Indigenous Homosexual Activism: A Comparative Analysis between Brazil and North America

• Published in: Dados (Rio de Janeiro) Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 257 - 294
• Main Author: FERNANDES, Estevao Rafael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: 01-01-2015
• Subjects: Activism; American Indians; Brazil; Canada; Fieldwork; Homosexuality; Identity; Indigenous Populations; North America; United States of America
• DOI: 10.1590/00115258201544
• ISSN: 0011-5258

Building upon a comparison between Brazil and North America (mainly the United States, but also Canada) this article seeks to understand the formation and mobilization of homosexual indigenous activism in these two contexts. This research is based on bibliographical studies, interviews and fieldwork carried out between June 2012 and August 2014. The text describes the consolidation of the two-spirit movement in the United States, in contrast to the subjects near invisibility in Brazil. The conclusion is that this was due to a set of factor which allowed homosexual indigenous groups in the United States to create a pan-indigenous identity in which homosexuality figures as a traditionalist, religious and anti-colonial discourse, whereas in Brazil the opposite occurs, since indigenous homosexuality is viewed as a cultural 'loss.'. Adapted from the source document.