Book: Queer Indigenous Studies

Kia ora, this new book was recently released called Queer Indigenous Studies. Taima


UBC Press is pleased to announce Queer Indigenous Studies edited by
Qwo-Li Driskill, Chris Finley, Brian Joseph Gilley, and Scott Lauria Morgensen from our publishing partner, The Univeristy Of Arizona Press.


Queer Indigenous Studies

Critical Interventions in Theory, Politics, and Literature


Qwo-Li Driskell, Chris Finley, Brian Joseph Gilley, and Scott Lauria Morgensen (eds.)

About the Book


“This book is an imagining.” So begins this collection examining 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. This book is not so much a manifesto as it is a dialogue—a “writing in conversation”—among a luminous group of scholar-activists revisiting the history of gay and lesbian studies in Indigenous communities while forging a path for Indigenous-centered theories and methodologies.

The bold opening to Queer Indigenous Studies invites new dialogues in Native American and Indigenous studies about the directions and implications of queer Indigenous studies. The collection notably engages Indigenous GLBTQ2 movements as alliances that also call for allies beyond their bounds, which the co-editors and contributors model by crossing their varied identities, including Native, trans, straight, non-Native, feminist, Two-Spirit, mixed blood, and queer, to name just a few.

Rooted in the Indigenous Americas and the Pacific, and drawing on disciplines ranging from literature to anthropology, contributors to Queer Indigenous Studies call Indigenous GLBTQ2 movements and allies to center an analysis that critiques the relationship between colonialism and heteropatriarchy. By answering critical turns in Indigenous scholarship that center Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies, contributors join in reshaping Native studies, queer studies, transgender studies, and Indigenous feminisms.

Based on the reality that queer Indigenous people “experience multilayered oppression that profoundly impacts our safety, health, and survival,” this book is at once an imagining and an invitation to the reader to join in the discussion of decolonizing queer Indigenous research and theory and, by doing so, to partake in allied resistance working toward positive change.



About the Editors



Qwo-Li Driskill is a Cherokee Queer/Two-Spirit writer, scholar, and performer. S/he is the author of Walking with Ghosts: Poems and is currently and assistant professor in the Department of English at Texas A&M University.



Chris Finley is a queer Native feminist finishing her PhD in American culture at the University of Michigan. She is a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes located in Washington State.



Brian Joseph Gilley is an associate professor of anthropology and director of the First Nations Education and Culture Center at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is the author of Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country.



Scott Lauria Morgensen is an assistant professor in the Department of Gender Studies at Queen’s University. His work as a white queer critic of settler colonialism appears in his book Spaces between Us: Queer Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Decolonization.

Contents

Introduction 1
Qwo-Li Driskill, Chris Finley, Brian Joseph Gilley, and Scott Lauria Morgensen

Section I: Performing Queer Indigenous Critiques

1 Decolonizing the Queer Native Body (and Recovering the Native Bull-Dyke): Bringing “Sexy Back” and Out of Native Studies’ Closet 29
Chris Finley

2 Queer Theory and Native Studies: The Heteronormativity of Settler Colonialism 43
Andrea Smith

3 A Queer Caste: Mixing Race and Sexuality in Colonial New Zealand 66
Michelle Erai

4 Fa’afafine Notes: On Tagaloa, Jesus, and Nafanua 81
Dan Taulapapa McMullin

Section II: Situating Two-Spirit and Queer Indigenous Movements

5 (Asegi Ayetl): Cherokee Two-Spirit People Reimagining Nation 95
Qwo-Li Driskill

6 Exploring Takatapui Identity within the Maori Community: Implications for Health and Well-Being 113
Clive Aspin

7 Two-Spirit Men’s Sexual Survivance against the Inequality of Desire 123
Brian Joseph Gilley

8 Unsettling Queer Politics: What Can Non-Natives Learn from Two-Spirit Organizing? 132
Scott Lauria Morgensen

Section III: Reading Queer Indigenous Writing

9 Indigenous Fantasies and Sovereign Erotics: Outland Cherokees Write Two-Spirit Nations 153
Lisa Tatonetti

10 The Erotics of Sovereignty 172
Mark Rifkin

11 Gifts of Maskihkîy: Gregory Scofield’s Cree Métis Stories of Self-Acceptance 190
June Scudeler

12 The Revolution Is for Everyone: Imagining an Emancipatory Future through Queer Indigenous Critical Theories 211
Qwo-Li Driskill, Chris Finley, Brian Joseph Gilley, and Scott Lauria Morgensen

Indigenous Issues in Social Work

Kia ora,

the following is a link to the Critical Social Work journal which is dedicated to Indigenous Issues. Taima


http://www.uwindsor.ca/criticalsocialwork/2010-volume-11-no-1-0

Aboriginal Advisor's Report on Aboriginal Child Welfare

Kia ora,

please find attached the above report on the status of Aboriginal Children.

Children First: The Aboriginal Advisor’s Report on the status of Aboriginal child welfare in Ontario, July 2011

http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/aboriginal/reports/child_welfare-2011.aspx

5th Biennial Nga Pae o te Maramatanga conference

Kia ora, see below

First Call for Abstracts: International Indigenous Development Research Conference 2012



The 5th Biennial Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga conference, to be held 27th – 30th June 2012, will highlight indigeneity and the multidisciplinary approach used for indigenous development. Please find attached details for the first call for papers, deadline December 1. The conference website http://www.indigenousdevelopment2012.ac.nz/ is now live too.

Matariki and Aboriginal Day

Kia ora/Aanii, greetings

this is to acknowledge the ceremonies taking place in Aotearoa for Matariki, a celebration of the Maori New Year and Aboriginal Day which is in Canada.

It is exciting to be surrounded by traditions and culture.

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui, Taima

CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women)

Kia ora,

I attended the CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women) for Change Women's Human Rights Education Institute in Toronto with the trainers Alda Facio, Martha Morgan and Angela Lytle. Many women and one man from many different countries attended this one week workshop. It was an honour to hear the different perspectives of Human Rights for Women from differing countries. I highly recommend such workshops for those wanting to understand the United Nations, how it works, how Conventions work, who the State Countries are that ratified this convention, how State reports are done and how NGOS are important. This was an amazing learning and experience. You can found out more from the following:

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/

Opening date set for symbol of Ngati Awa unity

Kia ora, I am very happy about the return of this ancient ancestral home being re-established in my hometown. Tino pai, Taima

Opening date set for symbol of Ngati Awa unity
Whakatane Beacon; Tuesday, 10 May 2011

The Ngati Awa cultural Te Manuka Tutahi Marae complex containing the historic Mataatua Wharenui will be officially opened in September. The Ngati Awa cultural Te Manuka Tutahi Marae complex containing the historic Mataatua Wharenui will be officially opened in September.
THE final act in a 130-year journey will be completed in September when the much-travelled Mataatua Wharenui is re-opened in Whakatane.
Te Runanga o Ngati Awa recently confirmed Saturday, September 17 as the official opening date for the carved Maori meeting house, which was originally opened in Whakatane in 1875.
The Mataatua Wharenui is the focal point of the Te Manuka Tutahi Marae complex, being constructed on Muriwai Drive.
Only five years after its original opening, the wharenui was disassembled by the New Zealand Government, packed into crates and sent to Sydney for the 1879 British Empire Exhibition. So began a series of journeys that would see the house taken to Melbourne, London and Dunedin.
Te Runanga o Ngati Awa chief executive Jeremy Gardiner said the house was originally constructed to “unite and re-inspire” the hapu of Ngati Awa, who were reeling from the effects of the raupatu (land confiscations), and the purpose of unifying and signalling renewed development is still the case today.
“One of the main reasons Mataatua Wharenui was built was to unite and bring hope to Ngati Awa at a particularly dark time in our history. One hundred and thirty years later, this is still very much the case. Mataatua Wharenui is a symbol of Ngati Awa unity and resilience – a place where, together, we can celebrate our history, our present and our future.”
Mr Gardiner says this sense of unity was intrinsic to the wharenui, in that all members of Ngati Awa can trace their ancestry to at least one of the ancestors represented in the house’s carvings.
“The carvings in the wharenui represent some of our most prominent ancestors and, in fact, well known ancestors across the country.
“All of Ngati Awa will have a genealogical connection to at least one of these ancestors.”
The complex is also expected to bring significant benefits to the Whakatane community as a medium-to-large conference and events venue.
“The wharenui can accommodate meetings and conferences of up to 200 seated while the wharekai (dining room) can seat up to 150 restaurant-style.
“A conference venue with such an inherent cultural significance is certainly a point of difference and one that could be quite attractive to local, national and even international audiences.”
The complex will also boast a world-class visitor experience centred on the fascinating story of Mataatua Wharenui.