Hauser, "The Berdache
and the Illinois Indian Tribe during the Last Half of the Seventeenth Century," Ethnohistory 37 (1990): 45-65, esp.
"The North American Berdache
." Current Anthropology 24 (1983): 443-470.
Williams describes the berdache
as ahomosexually oriented male who does the work of women (agriculture and crafts) and whose role has religious sanction.
This is very valuable since usually in the anthropological and historical studies of third gender males like the American berdache
or the Indian hijra, their sexual partners from the majority are never discussed.
This well-written, well-researched, and insightful history is constructed of three interwoven themes: (1) an account of the life and times of We'wha, one of several Zuni Lhamanas, (2) a critique and attempted clarification of anthropological research on the "berdache
"; and (3) a presentation of We'wha as a role model for contemporary gay American Indian men.
(74) Rejeito aqui o termo mais comum, "berdache
", com base em seu significado original: "um rapaz mantido para fins antinaturais".
It turns into a tender love story between the two-spirit "berdache
" shaman of the tribe and the protagonist, a young government Indian agent with a conscience.
"Coming to Terms with Navajo Nadleehi: A Critique of Berdache
, 'Gay', 'Alternative Gender', and 'Two Spirit'." American Ethnologist, v.
as an institution, according to Roscoe, eventually allowed for
Gutierrez points out that the berdache
has often been appropriated by the gay liberation movement as a queer-positive icon embraced by many indigenous communities.
Among the writers chosen are: Navajo elder Slim Curly, for his narration of a berdache
myth, dictated to a sociologist; the complete short story, "Paul's Case" (1905), a classic by lesbian writer Willa Cather; and an excerpt from The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, a 1912 novel by James Weldon Johnson.
The book offers a comprehensive history of gay Los Angeles, starting with the cross-dressing berdache
or two-spirit Native American peoples and picking up with the 19th-century migration across America and the large number of cross-dressing women it included.