Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology by Will Roscoe (Editor)Call Number: Upper Level (PS509.H57 L58 1988)
Publication Date: New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988
Joining a reclaimed past to a vibrant present, this work provides a broad view of male and female homosexuality in Native American cultural history through anthropological reports, biography, mission records, photographs, oral literature, diaries, interviews, essays, autobiographical excerpts, poems, and selections from novels. In the past, individuals whose behavior varied from tribal norms could adopt a variety of honorable roles: healer, artist, mediator, shaman. But homophobia saturates the modern Indian world. Contemporary voices (notably Roscoe, Beth Brant, Paula Gunn Allen, Maurice Kenny, and Chrystos) explain and dramatize survival despite chronic and ritualized oppression.