Naming and Claiming

Abstract

Abstract This article analyzes archival and oral records of Ojibwe and Plains Cree words for Two-Spirit people to show the continuity between historical and modern Two-Spirits. In the face of appropriation of historical Two-Spirits by both cisgender and transgender non-Indigenous people, as well as scholarly insistence on a disconnect between historical and modern Two-Spirits, examining the linguistic history of specific communities reveals what the author, a Two-Spirit person themself, terms “trans*temporal kinship.” Referring to the ability of Two-Spirit people to establish kin relations across time, with both ancestors and descendants, the application of trans*temporal kinship and other Indigenous concepts allows Two-Spirit people to circumvent the debate in transgender studies as to whether transgender people can and should claim historical figures as “transgender ancestors.” The article argues that Two-Spirit reclamation of language for people “like us” is a vital element in redressing the violence and exclusion perpetrated against Two-Spirit people today.

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