- Read the following quote from "Queering the Movement":
"While those who are indigenous to Turtle Island (North America) have long been active stewards of the
land, we may currently be witnessing a wider reclamation of Indigeneity in its practices and politics, and
most definitely, in the visibility of Native American environmental activism. Queering this push for
environmental justice are Two Spirits--people who are believed to possess both feminine and masculine
spirits, and who play sacred roles in Native communities. Two Spirit activism has probably benefitted an
environmental movement struggling to respond to the acting United States administration's multiple attacks
on the sovereignty of both land and body--subjects that settler colonialism might deem separate--and to
confront its own whiteness and heteronormativity” (45).
- Write a 300-word reflective essay in which you consider the above quote, and how it shows possible
tensions between queerness, Two Spirits, and heteronormativity in relation to Standing Rock and the
DAPL. As you think about this, reflect on the following: How are disasters gendered? Why? How Two Spirits, in the fight against DAPL, confront notions of heteronormativity?
In which ways disasters might challenge state-sanctioned notions of gender? Why?
Do you think the marginalization of Two Spirits and their activism in the U.S. might challenge U.S.
homonationalism? Why?
Sample Solution