Men as Women, Women as Men: Changing Gender in Native American Cultures

As contemporary Native and non-Native Americans explore various forms of "gender bending" and gay and lesbian identities, interest has grown in "berdaches," the womanly men and manly women who existed in many Native American tribal cultures. Yet attempts to find current role mode...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser: Lang, Sabine (VerfasserIn)
Format: Elektronisch E-Book
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: Austin University of Texas Press [2022]
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:FAW01
FAB01
FCO01
FHA01
FKE01
FLA01
UPA01
UBG01
Volltext
Zusammenfassung:As contemporary Native and non-Native Americans explore various forms of "gender bending" and gay and lesbian identities, interest has grown in "berdaches," the womanly men and manly women who existed in many Native American tribal cultures. Yet attempts to find current role models in these historical figures sometimes distort and oversimplify the historical realities. This book provides an objective, comprehensive study of Native American women-men and men-women across many tribal cultures and an extended time span. Sabine Lang explores such topics as their religious and secular roles; the relation of the roles of women-men and men-women to the roles of women and men in their respective societies; the ways in which gender-role change was carried out, legitimized, and explained in Native American cultures; the widely differing attitudes toward women-men and men-women in tribal cultures; and the role of these figures in Native mythology. Lang's findings challenge the apparent gender equality of the "berdache" institution, as well as the supposed universality of concepts such as homosexuality
Beschreibung:Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 31. Jan 2022)
Beschreibung:1 online resource
ISBN:9780292799684
DOI:10.7560/747005