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BC Library Conference 2019

du 8 au 10 May 2019

Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel, Surrey, BC

F05: Two-Spirit Reconciliation: Honouring the Truth; Reconciling for the Future

vendredi 10 mai 2019 à 09:00–10:15 EDT add to calendar
Green Timber 3
Session Description

Many cultural traditions and practices of the peoples of Turtle Island have often been misrepresented or suppressed. The misrepresentation mainly occurred because the colonizers did not have a context to frame, understand and value these ways and the suppression, primarily, occurred because these ways went against the colonizer’s christian doctrine, a doctrine that righteously justified the subjugation of indigenous bodies and lands and was one of the underlying tenets of the residential/boarding schools and such policies. This especially holds true for indigenous notions and practices of gender, gender-roles and sexuality. This presentation explores these concepts by featuring some of the sociohistorical documentation from a nation-specific standpoint while supplementing these records and narratives with a deconstructed colonial account(s). A brief overview is offered on how this burgeoning body of knowledge is used to (re)claim and restore respect, honor and dignity for today’s Two-Spirit individuals and communities as they navigate and negotiate Aboriginal and LGBTQI spaces, places and communities. Finally, a discussion is taken up on the (re)positioning of ‘Two-Spirit’ as this work and discussion(s) significantly differs from that of the (non-Native) LGBTQ movement(s) putting forth a critique of the ‘western’ framing of gender, gender-roles, and sexuality; thus opening up a space that transcends and challenges the binary; thereby, creating a space to dream of a rich, complex and diverse world that acknowledges the ‘other’ while honoring, celebrating and valuing the gifts and medicines the ‘other’ has to offer thus creating a sacred (and safe) place and space that calls everyone home.

Speakers

Harlan Pruden, Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program - University of British Columbia
Biography

Harlan Pruden (First Nation Cree) works with and for the Two-Spirit community locally, nationally and internationally. Currently, Harlan is a Ph.D student at UBC and an Educator at the BC Center for Disease Control’s Chee Mamuk program. Harlan is also the Managing Editor of the TwoSpiritJournal.com. Before moving to Vancouver from New York City, Harlan was a co-founder of the NorthEast Two-Spirit Society. In August 2014, Harlan was appointed by President Obama to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS where he worked to provide advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary of Health & Human Services and the White House.

Chargement en cours …