Changing Ones : Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America

Will Roscoe

ISBN 10: 0312224796 / ISBN 13: 9780312224790

Published by Springer Nature B.V. Jun 2000, 2000

About this Item

Neuware - The term 'berdache' is a little-known, rarely discussed reference to Native American individuals who embodied both genders - what some might classify as 'the third sex.' Berdaches were known to combine male and female social roles with traits unique to their status as a third gender, defying and redefining traditional notions of gender-specific behavior. In Changing Ones , William Roscoe opens up and explores the world of berdaches, revealing meaningful differences between Native American culture and contemporary North American culture. Roscoe reveals that rather than being ostracized or forced into obscurity, berdaches were embraced by some 150 tribes, serving as artists, medicine people, religious experts, and tribal leaders. Indeed, Roscoe points out, berdaches sometimes even occupied a holy status within the tribal community. Roscoe begins with case studies of male and female berdaches, blending biography and ethnohistory, and he builds toward theoretical insights into the nature of gender diversity in North America. What results is highly engaging, readable, and illuminating. Changing Ones combines the fields of anthropology, sociology, queer theory, gay and lesbian studies, and gender studies to challenge conventional schools of thought and to expand every reader's horizons.

Seller Inventory # 9780312224790

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Changing Ones : Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America
• Publisher: Springer Nature B.V. Jun 2000
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312224796
• ISBN 13: 9780312224790
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 234W x 156H x 26D millimeters 234 millimeters width by 156 millimeters height by 26 millimeters depth
• Weight: 490 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Will Roscoe documents one of the most widespread and least-known aspects of native North America. In many Native American tribal societies, it was not uncommon for some men to live as women and some women to live as men. In this land, the original America

About the Author

WILLIAM ROSCOE is the author of The Zuni Man-Woman, which received the Margaret Mead Award of the American Anthropological Association and a Lamda Literary Award, as well as the editor of Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology (SMP).