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In queer theory, Two-Spirit identity theory is a discourse on third gender roles in Native American cultures which has developed since the 1990s. ==History of Two-Spirits== The history of two-spirits among Indigenous American culture dates back hundreds, if not thousands, of years and has been documented in more than 130 North American tribes (Roscoe, 1991). Throughout history, a person who was recognized as two-spirit was someone who identified with both male and female gender roles, and so two-spirit is essentially a third gender recognized in Indigenous cultures. The perspective among Indigenous Americans was that having this third gender was a strength their society benefited from. In the Zuni culture a person's gender was not assigned at birth, but was grown into at 3 or 4 years of age. Perhaps the most famous two-spirit Indigenous American was from the Zuni tribe during the late 1800s in New Mexico. Her name was We'wha, and she died in 1896, but not before befriending anthropologists who were able to document her story (Roscoe, 1991). One of the female anthropologists who was close to her described We'wha as “…the strongest character and the most intelligent of the Zuni tribe” (Roscoe, 1991, p. 29) The history of this particular two-spirit gives us a peek into the historical role of two-spirits within Indigenous American culture. In the tradition of the Zuni tribe, children were not referred to as girl or boy until around the age of five. Prior to this age they were simply referred to as “cha’le” or child (Roscoe, 1991, p. 32). In We’Wha’s case she reported identifying with the female gender as early as the age of three (p. 33). This writer refers to We’Wha as both “he” and “she” because according to Roscoe (1991), her family referred to her using both genders' terms. The reason was because in that time two-spirits were not thought of as just a man or just a woman but as embodying characteristics of both genders in a single person, making them a more whole human being. In Indigenous American culture two-spirits were seen as valuable members of society who made important contributions to their communities. Regrettably, White Europeans did not feel the same. European culture did not know where to place two-spirits, since their own ideals and values regarding gender and sexuality were in place to suppress exactly this kind of behavior (Roscoe, 1991, p. 5). Historically, European Americans have attempted to apply their Cartesian definitions of gender to Indigenous Americans — unsuccessfully, since many Indigenous tribes do not recognize only two genders like the Western world does. In Western culture the two genders (male and female) sole purpose is for procreation (Wilson, 1996). To them, two-spirits were seen as “freaks of nature, demons, deviants, perverts, sinners, and corrupters” (Roscoe, 1996, p. 4). In his book, ''The Zuni Man-Woman,'' Will Roscoe used the term Berdache to refer to two-spirits. Roscoe (1991) states that the origin of Berdache is French and is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as, “a boy kept for unnatural purposes” (Roscoe, 1991, p. 5). Terms that had been used previously include transvestite and transsexual. Roscoe asserts that the term transvestite was not appropriate because two-spirit’s did not dress as the other gender for exhibitionist reasons and transsexual did not fit because two-spirits were not just men who dressed like women but their own gender that embodied both male and female traits (Roscoe, 1991). However, the term Berdache is not relevant either. Dr. Alex Wilson author of ''How We Find Ourselves: Identity Development and Two-Spirit People ''(1996) explains that two-spirit is an appropriate term because it does not merely attempt to identify a man that dresses like a woman but exemplifies the inherent relationship between sexuality and cultural identity that cannot be separated in Indigenous culture. Wilson (1996) asserts that while the term Berdache was meant to describe an “effeminate” or “morphological male” the term two-spirit encompasses the fact that “sexuality, gender, culture, community and spirituality” are all interconnected for the Indigenous American (p. 334). Two-spirit is a term that can be used with pride because it is something that has been picked by the ones it serves to identify. Through hundreds of years of European American’s trying to suppress Indigenous American cultural and religious practices, two-spirits are trying to create a positive identity for themselves that better describes their position in society. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Two-Spirit identity theory」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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