Reclaiming Two-Spirits
Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $32.63
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Shaun Taylor-Corbett
-
Written by:
-
Gregory Smithers
-
Raven E. Heavy Runner - foreword
About this listen
Winner of the 2023 Prose Award in Cultural Anthropology and Sociology
Finalist for the 2023 Publishing Triangle Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction
A sweeping history of Indigenous traditions of gender, sexuality, and resistance that reveals how, despite centuries of colonialism, Two-Spirit people are reclaiming their place in Native nations.
Reclaiming Two-Spirits decolonizes the history of gender and sexuality in Native North America. It honors the generations of Indigenous people who had the foresight to take essential aspects of their cultural life and spiritual beliefs underground in order to save them.
Before 1492, hundreds of Indigenous communities across North America included people who identified as neither male nor female, but both. They went by aakíí’skassi, miati, okitcitakwe or one of hundreds of other tribally specific identities. After European colonizers invaded Indian Country, centuries of violence and systematic persecution followed, imperiling the existence of people who today call themselves Two-Spirits, an umbrella term denoting feminine and masculine qualities in one person.
Drawing on written sources, archaeological evidence, art, and oral storytelling, Reclaiming Two-Spirits spans the centuries from Spanish invasion to the present, tracing massacres and inquisitions and revealing how the authors of colonialism’s written archives used language to both denigrate and erase Two-Spirit people from history. But as Gregory Smithers shows, the colonizers failed—and Indigenous resistance is core to this story. Reclaiming Two-Spirits amplifies their voices, reconnecting their history to Native nations in the 21st century.
You may also enjoy...
-
Becoming Kin
- An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future
- Written by: Patty Krawec, Nick Estes - foreword
- Narrated by: Patty Krawec
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The invented history of the Western world is crumbling fast, Anishinaabe writer Patty Krawec says, but we can still honor the bonds between us. Settlers dominated and divided, but Indigenous peoples won't just send them all "home." Weaving her own story with the story of her ancestors and with the broader themes of creation, replacement, and disappearance, Krawec helps listeners see settler colonialism through the eyes of an Indigenous writer.
-
-
A Wise Author, Wisdom Filled Book
- By Amazon Customer on 2024-10-13
Written by: Patty Krawec, and others
-
Sacred Instructions
- Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change
- Written by: Sherri Mitchell, Larry Dossey M.D.
- Narrated by: Sherri Mitchell
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing from ancestral knowledge, as well as her experience as an attorney and activist, Sherri Mitchell addresses some of the most crucial issues of our day—including indigenous land rights, environmental justice, and our collective human survival. Sharing the gifts she has received from the elders of her tribe, the Penobscot Nation, she asks us to look deeply into the illusions we have labeled as truth and which separate us from our higher mind and from one another.
-
-
Good book, but not what I expected.
- By Richard Galambos on 2019-08-14
Written by: Sherri Mitchell, and others
-
Restoring the Kinship Worldview
- Indigenous Voices Introduce 28 Precepts for Rebalancing Life on Planet Earth
- Written by: Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), Darcia Narváez PhD
- Narrated by: Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), Darcia Narváez PhD, Sage Ryan
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Indigenous worldviews, and the knowledge they confer, are critical for human survival and the wellbeing of future generations. Editors Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows) and Darcia Narvaez present 28 powerful excerpted passages from Indigenous leaders, including Mourning Dove, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Winona LaDuke, and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.
-
-
Antidote to colonial systems
- By Vanessa L. on 2024-05-25
Written by: Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), and others
-
Clearing the Plains
- Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Indigenous Life
- Written by: James Daschuk, Elizabeth A. Fenn - foreword, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair
- Narrated by: J.D. Nicholsen
- Length: 21 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In arresting, but harrowing, prose, James Daschuk examines the roles that Old World diseases, climate, and, most disturbingly, Canadian politics—the politics of ethnocide—played in the deaths and subjugation of thousands of Indigenous people in the realization of Sir John A. Macdonald’s “National Dream.” It was a dream that came at great expense: the present disparity in health and economic well-being between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, and the lingering racism and misunderstanding that permeates the national consciousness to this day.
-
-
must read for all canadians
- By Bren H on 2023-01-16
Written by: James Daschuk, and others
-
Fresh Banana Leaves
- Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science
- Written by: Jessica Hernandez Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate devastation, Indigenous science is nowhere to be found in mainstream environmental policy or discourse. And while holistic land, water, and forest management practices born from millennia of Indigenous knowledge systems have much to teach all of us, Indigenous science has long been ignored, otherized, or perceived as "soft"--the product of a systematic, centuries-long campaign of racism, colonialism, extractive capitalism, and delegitimization.
-
-
Eye opening
- By AsG409 on 2023-10-21
Written by: Jessica Hernandez Ph.D.
-
You Are the Medicine
- 13 Moons of Indigenous Wisdom, Ancestral Connection, and Animal Spirit Guidance
- Written by: Asha Frost
- Narrated by: Asha Frost
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Medicine you have been searching for lives within you. Follow the path of the 13 Ojibwe Moons with Animal Spirits and Ancestors as your guides as you unlock your connection to your own unique, inherent healing power. Through storytelling, ceremonies, and Shamanic journeys, learn to apply ancient wisdom to your life in ways that are respectful and conscious of the stolen lands, lives, and traditions of Indigenous peoples.
-
-
A Powerful Healing Journey
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-06-22
Written by: Asha Frost
-
Becoming Kin
- An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future
- Written by: Patty Krawec, Nick Estes - foreword
- Narrated by: Patty Krawec
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The invented history of the Western world is crumbling fast, Anishinaabe writer Patty Krawec says, but we can still honor the bonds between us. Settlers dominated and divided, but Indigenous peoples won't just send them all "home." Weaving her own story with the story of her ancestors and with the broader themes of creation, replacement, and disappearance, Krawec helps listeners see settler colonialism through the eyes of an Indigenous writer.
-
-
A Wise Author, Wisdom Filled Book
- By Amazon Customer on 2024-10-13
Written by: Patty Krawec, and others
-
Sacred Instructions
- Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change
- Written by: Sherri Mitchell, Larry Dossey M.D.
- Narrated by: Sherri Mitchell
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing from ancestral knowledge, as well as her experience as an attorney and activist, Sherri Mitchell addresses some of the most crucial issues of our day—including indigenous land rights, environmental justice, and our collective human survival. Sharing the gifts she has received from the elders of her tribe, the Penobscot Nation, she asks us to look deeply into the illusions we have labeled as truth and which separate us from our higher mind and from one another.
-
-
Good book, but not what I expected.
- By Richard Galambos on 2019-08-14
Written by: Sherri Mitchell, and others
-
Restoring the Kinship Worldview
- Indigenous Voices Introduce 28 Precepts for Rebalancing Life on Planet Earth
- Written by: Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), Darcia Narváez PhD
- Narrated by: Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), Darcia Narváez PhD, Sage Ryan
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Indigenous worldviews, and the knowledge they confer, are critical for human survival and the wellbeing of future generations. Editors Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows) and Darcia Narvaez present 28 powerful excerpted passages from Indigenous leaders, including Mourning Dove, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Winona LaDuke, and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.
-
-
Antidote to colonial systems
- By Vanessa L. on 2024-05-25
Written by: Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), and others
-
Clearing the Plains
- Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Indigenous Life
- Written by: James Daschuk, Elizabeth A. Fenn - foreword, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair
- Narrated by: J.D. Nicholsen
- Length: 21 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In arresting, but harrowing, prose, James Daschuk examines the roles that Old World diseases, climate, and, most disturbingly, Canadian politics—the politics of ethnocide—played in the deaths and subjugation of thousands of Indigenous people in the realization of Sir John A. Macdonald’s “National Dream.” It was a dream that came at great expense: the present disparity in health and economic well-being between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, and the lingering racism and misunderstanding that permeates the national consciousness to this day.
-
-
must read for all canadians
- By Bren H on 2023-01-16
Written by: James Daschuk, and others
-
Fresh Banana Leaves
- Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science
- Written by: Jessica Hernandez Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate devastation, Indigenous science is nowhere to be found in mainstream environmental policy or discourse. And while holistic land, water, and forest management practices born from millennia of Indigenous knowledge systems have much to teach all of us, Indigenous science has long been ignored, otherized, or perceived as "soft"--the product of a systematic, centuries-long campaign of racism, colonialism, extractive capitalism, and delegitimization.
-
-
Eye opening
- By AsG409 on 2023-10-21
Written by: Jessica Hernandez Ph.D.
-
You Are the Medicine
- 13 Moons of Indigenous Wisdom, Ancestral Connection, and Animal Spirit Guidance
- Written by: Asha Frost
- Narrated by: Asha Frost
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Medicine you have been searching for lives within you. Follow the path of the 13 Ojibwe Moons with Animal Spirits and Ancestors as your guides as you unlock your connection to your own unique, inherent healing power. Through storytelling, ceremonies, and Shamanic journeys, learn to apply ancient wisdom to your life in ways that are respectful and conscious of the stolen lands, lives, and traditions of Indigenous peoples.
-
-
A Powerful Healing Journey
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-06-22
Written by: Asha Frost
-
Think Indigenous
- Native American Spirituality for a Modern World
- Written by: Doug Good Feather
- Narrated by: Doug Good Feather
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is a natural law-a spiritual intelligence that we are all born with that lies within our hearts.
-
-
helping to find my self
- By Aja on 2023-05-14
Written by: Doug Good Feather
-
True Reconciliation
- How to Be a Force for Change
- Written by: Jody Wilson-Raybould
- Narrated by: Jody Wilson-Raybould
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is one question Canadians have asked Jody Wilson-Raybould more than any other: What can I do to help advance reconciliation? This has been true from her time as a leader of British Columbia’s First Nations, as a Member of Parliament, as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, within business communities, and when having conversations with people. Whether speaking as individuals, communities, organizations, or governments, people want to take concrete and tangible action that will make real change. They just need to know how to get started, or to take the next step.
-
-
A must read for Canadians
- By Vicky Wilson on 2023-05-24
Written by: Jody Wilson-Raybould
-
The Seven Circles
- Indigenous Teachings for Living Well
- Written by: Chelsey Luger, Thosh Collins
- Narrated by: Chelsey Luger
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When wellness teachers and husband-wife duo Chelsey Luger and Thosh Collins founded their Indigenous wellness initiative, Well for Culture, they extended an invitation to all to honor their whole self through Native wellness philosophies and practices. In reclaiming this ancient wisdom for health and wellbeing—drawing from traditions spanning multiple tribes—they developed the Seven Circles, a holistic model for modern living rooted in timeless teachings from their ancestors.
-
-
wow
- By Rainbow J. on 2023-08-04
Written by: Chelsey Luger, and others
-
The Science of the Sacred
- Bridging Global Indigenous Medicine Systems and Modern Scientific Principles
- Written by: Nicole Redvers N.D.
- Narrated by: Essie Bartosik
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern medical science has finally caught up to what traditional healing systems have known for centuries. Many traditional healing techniques and medicines are often assumed to be archaic, outdated, or unscientific compared to modern Western medicine. Nicole Redvers, a naturopathic physician and member of the Deninu K'ue First Nation, analyzes modern Western medical practices using evidence-informed Indigenous healing practices and traditions from around the world - from sweat lodges and fermented foods to Ayurvedic doshas and meditation.
-
-
Excellent
- By Peach and Daisy on 2020-02-26
Written by: Nicole Redvers N.D.
-
Indigenous Writes
- A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Issues in Canada
- Written by: Chelsea Vowel
- Narrated by: Brianne Tucker
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Are you familiar with the terms listed above? In Indigenous Writes, Chelsea Vowel, legal scholar, teacher, and intellectual, opens an important dialogue about these (and more) concepts and the wider social beliefs associated with the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada. In 31 essays, Chelsea explores the Indigenous experience from the time of contact to the present, through five categories - Terminology of Relationships; Culture and Identity; Myth-Busting; State Violence; and Land, Learning, Law, and Treaties.
-
-
MUCH Better as a hard copy!
- By Julie Rose on 2021-08-15
Written by: Chelsea Vowel
-
A Two-Spirit Journey
- The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder (Critical Studies in Native History, Book 18)
- Written by: Ma-Nee Chacaby, Mary Louisa Plummer
- Narrated by: Marsha Knight
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Two-Spirit Journey is Ma-Nee Chacaby’s extraordinary account of her life as an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian. From her early, often harrowing memories of life and abuse in a remote Ojibwa community riven by poverty and alcoholism, Chacaby’s story is one of enduring and ultimately overcoming the social, economic, and health legacies of colonialism.
-
-
Amazing audio!
- By Desiree McCarthy on 2023-04-13
Written by: Ma-Nee Chacaby, and others
-
Living Resistance
- An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day
- Written by: Kaitlin B. Curtice
- Narrated by: Kaitlin B. Curtice
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an era in which "resistance" has become tokenized, popular Indigenous author Kaitlin Curtice reclaims it as a basic human calling. Resistance is for every human who longs to see their neighbors' holistic flourishing. We each have a role to play in the world right where we are, and our everyday acts of resistance hold us all together.
Written by: Kaitlin B. Curtice
-
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act
- Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality
- Written by: Bob Joseph
- Narrated by: Sage Isaac
- Length: 3 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on a viral article, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act is the essential guide to understanding the legal document and its repercussion on generations of Indigenous peoples, written by a leading cultural sensitivity trainer. The Indian Act, after 141 years, continues to shape, control, and constrain the lives and opportunities of Indigenous peoples, and is at the root of many lasting stereotypes.
-
-
Essentially Canadian - Must Read.
- By Marcel Molin on 2019-08-23
Written by: Bob Joseph
-
Unbroken
- My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls
- Written by: Angela Sterritt
- Narrated by: Angela Sterritt
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Unbroken is an extraordinary work of memoir and investigative journalism focusing on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, written by an award-winning Gitxsan journalist who survived life on the streets against all odds.
-
-
Informative and powerful
- By Robin Anderson on 2023-09-15
Written by: Angela Sterritt
-
Jonny Appleseed
- A Novel
- Written by: Joshua Whitehead
- Narrated by: Joshua Whitehead
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A tour-de-force debut novel about a Two-Spirit Indigiqueer young man and proud NDN glitter princess who must reckon with his past when he returns home to his reserve. “You're gonna need a rock and a whole lotta medicine” is a mantra that Jonny Appleseed, a young Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer, repeats to himself in this vivid and utterly compelling debut novel by poet Joshua Whitehead.
-
-
Y gay?
- By Anonymous User on 2022-12-14
Written by: Joshua Whitehead
-
Indigenomics
- Taking a Seat at the Economic Table
- Written by: Carol Anne Hilton
- Narrated by: Denise Halfyard
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is time. It is time to increase the visibility, role, and responsibility of the emerging modern indigenous economy and the people involved. This is the foundation for economic reconciliation. This is indigenomics. Indigenomics lays out the tenets of the emerging indigenous economy, built around relationships, multigenerational stewardship of resources, and care for all.
-
-
Jenny - Tsilhqot’in Nation
- By kevin on 2021-10-11
Written by: Carol Anne Hilton
-
Transgender History, Second Edition
- The Roots of Today's Revolution
- Written by: Susan Stryker
- Narrated by: Emily Cauldwell
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Covering American transgender history from the mid-20th century to today, Transgender History takes a chronological approach to the subject of transgender history, with each chapter covering major movements, writings, and events.
-
-
Very informative
- By Cayde on 2024-06-30
Written by: Susan Stryker
What the critics say
“Provid[es] deeper insight into the experiences, cultures, and futures of Two-Spirit communities.”
—Foreword Reviews
"Smithers' book contains a great many citations and tackles that mythology head-on, as it relates to the roles of Two-Spirit persons in the histories of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. But Smithers...goes much further, elaborating on the term "Two-Spirit" itself." —Bay Area Reporter
“…a carefully documented work in tune with the tremendous resilience, creativity, and community-building of LGBT Native Americans in overcoming centuries of European persecution, misinterpretation, and appropriation of Indigenous cultures in general and Native sexual and gender diversity in particular.” —The Gay & Lesbian Review