Traditional gender roles among Native American and First Nations peoples tend to vary greatly by region and community. As with all Pre-Columbian era societies, historical traditions may or may not reflect contemporary attitudes. Gender roles exhibited by Indigenous communities have been transformed in some aspects by Eurocentric, patriarchal norms and the perpetration of systematic oppression. [1] In many communities, these things are not discussed with outsiders.[ citation needed ]
Traditional Apache gender roles have many of the same skills learned by both females and males. All children traditionally learn how to cook, follow tracks, skin leather, sew stitches, ride horses, and use weapons. [2] Typically, women gather vegetation such as fruits, roots, and seeds. Women would often prepare the food. Men would use weapons and tools to hunt animals such as buffalos. [3] It is expected that women do not participate in hunting, [4] but her role as a mother is important. A puberty rite ceremony for young girls is an important event. [4] Here the girl accepts her role as a woman and is blessed with a long life and fertility. [3] [5] Apache people typically live in matrilocal households, where a married couple will live with the wife's family. [6]
Eastern Woodland communities vary widely in whether they divide labor based on sex. In general, like in the Plains nations, women own the home while men's work may involve more travel. [7] Narragansett men in farming communities have traditionally helped clear the fields, cultivate the crops, and assist with the harvesting, whereas women hold authority in the home. [8] Among the Lenape, men and women have both participated in agriculture and hunting according to age and ability, although primary leadership in agriculture traditionally belongs to women, while men have generally held more responsibility in the area of hunting. Whether gained by hunting, fishing, or agriculture, older Lenape women take responsibility for community food distribution. Land management, whether used for hunting or agriculture, also is the traditional responsibility of Lenape women. [9]
Historically, a number of social norms in Eastern Woodland communities demonstrate a balance of power held between women and men. Men and women have traditionally both had the final say over who they would end up marrying, though parents usually have a great deal of influence as well. [10]
The Hopi (in what is now the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona) are traditionally both matriarchal and matrilineal, [11] with egalitarian roles in the community, and no sense of superiority or inferiority based on sex or gender. [12] Both women and men have traditionally participated in politics and community management, [13] although colonization has brought patriarchal influences that have seen changes in the traditional structures and formerly higher status of women. [14] However, even with these changes, matrilineal structures still remain, along with the central role of the mothers and grandmothers in the family, household, and clan structure. [15] [16]
The Haudenosaunee are a matriarchal society. Traditionally, the Clan Mother has held the ultimate power over all decisions, though her specific role has varied by Nation. In this structure, the men under her are the Chiefs, serving primarily in a diplomatic capacity. Tradition holds that she has the power to veto any idea proposed by her chiefs and that both the naming traditions and transfer of political power are matrilineal. [17]
The Kalapuya had a patriarchal society consisting of bands or villages, usually led in social and political life by a male leader or group of leaders. [18] The primary leader was generally the man with the greatest wealth. [19] While female leaders did exist, it was more common for a woman to gain status in spiritual leadership. Kalapuya bands typically consisted of extended families of related men, their wives, and children. [19] Ceremonial leaders could be male or female, and spiritual power was regarded as more valuable than material wealth. As such, the spiritual leaders were often more influential than the political leaders. [20]
Kalapuya males usually hunted while the women and young children gathered food and set up camps. As the vast majority of the Kalapuya diet consisted largely of gathered food, the women supplied most of the sustenance. Women were also in charge of food preparation, preservation, and storage. [21] The food hunted by men usually consisted of deer, elk, and fish from the rivers of the Willamette Valley, including salmon and eel. Plants gathered included wapato, tarweed seeds, hazelnuts, and especially camas. The camas bulbs were cooked by women into a cake-like bread which was considered valuable. [22]
Women were involved in the community life and expressed their individual opinions. [21] When a man wanted to marry a woman, he had to pay a bride price to her father. [23] If a man slept with or raped another man's wife, he was required to pay the bride price to the husband. If he did not, he would be cut on the arm or face. If the man could pay the price, he could take the woman to be his wife. [24]
There is a reference to gender variant people being accepted in Kalapuya culture. A Kalapuya spiritual person named Ci'mxin is recalled by John B. Hudson in his interviews from the Kalapuya Texts:
They would say "He is a man (in body), he has changed to a woman (in dress and manner of life). But he is not a woman (in body). It is his spirit-power it is said that has told him, You become woman. You are always to wear your (woman's) dress just like women. That is the way you must always do." [25]
After the arrival of Europeans to the Willamette Valley and the creation of the Grand Ronde Reservation and boarding schools such as Chemawa Indian School, children of the Kalapuya people were taught the typical gender roles of Europeans[ vague ]. [26]
The Arvilingjuarmiut, also known as Netsilik, are Inuit who live mainly in Kugaaruk and Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, Canada. They follow the tradition of kipijuituq, which refers to instances where predominantly biologically male infants are raised as females. Often the decision for an infant to become Kipijuituq is left to the grandparents based on the reactions of the infant in the womb. [27] Children would later go on to choose their respective genders in their pubescent years once they have undergone a rite of passage that includes hunting animals. [27] Similar in concept is sipiniq from the Igloolik and Nunavik areas. [28]
Aranu’tiq is a fluid category among the Chugach, an Alutiiq people from Alaska, that conforms to neither masculine nor feminine categories. [29] Gender expression is fluid and children typically dress in a combination of both masculine and feminine clothing. [29] Newborn babies are not regarded as new humans but rather as tarnina or inuusia which refers to their soul, personality, shade and are named after an older deceased relative as a way of reincarnation as the relationship between the child and others would go on to match those of the deceased. [30]
Similar to other Indigenous cultures, Navajo girls participate in a rite of passage ceremony that is a celebration of the transformation into womanhood. This event is marked with new experiences and roles within the community. Described as Kinaaldá, the ritual takes place over four days, during the individual's first or second menstrual period. The reason for this is rooted deeply in Navajo supernatural beliefs and their creation myths. [31]
The third gender role of nádleehi (meaning "one who is transformed" or "one who changes"), beyond contemporary Anglo-American definition limits of gender, is part of the Navajo Nation society, a "two-spirit" cultural role. The renowned 19th-century Navajo artist Hosteen Klah (1849–1896) is an example. [32] [33] [34]
Navajo values emphasize the masculine and the feminine, despite the ritual being centered around feminine gender roles. Historically, it is recorded that Navajo cultures respected the autonomy of women and their equality to men in the tribe, in multiple spheres of life within their society. Contrarily, the primary discourse in Western society regarding girls' puberty is associated with discreteness, to be experienced privately for concern of shame and embarrassment regarding menstruation and bodily changes. [31]
During the early colonial period, Nez Perce communities tended to have specific gender roles. Men were responsible for the production of equipment used for hunting, fishing, and protection of their communities, as well as the performance of these activities. Men made up the governing bodies of villages which were composed of a council and headman. [35] [36] [37]
Nez Perce women in the early contact period were responsible for maintaining the household which included the production of utilitarian tools for the home. The harvest of medicinal plants was the responsibility of the women in the community due to their extensive knowledge. Edibles were harvested by both women and children. Women also regularly participated in politics, but due to their responsibilities to their families and medicine gatherings, they did not hold office. [35] [36] [37] Critical knowledge regarding culture and tradition was passed down by all the elders of the community. [35] [36] [37]
Historically, most Ojibwe cultures believe that men and women are usually suited to specific tasks. [38] Hunting is usually a men's task, and first-kill feasts are held as an honour for hunters. [38] The gathering of wild plants is more often a women's occupation; however, these tasks often overlapped, with men and women working on the same project but with different duties. [38] Despite hunting itself being more commonly a male task, women also participate by building lodges, processing hides into apparel, and drying meat. In contemporary Ojibwe culture, all community members participate in this work, regardless of gender. [38]
Wild rice (Ojibwe: manoomin) harvesting is done by all community members, [39] though often women will knock the rice grains into the canoe while men paddle and steer the canoe through the reeds. [39] For Ojibwe women, the wild rice harvest can be especially significant as it has traditionally been a chance to express their autonomy: [40]
The wild rice harvest was the most visible expression of women's autonomy in Ojibwe society. Binding rice was an important economic activity for female workers, who within their communities expressed prior claims to rice and a legal right to use wild rice beds in rivers and lakes through this practice. Ojibwe ideas about property were not invested in patriarchy, as in European legal traditions. Therefore, when early travelers and settlers observed Indigenous women working, it would have involved a paradigm shift for them to appreciate that for the Ojibwe, water was a gendered space where women's ceremonial responsibility for water derives from these related legal traditions and economic practices.
— Brenda J. Child, Holding Our World Together, p. 25
While the Ojibwe continue to harvest wild rice by canoe, both men and women now take turns knocking rice grains. [38]
Both Ojibwe men and women create beadwork and music, and maintain the traditions of storytelling and traditional medicine. [39] In regards to clothing, Ojibwe women have historically worn hide dresses with leggings and moccasins, while men would wear leggings and breechcloths. [39] After trading with European settlers became more frequent, the Ojibwe began to adopt characteristics of European dress. [39]
The Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota peoples, in addition to some other Siouan-speaking people like the Omaha and Ponca, are patriarchal or patrilineal and have historically had highly defined gender roles. [41] [42] In such tribes, hereditary leadership would pass through the male line, while children are considered to belong to the father and his clan. If a woman marries outside the tribe, she is no longer considered to be part of it, and her children would share the ethnicity and culture of their father. [42] In the 19th century, the men customarily harvested wild rice whereas women harvested all other grain (among the Dakota or Santee). [43] The winkte are a social category in Lakota culture, of male people who adopt the clothing, work, and mannerisms that Lakota culture usually considers feminine. [44] Usually, winkte are homosexual, and sometimes the word is also used for gay men who are not in any other way gender-variant. [44]
The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado River Indian Tribes of the Colorado River Indian Reservation at the border of Arizona and California.
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritance of property and titles. A matriline is a line of descent from a female ancestor to a descendant of either gender in which the individuals in all intervening generations are mothers. In a matrilineal descent system, an individual is considered to belong to the same descent group as their mother. This ancient matrilineal descent pattern is in contrast to the currently more popular pattern of patrilineal descent from which a family name is usually derived. The matriline of historical nobility was also called their enatic or uterine ancestry, corresponding to the patrilineal or "agnatic" ancestry.
The Hopi maintain a complex religious and mythological tradition stretching back over centuries. However, it is difficult to definitively state what all Hopis as a group believe. Like the oral traditions of many other societies, Hopi mythology is not always told consistently and each Hopi mesa, or even each village, may have its own version of a particular story, but "in essence the variants of the Hopi myth bear marked similarity to one another." It is also not clear that the stories told to non-Hopis, such as anthropologists and ethnographers, represent genuine Hopi beliefs or are merely stories told to the curious while keeping safe the more sacred Hopi teachings. As folklorist Harold Courlander states, "there is a Hopi reticence about discussing matters that could be considered ritual secrets or religion-oriented traditions."
The Ojibwe are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and throughout the northeastern woodlands. Ojibweg, being Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands and of the subarctic, are known by several names, including Ojibway or Chippewa. As a large ethnic group, several distinct nations also understand themselves to be Ojibwe as well, including the Saulteaux, Nipissings, and Oji-Cree.
The Kalapuya are a Native American people, which had eight independent groups speaking three mutually intelligible dialects. The Kalapuya tribes' traditional homelands were the Willamette Valley of present-day western Oregon in the United States, an area bounded by the Cascade Range to the east, the Oregon Coast Range at the west, the Columbia River at the north, to the Calapooya Mountains of the Umpqua River at the south.
Indigenous peoples of Arizona are the Native American people who currently live or have historically lived in what is now the state of Arizona. There are 22 federally recognized tribes in Arizona, including 17 with reservations that lie entirely within its borders. Reservations make up over a quarter of the state's land area. Arizona has the third largest Native American population of any U.S. state.
Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, also referred to by the phrase Indigenous peoples of the Plateau, and historically called the Plateau Indians are Indigenous peoples of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, and the non-coastal regions of the Northwestern United States.
The Navajo are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian is a museum in Evanston, Illinois that focuses exclusively on the history, culture and arts of North American native peoples. It is a Core Member of the Chicago Cultural Alliance, a consortium of 25 ethnic museums and cultural centres in Chicago.
Hosteen Klah was a Navajo artist and medicine man. He documented aspects of Navajo religion and related ceremonial practices. As a traditional nádleehi person, he was both a ceremonial singer and master weaver.
The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian is a museum devoted to Native American arts. It is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico and was founded in 1937 by Mary Cabot Wheelwright, who came from Boston, and Hastiin Klah, a Navajo singer and medicine man.
The visual arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic practices of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America and North America, which includes Central America and Greenland. The Siberian Yupiit, who have great cultural overlap with Native Alaskan Yupiit, are also included.
The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, also known as the Harvard Project, was founded in 1987 at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. It administers tribal awards programs as well as provides support for students and conducting research. The Harvard Project aims to understand and foster the conditions under which sustained, self-determined social and economic development is achieved among American Indian nations through applied research and service.
Two-spirit is a contemporary pan-Indian umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people who fulfill a traditional third-gender social role in their communities.
Native American jewelry refers to items of personal adornment, whether for personal use, sale or as art; examples of which include necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings and pins, as well as ketohs, wampum, and labrets, made by one of the Indigenous peoples of the United States. Native American jewelry normally reflects the cultural diversity and history of its makers, but tribal groups have often borrowed and copied designs and methods from other, neighboring tribes or nations with which they had trade, and this practice continues today. Native American tribes continue to develop distinct aesthetics rooted in their personal artistic visions and cultural traditions. Artists may create jewelry for adornment, ceremonies, and display, or for sale or trade. Lois Sherr Dubin writes, "[i]n the absence of written languages, adornment became an important element of Indian communication, conveying many levels of information." Later, jewelry and personal adornment "...signaled resistance to assimilation. It remains a major statement of tribal and individual identity."
Mary Cabot Wheelwright was an American anthropologist and museum founder. She established the museum which is now called Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, in 1937 along with Hosteen Klah.
Nádleehi is a social and, at times, ceremonial role in Diné (Navajo) culture – an "effeminate male" or "male-bodied person with a feminine nature". However, the nádleehi gender role is also fluid and cannot be simply described in terms of rigid gender binaries. Some Diné people recognize four general places on the gender spectrum: feminine woman, masculine woman, feminine man, and masculine man. Nádleehí may express their gender differently from day to day, or during different periods over their lifetimes, fulfilling roles in community and ceremony traditionally held by either women or men. At times, some may hold positions that can only be held by people who are near the middle of the gender spectrum. Contemporary nádleehí may or may not participate in the modern, pan-Indian two-spirit or LGBT communities. Notable people who were recognized by their communities as nádleehí are traditional weaver and ceremonial singer Hosteen Klah (1867–1937) and Fred Martinez, who was murdered at the age of 16 in June 2001.