ABSTRACT
In this chapter, McGeough argues that Indigenous understandings of gender fluidity are best examined through Indigenous epistemologies. As heteronormativity and the policing of gender and sexuality have been central to settler colonial ideologies and systems of control, heteronormativity and homophobia have been internalized by many Indigenous communities. McGeough cites a number of examples of Indigenous interventions into critical theory, entertainment and art such as the “gender bending” performances of 19th-century Haudenosaunee playwright Go Wan Go Mohawk, the gender-inclusive structure of the Diné language, and the works of several contemporary Indigenous artists. McGeogh argues that Indigenous epistemologies provide a more nuanced understanding of Indigenous notions of gender and sexuality. She argues that going forward, the social and colonial construction of gender and sexuality needs to be continually acknowledged and intervened in. She writes that to speak Indigenous stories is to reject the settler frameworks that silenced Indigenous knowledges and ways of being.
