Decolonization

Since the auspicious moment of European “discovery” five hundred years ago, Native women and Two Spirit / queer (2SQ) folks have resisted the gendered logics and practices of imperialism, colonialism, and settler colonialism. According to Leanne Simpson (2017, 41), “Indigenous bodies, particularly the bodies of 2SQ people, children, and women, represented the lived alternative to heteronormative constructions of gender, political systems, and rules of descent” and thus were treated as political orders needing to be controlled, co-opted, and eliminated. Many Native feminists have argued that imperialism, colonialism, and settler colonialism are not historical processes or events that only took place in the past; rather, they fundamentally constitute the sexual and gender-based violence that targets Indigenous women, children, and 2SQ people today. Furthermore, gender and sexual binaries (re)enforce patriarchy and heteronormativity through legislation, policies, laws, land rights, and treaties. Indigenous peoples continue to adapt their tactics and strategies to respond to the way heteropatriarchy shape-shifts to maintain (white) supremacy.