The Zuni Man-Woman [B1290]

1991 PB in nice clean condition. From an award-winning author, scholar, and LGBTQ activist. The Zuni Man-Woman focuses on the life of We'wha (1849-1896), a Two-Spirit, or lhamana, who combined the work and characteristics of both men and women in the Zuni tradition. We'wha was an accomplished potter and weaver, and a cultural ambassador for the Zuni people. In 1886, We'wha spent six months in Washington, D. C. mingling with the wives of powerful politicians and calling on President Grover Cleveland. But a few years later, when the US cavalry invaded the Zuni village and tried to arrest its leaders, We'wha fought back - and spent a month in a military jail. The anthropologist Mathilda Stevenson described We'wha as the 'strongest character and the most intelligent of the Zuni tribe'. Through We'wha's exceptional life, Will Roscoe creates a vivid picture of an alternative gender role whose history has been hidden and almost forgotten.

From recent-ish Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Fantastic and eye-opening research into the Native American 'two-spirit' tradition of homosexuality and transgender. Made a real impression on me when it first came out, since I was young, gay and living in New Mexico."; "I enjoyed a close look at what a society can look like if children are left to make their own decisions about their gender and their sexuality, when that society doesn't limit them to two only, and even further, creates a valued and important role for such people. The result is a child that grows up knowing that they have a place in society, knowing that they are accepted for who they are, that they may be different but not excluded. Such a person is much more likely to become mentally healthy, happy and functional adult. It remains relevant today and is very well written and thoroughly researched - though it did need interviews with modern-day genderqueer people from tribes in the American Southwest, as well as a look at what the climate is today in these societies."; "Woah. More than I bargained for. This short book is at once a brief history and anthropology of the Zuni people, a biography of We'wha, who fulfilled the lhamana (third gender) role, a meditation on the nature of gender as a cultural construct (specifically how the lhamana identity fulfills a social need that Western/European culture fails to address), a critique of Western gender, an overview of Zuni rites as they relate to the construction of a gender identity, a (heartbreaking) account of the dismantling of the lhamana and similar "two-spirit" identities by government mandate (as well as the Victorian cultural forces that created those mandates), and a small beacon of hope in the (then in its early stages) reburgeoning of the two-spirit identity within intertribal cultures. And all of this in 210 pages."; "This is a fascinating book that offers much insight into one form of Two Spirit identity and experience in the late 1800s. (Note that the author uses the term "berdache" which is considered an insult today. The correct and respectful term is lhamana). Roscoe's research deepened my appreciation for how Zuni Two Spirit identities did not fit our current LGBTQ paradigm; their apparent sense of self and experiences are much more complex and nuanced than either the terms "gay" or "transgender" allow."