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Stolen From Our Bodies
Stolen From Our Bodies
In the process of learning about the history of indigenous people we can see what actually happened to them. We have seen how Natives have been killed and their population devastated, their lands taken away by force, and how their culture has been crushed. The European colonization separated indigenous women and Two-Spirit people from their “homes” and bodies”. They did this by enslaving and raping them. They also separated them by imposing the European beliefs and customs and punishing them if they did not follow what they were told. They were not allowed to express differently than the colonizers because they believed that that was the best way or the only way.
Until this day, indigenous communities still suffer from the history of colonization. For example, the social system known as patriarchy in which men hold the predominant roles and hold primary power. In the essay “Stolen From Our Bodies” by Qwo-Li Driskill, the author mentions that in Native communities’ women or people with extra-ordinary genders and sexualities cannot not be leaders. Before colonization, men and women had similar social status and both used to hold important titles and roles. This all changed with colonization. Colonizers brought their social system and imposed the native to follow it. From that day on, we still see that social system within our communities
Until this day, indigenous communities still suffer from the history of colonization. For example, the social system known as patriarchy in which men hold the predominant roles and hold primary power. In the essay “Stolen From Our Bodies” by Qwo-Li Driskill, the author mentions that in Native communities’ women or people with extra-ordinary genders and sexualities cannot not be leaders. Before colonization, men and women had similar social status and both used to hold important titles and roles. This all changed with colonization. Colonizers brought their social system and imposed the native to follow it. From that day on, we still see that social system within our communities
In the same essay, “Stolen From our Bodies”, the author explains that when colonizers arrived to the Americas they enforced the idea that sexuality and non-dichotomous genders were a sin. Any gender that was not heterosexual was punished, degraded, ignored, and destroyed. That happened hundreds of years ago. Unfortunately, it is still happening today. This is an issue that indigenous women and Two-Spirit people resisted and continue to resist until this day. It is a shame that after seeing how bad the invaders were to our ancestors, it is still happening. Everyone wants change, but not everyone is willing to fight to help the people who need it the most.
In the same essay, “Stolen From our Bodies”, the author explains that when colonizers arrived to the Americas they enforced the idea that sexuality and non-dichotomous genders were a sin. Any gender that was not heterosexual was punished, degraded, ignored, and destroyed. That happened hundreds of years ago. Unfortunately, it is still happening today. This is an issue that indigenous women and Two-Spirit people resisted and continue to resist until this day. It is a shame that after seeing how bad the invaders were to our ancestors, it is still happening. Everyone wants change, but not everyone is willing to fight to help the people who need it the most.
Land Acknowledgment
Land Acknowledgment
It has been hundreds of years since the Kumeyaay people were pushed away from their lands. The land we walk on and the land we live on was taken away by force and violence and actions like that should have never been tolerated. Not before, not today and not in the future. The Kumeyaay had shed blood, sweat and tears for this land. Land that was taken with no valid reason.
As human beings and residents of San Diego we acknowledge the land where the Museum of Us is located belongs to the Kumeyaay people. We encourage more people and more places to do the same. Doing this is not going to change a lot and is not going to give the land back to the Kumeyaay. But it will help honor and maintain the Kumeyaay culture and customs alive around us. I am not an expert on this, but it is something I would love to keep learning about and seeing more places do the same. Showing who land really belongs too.
Works Cited
Works Cited
Driskill, Qwo-Li. Stolen From Our Bodies: First Nations Two-Spirits/Queers and the Journey to a Sovereign Erotic, Studies in American Indian Literatures. 8 July 2004, www.deepdyve.com/lp/university-of-nebraska-press/stolen-from-our-bodies-first-nations-two-spirits-queers-and-the-SgqA0vqcQ6.
“Land Acknowledgement.” Museum of Us, 25 Sept. 2020, museumofus.org/land-acknkowledgement/.
“NativeLand.ca - Kumeyaay.” Native, native-land.ca/maps/territories/kumeyaay/.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fight_Patriarchy_graffiti_in_Turin.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:We_Will_Shake_Patriarchy_To_The_Core.jpg
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