RADICAL CARE AND DECOLONIAL FUTURES: CONVERSATIONS ON IDENTITY, HEALTH, AND SPIRITUALITY WITH INDIGENOUS QUEER, TRANS, AND TWO-SPIRIT YOUTH
Abstract
The spirituality and health of Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit people occurs within and responds to contexts of extreme colonial violence. However, few studies have examined the relationships among the identity, health, and spirituality of Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit youth and their perspectives and activism work in relation to the context of this violence. This study aims to better understand the importance of the connections among identity, health, and spirituality and their role in supporting Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit leadership in the enactment of care practices to promote health amidst colonial violence and the worlding of decolonial futures beyond and outside it. Informed by key insights from the grassroots movements and fields of Indigenous feminism, Indigenous queer thought, and radical resurgence, this study brings these insights into conversation, via qualitative interviews with five Indigenous youth activists (18 to 35 years old) from across the part of Turtle Island now known as Canada. Our analysis results in four themes: (1) identity, (2) spirituality, (3) the multidimensional nature of colonial violence, and (4) radical care. We delineate activating practices for decolonial futures, and signal the value of grounded, context-reflective, culturally safe, and intersectional health and youth services. This research demonstrates that spirituality is constitutive of and foundational to the identity and health of Indigenous queer, trans, and two-spirit youth, and shows that health promotion and youth services must address the multidimensional nature of these needs if they are to truly support Indigenous young people, their movements of radical care, and the creation of a decolonial elsewhere marked by belonging, love, self-determinism, responsibility, and joy.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Ansloos, J. (2017). The medicine of peace: Indigenous youth decolonizing healing and resisting violence. Fernwood Publishing.
Arvin, M., Tuck, E., & Morrill, A. (2013). Decolonizing feminism: Challenging connections between settler colonialism and heteropatriarchy. Feminist Formations, 25(1), 8–34. https://doi.org/10.1353/ff.2013.0006
Barrera, J. (2018, February 14). Gerald Stanley acquittal outrage result of “centuries of oppression,” says prominent civil rights lawyer. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/colten-boushie-gerald-stanley-indigenous-justice-
history-1.4532564
Belcourt, B.R. (2020). A history of my brief body. Penguin Random House Canada.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Cannon, M. (1998). The regulation of First Nations sexuality. Canadian Journal of Native Studies, 18(1), 1–18. http://www3.brandonu.ca/cjns/18.1/cjnsv18no1_pg1-18.pdf
Chandler, M. J., & Lalonde, C. (1998). Cultural continuity as a hedge against suicide in Canada’s First Nations. Transcultural Psychiatry, 35(2), 191–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/136346159803500202
De Finney, S. (2014). Under the shadow of empire: Indigenous girls’ presencing as decolonizing force. Girlhood Studies, 7(1), 8–26. https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2014.070103
Depelteau, J., & Giroux, D. (2015). LGBTQ issues as Indigenous politics: Two-Spirit mobilization in Canada. In M. Tremblay (Ed.), Queer moblizations: Social movement activism and Canadian public policy (1st ed., pp. 64–94). University of British Columbia Press.
Driskill, Q.-L. (2010). Doubleweaving two-spirit critiques: Building alliances between native and queer studies. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 16(1–2), 69–92. https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-2009-013
Driskill, Q.-L., Finley, D., Gilley, B. J., and Morgensen, S. L. (Eds.). (2011). Queer Indigenous studies: Critical interventions in theory, politics and literature. University of Arizona Press.
Fieland, K. C., Walters, K. L., & Simoni, J. M. (2007). Determinants of health among two-spirit American Indians and Alaska Natives. In I. H. Meyer & M. E. Northridge (Eds.), The health of sexual minorities (pp. 268–300). Springer Science + Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31334-4_11
Green, J. (Ed.). (2007). Making space for Indigenous feminism. Fernwood Publishing.
Hunt, S. (2016). An introduction to the health of two-spirit people: Historical, contemporary and emergent issues. National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health. https://www.ccnsa-nccah.ca/docs/emerging/RPT-HealthTwoSpirit-Hunt-EN.pdf
Hunt, S. (2018). Embodying self-determination: Beyond the gender binary. In M. Greenwood, S. de Leeuw, & N. M. Lindsay (Eds.), Determinants of Indigenous peoples’ health: Beyond the social (2nd ed; Ch. 3.). Canadian Scholars’ Press.
Hunt, S., & Holmes, C. (2015). Everyday decolonization: Living a decolonizing queer politics. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 19(2), 154–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160.2015.970975
Kirmayer, L., Simpson, C., & Cargo, M. (2003). Healing traditions: Culture, community, and mental health promotion with Canadian Aboriginal peoples. Australasian Psychiatry, 11,15–23. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1038-5282.2003.02010.x
Laing, M. (2018). Conversations with young two-spirit, trans and queer Indigenous people about the term two-spirit [Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto]. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/91455
Lavallee, L. F., & Poole, J. M. (2010). Beyond recovery: Colonization, health and healing for Indigenous people in Canada. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 8(2), 271–281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-009-9239-8
McLeod, A. (2017). Spirituality in the 90s and the day a red-tailed hawk feather fell to earth. Red Rising Magazine, 7, 5–7.
Monture-Angus, P., & Stiegelbauer, S. M. (1996). Thunder in my soul: A Mohawk woman speaks. Resources for Feminist Research, 25(1/2), 52. http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Fthunder-my-soul-mohawk-woman-speaks%2Fdocview%2F194880424%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D14771
Muñoz, J. E. (2009). Cruising utopia: The then and there of queer futurity. New York University Press.
Simpson, L. (2012). Queering resurgence: Taking on heteropatriarchy in Indigenous nation building [Blog]. Mamawipawin: Centre for Indigenous Governance & Community Based Research. https://blogs.cc.umanitoba.ca/mamawipawin/2012/06/01/queering-resurgence-taking-on-heteropatriarchy-in-indigenous-nation-building/
Simpson, L. B. (2015). The place where we all live and work together: A gendered analysis of “sovereignty”. In S. N. Teves, A. Smith, & M. H. Raheja (Eds.), Native studies keywords (pp.18–24). University of Arizona Press.
Simpson, L. B. (2017). Kwe as resurgence method. In L. B. Simpson, As we have always done: Indigenous freedom through radical resistance (pp. 27–38). University of Minnesota Press.
Snowshoe, A., Crooks, C. V., Tremblay, P. F., & Hinson, R. E. (2017). Cultural connectedness and its relation to mental wellness for First Nations youth. Journal of Primary Prevention, 38, 67–86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-016-0454-3
St. Denis, V. (2007). Feminism is for everybody: Aboriginal women, feminism, & diversity. In J. Green (Ed.), Making space for Indigenous feminism (pp. 33–52). Fernwood Publishing.
Teengs, D., & Travers, R. (2006) “River of life, rapids of change”: Understanding HIV vulnerability among two-spirit youth who migrate to Toronto. Health Sciences Faculty Publications. https://scholars.wlu.ca/hesc_faculty/2
Tuck, E. (2009). Suspending damage: A letter to communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79(3), 409–428. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.79.3.n0016675661t3n15
Walters, K. L., Evans-Campbell, T., Simoni, J. M., Ronquillo, T., & Bhuyan, R. (2006). “My spirit in my heart”: Identity experiences and challenges among American Indian two-spirit women. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 10(1-2), 125–149. https://doi.org/10.1300/J155v10n01_07
Wesley, D. L. (2015). Reimagining two-spirit community: Critically centering narratives of urban two-spirit youth [Master’s thesis, Queens University]. https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/bitstream/handle/1974/13024/Wesley_Dana_L_201504_MA.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Wexler, L. (2014). Looking across three generations of Alaska Natives to explore how culture fosters Indigenous resilience. Transcultural Psychiatry, 51(1), 73–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461513497417
Whitehead, J. (2017). full metal indigiqueer. Talon Books.
Whitehead, J. (2018, December 31). Why Joshua Whitehead explores being Indigiqueer and two-spirit in his debut novel. The Next Chapter, CBC Radio. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thenextchapter/full-episode-dec-31-2018-1.4956361/why-joshua-whitehead-explores-being-indigiqueer-and-two-spirit-in-his-debut-novel-1.4956994
Wilson, A. (1996). How we find ourselves: Identity development and two-spirit people. Harvard Educational Review, 66(2), 303–317. https://www.hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-66-issue-2/herarticle/identity-development-and-two-spirit-people_278
Wilson, A. (2008). N’tacimowin innan nah': Our coming in stories. In P. A. Monture & P. D. McGuire (Eds.), First voices: An Aboriginal women’s reader. Inanna Publications.
Wilson, A. (2015). Our coming in stories: Cree identity, body sovereignty and gender self-determination. Journal of Global Indigeneity, 1(1), 4. https://ro.uow.edu.au/jgi/vol1/iss1/4
Authors contributing to the International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 Unported license. This licence allows anyone to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear.
Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal right of first publication.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Rights Granted After Publication
After publication, authors may reuse portions or the full article without obtaining formal permission for inclusion within their thesis or dissertation.
Permission for these reuses is granted on the following conditions:
- that full acknowledgement is made of the original publication stating the specific material reused [pages, figure numbers, etc.], [Title] by/edited by [Author/editor], [year of publication], reproduced by permission of International Journal of Child, Youth & Family Studies [link to IJCYFS website];
- In the case of joint-authored works, it is the responsibility of the author to obtain permission from co-authors for the work to be reuse/republished;
- that reuse on personal websites and institutional or subject-based repositories includes a link to the work as published in the International Journal of Child, Youth & Family Studies; and that the material is not distributed under any kind of Open Access style licences (e.g. Creative Commons) which may affect the Licence between the author and IJCYFS.
