Two-Spirit is the Anglicized term for the North American indigenous cultures used to define Transgender or gender variant people. The French based term was Berdache. Starting in the eighties there was an embracing of the Two-Spirit concept in the LGBT community. This showed the pervasiveness of LGBT across multiple cultures. The essential problem with this embrasure is that as Transgender became more visible in this century, mostly due to the internet, the realization that the LGB have to be shoehorned into the definition of two spirit. So despite being so prominent in LGBT literature prior to 2000 two spirit has hardly been explored online.
I started an internet search for two spirit and was saddened to find such sparse results. But that isn't surprising, economically the First Nations people in this country can't afford computers much less recurring data charges. So how could they share with us the wealth of knowledge that is their culture? There are ways to help. One way is making sure basic needs are met like food:
Ironically the Sioux are frequently mentioned to describe how cultures on this continent recognized Transgender persons in a text on patriarchy and agriculture. But finding much out about what must have been a diverse culture in these tribes is challenging. The list of terms below from so many tribes attests to the pervasiveness of two spirit culture.
Here is someone demonstrating two-spirit in Oglala Sioux in the video below. What I find more interesting is the only comment to the video. A comment disputing the term used which means language was developed to address the traits in multiple forms.
Just looking at this list gives me hope we are soon to learn much more.
Native American Tribes' Words to Describe Their Two-Spirits |
NOTE: An asterisk ( * ) after a term denotes information gleaned from the various pages linked to "A Dictionary of Words for Masculine Women" by Gary Bowen, and is not to be taken as factually as the other terms listed below since Gary is not a Native American nor an archeologist, anthropologist or ethnologist.
Acoma :
mujerado ("womaned") or qo-qoy-mo ("effeminate person") or kokwina ("men-women")
Aleut :
achnucek [shupan, according to Sabine Lang] (male)
Anishnawbe :
ougokweniini (male)
Arapaho :
haxu'xan (male)
Assiniboine :
win'yan inkwenu'ze winktan (male)
Atsugewi :
yaawa (male) and brumaiwi * (female)
Bella Coola :
sx'ints (male)
Blackfeet :
Aki-Skassi (male) and Aki kwan ("woman-man") or sakwo'mapi akikiwan* (female)
[Note: Blackfeet is not the same tribe as Lakota (Blackfoot)]
Cheyenne :
hee-man-eh or he'emen (male) and hetaneman (female)
Chukchi (Alaskan
Bering Straight) :
yirka-la ul
Cocopa :
elha (male) and warhameh * [warrhameh, according to Sabine Lang] (female)
Coeur d'Alène :
st'amia ("hermaphrodite")
Crow :
boté [bate, according to Sabine Lang] (male)
Dakota (Santee) :
winkta (male)
Dakota Sioux :
koskalaka* (male) and koskalaka winyan* or winkta* or winkte winyan* (female)
Eskimo (Chugach) :
aranu'tiq (male)
Eskimo
(St. Lawrence) :
anasik (male) and uktasik (female)
Flathead :
ma'kali or me'mi or tcin-mamalks ("dress as a woman") (male) and ntalha* (female)
Fox :
i-coo-coo-a (male)
Hawai'ian :
Mähü or mahu [also in Polynesia and Tahiti; cf Fa'afafine]
Hidatsa :
miati ("to be impelled against one's will to act the woman") or biatti
Hotcâk :
dedjángtcowinga ("blue lake woman") (male)
Hopi :
hova (male) [na'dle ("being transformed") (male), and nadle (female), re Sabine Lang]
Huchnom :
iwap kuti
Illinois :
ikoueta (male) and chelxodelean(e)* or ickoue ne koussa* (female)
Isleta :
lhunide
Juaneño :
kwit
Kaniagmiut :
shupan [?]
Keres :
kokwimu (male)
Klamath :
tw!inna'ek (male and female)
Kodiak :
achnucek
Kutenai :
tupatke'tek ("to imitate a woman") (male) and titqattek* (female)
Laguna :
mujerado (man-woman [?]) or kokwimu or kokwe'ma (male)
Lakota (Blackfoot) :
wintke [derived from "winyanktehca"] ("two-souls-person" or "to be as a woman") (male);
[Note: Lakota (Blackfoot) is not the same tribe as Blackfeet]
Lakota (Ogala) :
winkte (male) and winkte winyan* (female)
Lassik :
murfidai ("hermaphrodite") (male)
Luiseño :
cuit or cuut
Maidu :
suku (male and female)
Mandan :
mihdacke [mihdäckä ("mih-hä" means "woman"), according to Sabine Lang] (male)
Maricopa :
ilyaxi' (impolite) or yesa'an (polite; "barren man or woman") (male) and kwiraxame'* (female)
Miami :
waupeengwoatar ("the white face") (male)
Miwok :
osabu ("osa" means "woman") (male)
Mohave :
alyha: (male) and hwame: or hwami (female)
Navajo :
nadle ("being transformed") or nadleeh or nádleehí (male and female);
dilbaa’ or nadleeh baa* (female)
Nomlaki :
walusa ("hermaphrodite") or tohket ("boy who goes around the women all the time")
Ojibwa :
agokwa ("man-woman" or "split testicles") (male) and okitcitakwe* (female)
Omaha :
mexoga or mixu'ga ("instructed by the moon") or minquga ("hermaphrodite") (male)
Oto :
mixo'ge (male)
Paiute, Northern :
Tübas or t'üBáse or moyo'ne or tüBázanàna (polite) Düba's ("sterile person") (male);
Düba's or Moroni noho Tüvasa (female)
Paiute, Southern :
Tüwasawuts or maipots or onobakö or töwahawöts or Maai'pots (male)
Patwin :
Panaro bobum pi ("he has two (sexes)") (male)
Piegan :
ake'skassi ("acts like a woman") (male);
ninauposkitzipspe* ("manly-hearted woman," "female 'berdache'") (female)
Pima :
wiik'ovat ("like a girl") (male)
Plains Cree:
a:yahkwew or a-yahkwew (male)
Pomo, Northern :
das ("da" means "woman") (male)
Pomo, Southern :
t!un (male)
Ponca :
misu'ga or morphodite ("hermaphrodite") (male)
Potawatomi :
m'netokwe ("manito" plus a female suffix) (male)
Quinault :
keknatsa'nxwixw ("part woman") (male)
Salinan :
joyas (Spanish for "gem" or "jewel") (male)
Sanpoil :
sinta'xlau'wam* (female)
Sauk :
i-coo-coo-a (male)
Shasta :
gitukuwaki (male)
Shoshone :
tennewyppe or tená-wipeh (male)
Shoshoni :
tainna wa'ippe* (male) and sungwe* or taikwahni wa'ippe* or waippu* (female)
Shoshoni (Bannock) :
tuva'sa ("vasap" means "dry") (male)
Shoshoni (Gosiute) :
tuvasa (male)
Shoshoni (Lemhi) :
tübasa ("sterile") or tenanduakia ("tenap" means "man") (male);
Tübasa tenanduakia waip:ü sunwe ("woman half" [?]) (female)
Shoshoni (Nevada) :
tuyayap or tubasa'a ("half man, half woman")
or tangwu waip ("man-woman") or waip: sinwa ("half woman") (male);
nüwüdüka ("female hunter") or tangowaip or tangowaipü ("female") (female)
Shoshoni
(Promontory Point) :
tubasa waip ("waip" means "woman") (male)
Sioux :
winkte (male) [cf Dakota Sioux]
Tewa :
kwidó or kweedó or kwidõ (male) and senp'aa* (female)
Tiwa :
lhunide (male)
Tlingit :
gatxan ("coward") (male)
Tübatulabal :
huiy (male)
Ute :
tozusuhzooch (male)
Ute (Southern):
tuwasawits or tuwasawuts (male)
Wailaki :
clele (male)
Winnebago :
shiánge ("eunuch" or "unmanly man") (male);
dedjángtcowinga ("blue lake woman") (male)
Wishram :
ikte'laskait (male)
Yana :
lo'ya (male)
Yokuts (Kocheyali) :
tonoo'tcim ("undertaker") (male)
Yokuts (Michahai) :
tono'cim (male)
Yokuts (Paleuyami) :
tono'cim (male)
Yokuts (Tachi) :
tonochim or lokowitnono (male)
Yokuts (Wakasachi) :
tai'yap (male)
Yokuts (Yaudanchi) :
tongochim (male)
Yuki :
i-wa-musp ("man-woman") or iwap-naip ("man-girl") or iwop-naiip ("men-girls") (male);
musp-iwap naip* (female)
Yuma :
elaxa (male) and kwe'rhame* or kurami* (female)
Yurok :
wegern (male)
Zapotec :
muxe, muxhe, muxé [pronounced moo-SHAY], or ira’ muxe (male)
Zuni :
lhamana (male and female) and ko'thlama (male) and katsotse (female)
? :
aranaruaq (male) and angut-n-guaq (female)
? :
keknatsa'nxwix (male) and tawkxwa'nsix (female)
? :
osha'pu (male)
There is some evidence these examples will not remain in isolation.