.


About Native American & Indigenous Studies

Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) is an interdisciplinary field that explores the diverse and complex experiences, histories, cultures, and contemporary lives and challenges of Native and Indigenous peoples in the Americas and beyond. NAIS draws from various disciplines such as history, anthropology, literature, law, ethnic studies, cultural studies, and more to examine the political sovereignty, intergovernmental relations, cultural expressions, social movements, and environmental challenges and activism of Native and Indigenous communities. NAIS also critically engages with the colonial legacies, racial formations, and epistemological frameworks that shape the representation and understanding of Native and Indigenous peoples across time.

To learn more about the College of Arts & Sciences Program in Native American & Indigenous Studies, please visit their website. Because this program maintains close ties with our cultural center, we encourage you to also learn about and connect with the First Nations Educational and Cultural Center as well.

The Global Indigenous Studies Network is another helpful resource for anyone who is interested in indigeneity from a global perspective.

Featured | Spotlight on Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQIA Peoples

This page provides suggested resources (books, video & film, articles & databases) relevant to Two-Spirit Identity and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA) Indigenous Identity.

The term Two-Spirit (2S, 2Spirit, Two Spirit, Twospirited) was coined in 1990 at the Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering in Winnipeg. The term is a pan-Indian, umbrella term used by a number of Indigenous Native Americans to describe Native Peoples who fulfill traditional third-gender or variant-gender roles in their communities and cultures. The term is generally accepted but faces controversy from critics who consider it as reinforcing western notions of binary gender or attempting to erase terms that already exist in traditional communities for gender-variant members. 

Acceptance, treatment, status, and rights of LGBTQIA Indigenous peoples and Two-Spirit individuals have varied historically. Contemporary understandings of Two-Spirit identity and what it means to be Indigenous and LGBTQIA vary greatly from tribe to tribe. We hope the resources collected in these pages will help readers gain a nuanced understanding of Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA Indigenous Identity. 

Video: Nick Metcalf gives insight into his experiences being a two spirit, and explains why gender fluidity is necessary in today’s world | TEDx (2015).


About the Playlist

This mix features two-spirit and other Indigenous LGBTQIA and nonbinary/transgender artists from across Turtle Island, as well as other parts of the world. A work in progress, we welcome suggestions for artists from these groups for inclusion.

Note: To enjoy the playlist in full, click on the white Spotify icon in the upper-right corner of the playlist, and press the "like" (♡) button in the application to save.

To learn more about the artists and communities represented in this playlist, check out some of the resources we consulted:

Further Reading & Resources

Next Steps

If you'd like to learn more about this month-long celebration of Indigenous communities and identity, we've created a guide with list of resources, as well as a playlist featuring Indigenous musicians, on the Media Studies Research Guide. There is also an overview of Indigenous Philosophy on the Philosophy Research Guide. 

For more information about the Indigenous communities with ongoing and traditional ties to this land, and how to support Indigenous groups and movements, take a look at our Land Acknowledgment and Local Indigenous Resources guide.

Fiction


Poetry


Drama

Essays


Memoirs

Featured Videos

Documentaries


Feature Films


Short Films

  • "I Still Believe"  - Short film by Raven Davis about love, hope and wonder. 
  • "It's Not Your Fault"  - Short movie by Raven Davis about the violence of online comments made towards Indigenous people, specifically Indigenous Women, children and 2 Spirit people. Bringing attention to the negligence of online/social media outlets allowing hate speech in Canada.
  • Kent Monkman Studios - compilation of short films on YouTube from Kent Monkman (also known as Miss Chief Eagle Testickle), a Canadian artist of Cree ancestry working in a variety of mediums, including painting, film/video, performance and installation.
  • "Mars-Womb-Man"  - short film by James Diamond. Man from Venus (super 8, 4 min, 1998) meets Mars Womb-Man. She's an answer without a question and he a question without answer. A sustainable foreground emerges only when they forge paths. A motion portrait where opposites distract and the peripheral rule is born.
  • "Meskanahk (My Path)"  - 'Meskanahk' is a video narrative of a young 'half-breed' man's journey off a Cree reserve. This video highlights the motivations that progressed his journey and the questions, regrets and fears raised on his path from childhood to adulthood. 'Meskanahk' chronicles the plight of this young man's fears of being in situations where he was always labeled as an: 'other', and how this had propelled him to run from situation to situation. In the end, when this young man stops running, he wonders if his parents hate him for having run away. 
  • The Misadventures of Pussy Boy  - series of animated shorts by Alec Butler, featuring Alick, a trans/2spirit/intersex teen, going on various misadventures. 
  • Thirza Cuthand  - collection of short films by queer transgender Plains Cree artist TJ Cuthand. 
  • Two-Spirit & Queer  (NFB) - Collection of films by Indigenous two-spirit and queer filmmakers, from the National Film Board of Canada. 
  • Tits on a Bull - short film by Tim Worrall. Set in a Maori women's rugby team, Tits on a Bull follows Phoenix, the young star player, as she struggles to choose between her longtime friendship with aging coach Rusty or her new relationship with lesbian team-captain, Mel.

Other Online Videos

  • 21st International Two Spirit Gathering Powwow  - footage is of the Grand Entry of the 21 International Two-Spirit Gathering held at Aspen Lodge in Estes Park Colorado, for the Two-Spirit Society of Denver.
  • As They Are: Two-Spirit People in the Modern World  - 20 minute film by Mike Garrido and Tarek Tohme featuring Elton Naswood (Navajo), Ben Lucero Wolf (Kiowa), and Richard Eric Dearmore (Paiute).
  • C2C: Two Spirit and Queer People of Colour Conference  - C2C: Two Spirit & Queer People of Colour Call to Conversation with LGBT & Allies" met from Friday, October 20 to Sunday, October 22, 2017 at The University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba. C2C was hosted by the University of Winnipeg (UW) in partnership with Two-Spirit People of Manitoba and QTPOC Winnipeg.
  • The Candy Show  - The Candy Show is a National variety TV series featuring the Aboriginal Comedian Candy Palmater and her music guest and a Performing artist on each episode.
  • Ma-Nee Chacaby talks about Two Spirit identities  - Author and Indigenous elder Ma-Nee Chacaby talks about Two Spirit identities.
  • Our Families: LGBT / Two Spirit Native American Stories  - We all go through some of the same struggles: we struggle to access healthy food, quality education, and affordable healthcare. These struggles affect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) families of color in very unique ways. This Our Families video features Native LGBT/Two Spirit families sharing their personal stories of struggle, acceptance, and family.
  • Queer Profiles: Alec Butler  (Cathexis LGBTQ Oral History) - In this fascinating interview, award-winning filmmaker, playwright and 2spirit/trans/intersex activist Alec Butler shares his story of growing up queer in Cape Breton and being drawn to art as a way of getting through decades of questioning his identity and gender.
  • Two Spirit   (Injunuity) - Two Spirit: A person of First Nations or Native American descent possessing both a male and female spirit. An umbrella term used to describe the fluidity of First Nations/Native American gender identity and sexuality with respect to traditional tribal roles. Featuring: Mica Valdez (Mexica), Nazbah Tom (Navajo/Diné), Arlando Teller (Navajo/Diné), Charlie Ballard (Anishinaabe, Sac & fox), Esther Lucero (Navajo/Diné).
  • Two Spirit People  - An overview of historical and contemporary Native American concepts of gender, sexuality and sexual orientation. This documentary explores the berdache tradition in Native American culture, in which individuals who embody feminine and masculine qualities act as a conduit between the physical and spiritual world, and because of this are placed in positions of power within the community.

Streaming Resources

Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQIA Drag Artists

Academic Texts


Selected Scholarly Articles

Suggested Keywords for database searches relating to Two-Spirit and queer Indigenous* identity: 

*while there is some overlap and commonalities in understandings of gender and sexuality across groups, when doing research relevant to Indigenous identities, it is always best practice to search using the names of individual tribes, nations, and communities when possible

Indigenous

Aboriginal

Native

First Nations

Race

POC (people of color)

BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color)

 

 

Queer

Gay

Lesbian

Bisexual

Transgender

Identity

Sexuality

Sexual Orientation

Two-spirit (sometimes "two spirit", "two spirited" or "two-spirited")

LGBT

LGBTQ

LGBTQ2S

Gender Studies

Gender

Colonial(ism)

Decolonial(ism)

Decolonizing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Relevant Databases

Online Resources

Selection of resources freely available online

Lists of Resources & Readings

Lists of recommended titles from online sources

Recent Additions

Routledge Handbook of Critical Indigenous Studies

The Routledge Handbook of Critical Indigenous Studies is the first comprehensive overview of the rapidly expanding field of Indigenous scholarship. The book is ambitious in scope, ranging across disciplines and national boundaries, with particular reference to the lived conditions of Indigenous peoples in the first world. The contributors are all themselves Indigenous scholars who provide critical understandings of indigeneity in relation to ontology (ways of being), epistemology (ways of knowing), and axiology (ways of doing) with a view to providing insights into how Indigenous peoples and communities engage and examine the worlds in which they are immersed. Sections include: * Indigenous Sovereignty * Indigeneity in the 21st Century * Indigenous Epistemologies * The Field of Indigenous Studies * Global Indigeneity This handbook contributes to the re-centring of Indigenous knowledges, providing material and ideational analyses of social, political, and cultural institutions and critiquing and considering how Indigenous peoples situate themselves within, outside, and in relation to dominant discourses, dominant postcolonial cultures and prevailing Western thought. This book will be of interest to scholars with an interest in Indigenous peoples across Literature, History, Sociology, Critical Geographies, Philosophy, Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Native Studies, Māori Studies, Hawaiian Studies, Native American Studies, Indigenous Studies, Race Studies, Queer Studies, Politics, Law, and Feminism.

Cover art for book, image links to catalog record for title

Making Love with the Land

A moving and deeply personal excavation of Indigenous beauty and passion in a suffering world. In Making Love with the Land, his first nonfiction book, Whitehead explores the relationships between body, language, and land through creative essay, memoir, and confession. In prose that is evocative and sensual, unabashedly queer and visceral, raw and autobiographical, Whitehead writes of an Indigenous body in pain, coping with trauma. Deeply rooted within, he reaches across the anguish to create a new form of storytelling he calls "biostory"--beyond genre, and entirely sovereign. Through this narrative perspective, Making Love with the Land recasts mental health struggles and our complex emotional landscapes from a nefarious parasite on his (and our) well-being to kin, even a relation, no matter what difficulties they present to us. Whitehead ruminates on loss and pain without shame or ridicule but rather highlights waypoints for personal transformation. Written in the aftermath of heartbreak, before and during the pandemic, Making Love with the Land illuminates this present moment in which both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are rediscovering old ways and creating new ones about connection with and responsibility toward each other and the land. Intellectually audacious and emotionally compelling, Whitehead shares his devotion to the world in which we live and brilliantly--even joyfully--maps his experience on the land that has shaped stories, histories, and bodies from time immemorial.

Related Guides

  • Indigenous Art & Architecture
    A guide meant to augment research into Indigenous artists and architects across the world, with a specific focus on the United States and Canada.
  • Indigenous Design
    This guide focuses on what indigenous design means--moving beyond just the aesthetic value. Resources include articles, as well as linked firms and designers.
  • Native American & Indigenous Studies
    Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) is an interdisciplinary field that explores the diverse and complex experiences, histories, cultures, and contemporary lives and challenges of Native and Indigenous peoples in the Americas and beyond.
  • Race, Migration, & Indigeneity
    The inter- and multidisciplinary field of Race, Migration, & Indigeneity considers the ways in which race interweaves with historical and contemporary formations of identity