Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory
| Author | Qwo-Li Driskill |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Publication date | 2016 |
| Pages | |
| ISBN | 9780816530489 Search this book on  . |
Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory is a book written by two-spirit Cherokee author Qwo-Li Driskill in 2016. Driskill is a professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality studies at Oregon State University. The word asegi is Cherokee for “strange” and is a term used to describe individuals who do not fall into the traditional European gender binary. In their book, Driskill uses prose, historical texts, and interviews with two-spirit individuals in order to re-contextualize the colonization of Native lands into a wider gender context.
Summary[edit]
Driskill spends the first half of the book dissecting historical documents, journals, and letters from European explorers.[1] The book includes many images such as historical maps and paintings from the time. Driskill’s goal in recounting these events is to retell the story from the point of view of the Cherokee tribes and individuals. They argue that because history is often told by the oppressor, that it should be time to reverse the narrative and re-imagine the stories in an asegi context. Driskill explains that the Spanish conquistadors hated the gender expression of the Cherokee so much that they saw it as a reason to conquer the land and destroy the culture. Because of this, the asegi aspects of pre-colonial Cherokee culture, such as normalize same-sex couples, Two-Spirit individuals, and strong female leadership were lost to time. Driskill argues for an act of political activism wherein Cherokee Two-Spirit people take back that history and begin expressing gender in their traditional culture ways.
The second half of the book is focused on the modern day instead of historical text.[2] Driskill includes interviews from multiple Indigenous Two-Spirit people, emphasizing their importance within the context of their communities. The epilogue includes a sentiment that telling these stories of indigenous memory can help the world at large by widening the global understanding of gender and culture. Driskill sees a future where every expression of gender and sexuality is validated by the community an individual grows up in, as well as in the rest of the world.
Author Background[edit]
Qwo-Li Driskill is a Two-Spirit Cherokee professor at Oregon State University.[3] They are the director of graduate studies and the Queer Studies curriculum. They have written many books including Walking with Ghosts: Poems, and is the co-editor of Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature and Queer Indigenous Studies: Critical Interventions is Theory, Politics, and Literature. Asegi Stories was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in 2017 and has received great reviews for its in depth analysis of history and queer culture. According to UA Press, it is "the first full-length work of scholarship to develop a tribally specific Indigenous Queer or Two-Spirit critique"[4]
References[edit]
- ↑ Stremlau, Rose (2017). "Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory". Native American and Indigenous Studies Association. 4: 106+. doi:10.5749/natiindistudj.4.1.0106 – via Gale Academic OneFile.
- ↑ Sanchez, Casey (19 Aug 2016). "'Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory' by Qwo-Li Driskill". Santa Fe New Mexican – via NewsBank: Access World News.
- ↑ "Qwo Li Driskill, Graduate Studies Director - Associate Professor". Oregon State University. March 6, 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Asegi Stories". UAPress. 2017-07-12. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
- ↑ Driskill, Qwo-Li (2016). Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory. University of Arizona Press. Search this book on
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