Two-spirit (also known as two spirit or occasionally twospirited) is a umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ceremonial and social role in their cultures.
Coined in 1990 as a primarily ceremonial term promoting community recognition, in recent years more individuals have taken to self-identifying as two-spirit. Two-spirit, as a term and concept, is neither used nor accepted universally in Native American cultures. Indigenous cultures that have traditional roles for gender-nonconforming people have names in their own, Indigenous languages for these people and the roles they fill in their communities.
The initial intent in coining the term was to differentiate Indigenous concepts of gender and sexuality from those of non-Native lesbians and gays, and to replace the pejorative anthropological terms that were still in wide use. While two-spirit has been controversial since its adoption, the term has experienced more academic and social acceptance than the term berdache which it was coined to replace.
Early adopters stated that two-spirit identity "does not make sense" unless it is contextualized within a Native American or First Nations framework and traditional cultural understanding. It is also frequently co-opted by non-Natives.
The gender nonconforming or third-gender, ceremonial roles traditionally embodied by some Native American and Indigenous peoples in Canada that may be encompassed by modern two-spirit people vary widely, even among the Native individuals or cultures that use the term. Not all of these cultures have historically had roles for gender-variant people, and among those that do, no one Indigenous culture's gender or sexuality categories apply to all Native people.
Two-spirit as a term
Etymology
The neologism two-spirit was developed over a series of five conferences, concluding in 1990 at the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference in Winnipeg. Credit for developing the term is usually given to several participants in the gatherings. The term was first developed and proposed in English, and later the Ojibwe translation was constructed and proposed, to honor the language of the Indigenous peoples in whose territory the conference was being held.
Both the English and Ojibwe terms were coined at the 1990 conference and are not found in the historical record. Two-spirit, in English or translated into any other language, is a general term for wider audiences and is not intended to replace the traditional terms or concepts already in use in Indigenous cultures.
For early adopters, the term Two Spirit was a deliberate act to differentiate and distance themselves from non-Native gays and lesbians, as well as from non-Native terminology such as gay, lesbian, and transgender, and particularly the offensive anthropological label berdache, which had previously been the preferred term among non-Native anthropologists for Indigenous people who did not conform to European-American gender roles. However, berdache, which means "passive partner in sodomy, boy prostitute", has always been offensive to Indigenous peoples. Journalist Mary Annette Pember (Red Cliff Ojibwe) and others write that motivation to coin a new term to replace the outdated and offensive anthropological term was one strong concern in the agreement to adopt the term two-spirit.
Two-spirited woman Michelle Cameron (Carrier First Nations) writes, "The term two-spirit is thus an Aboriginal-specific term of resistance to colonization and non-transferable to other cultures. There are several underlying reasons for two spirited Aboriginals' desire to distance themselves from the mainstream queer community." German anthropologist Sabine Lang writes that for Aboriginal people, sexual orientation or gender identity is secondary to their ethnic identity. "At the core of contemporary two-spirit identities is ethnicity, an awareness of being Native American as opposed to being white or being a member of any other ethnic group".
While initially focused on ceremonial and social roles within the Indigenous community, as a pan-Indian, English-language umbrella term, for some it has come to have similar use as the terms queer (modern, reclaimed usage) or LGBTQ in encompassing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Native peoples in North America.