Understanding Indigenous Gender Relations and Violence : Becoming Gender AWAke

Part 1: Introducing the Problem: Sexism and its Effects

1.       The Approach: The Framework of Historical Oppression Resilience, and Transcendence (FHORT) (10 Pages)

I introduce the approach for this work,[i] which is drawn from over a decade of qualitative research,[ii] quantitative research,[iii] and mixed methods research, along with clinical trials focused on developing and testing interventions to enhancing resilience and wellness while preventing substance abuse and violence.[iv] The FHORT[v] was developed to understand, explain, and predict intimate partner violence (IPV) against Indigenous women, and has since been extended to understand wellness, health, mental health, and other social issues; it incorporates the effect and consequences of historical oppression on groups of people while centering and acknowledge simultaneous resilience and transcendence.[vi] As an Indigenous-centered framework, the FHORT pays particular attention to how colonization has rearranged and undermined what were often women-centered Indigenous societies, constraining the overall functioning and safety of women. Despite the FHORT being developed with Indigenous peoples, all people -Indigenous or not - live on colonized lands and experience its postcolonial effects, including rampant sexism. [vii]

 

2.       Patriarchy and its Handmaid, Sexism (30 pages)

At the basis of this work toward being liberated from oppression is the life vocation of women to become reclaim their wholeness and realize their more authentic selves and become more fully human. [viii] As such, the opposite historical reality of dehumanization of women has also been present for centuries. The patriarchal system creates a context where devaluing women is promoted, rewarded, and perpetuated. This system enables inequality as the basis of systems that privilege to men. Women are taught to accept, become resigned, normalize being socialized into domesticity, docility, and silence, lest they be retaliated against if they speak out. Having been devalued across the life course and through insidious messages throughout the media institutions, and their relationships, they may distrust, depreciate, and feel insecure about their own abilities. When anyone is in a role of dehumanizing others, it stains not only those who have been oppressed but those who are in the role of oppressors as well. It contorts and distorts the life path of everyone's ultimate path to becoming more fully human.

 

3.       An Expansive Counternarrative to Dominant Gender Norms: Indigenous Gender (30 pages)

Feminism would not be necessary in a society characterized by gender equity. Indigenous societies were matrilineal, with lines of descent following along the female's line. Throughout colonization, the centrality and authority experienced by Indigenous women has been impaired by clashing beliefs and practices. Despite experiencing historical oppression, I provide specific examples about how these women have continuously resisted colonial subjugation and have demonstrated resilience in response to adversity. Examining the gendered worldviews of Indigenous peoples prior to colonization and how they have changed as a result of colonization gleans insights, not only on more expansive, transcendent views of gender, but also about the effect of the imposition of patriarchal gender arrangements. With many Indigenous societies historically being female-centered and gender-fluid, the gender relations of Indigenous societies offer alternative and transcendent views of gender and sex for all.

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