Ininiikaazo: Fact or Fiction?
 |
| ininiikaazo: s/he pretends to be a man, acts like a man https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/ininiikaazo-vai |
Sex usually determined one’s gender and, therefore, one’s work, but the Ojibwe accepted variation. Men who chose to function as women were called ikwekaazo, meaning “one who endeavors to be like a woman.” Women who functioned as men were called ininiikaazo, meaning “one who endeavors to be like a man.”46 The French called these people berdaches. Ikwekaazo and ininiikaazo could take spouses of their own sex.47 Their mates were not considered ikwekaazo or ininiikaazo, however, because their function in society was still in keeping with their sex. If widowed, the spouse of an ikwekaazo or ininiikaazo could remarry someone of the opposite sex or another ikwekaazo or ininiikaazo. The ikwekaazowag worked and dressed like women.48 Ininiikaazowag worked and dressed like men. Both were considered to be strong spiritually, and they were always honored, especially during ceremonies.49
The role of ikwekaazo and ininiikaazo in Ojibwe society was believed to be sacred, often because they assumed their roles based on spiritual dreams or visions. Peter Grant, who traveled extensively among the Ojibwe in the early 1800s, reported: “They have the greatest faith in dreams, by which they imagine that the Deity informs them of future events, [and] enjoins them certain penances … I have known several instances of some of their men who, by virtue of some extraordinary dream, had been affected to such a degree as to abandon every custom characteristic of their sex and adopt the dress and manners of the women. They are never ridiculed or despised by the men on account of their new costumes, but are, on the contrary, respected as saints or beings in some degree inspired.50
...Artist George Catlin witnessed the annual dance in honor of the berdache and remarked that they were “looked upon as medicine and sacred.” Missionary Samuel Pond mentioned women who accompanied men to war and “resembled a woman only in form.” Primary source documents contain numerous other references to acceptance of homosexuality in Ojibwe society. The ikwekaazo and ininiikaazo were clearly important both socially and politically.53
Below are the notes pertaining to the above passage:
46. Interviews, Archie Mosay, 1993; Earl Otchingwanigan (Nyholm), 1991, 1992, 1993. Much of the background information supplied above was relayed through otchingwanigan (nyholm) as well.
47. Both ikwekaazo and ininiikaazo are animate nouns in Ojibwe. Their plural forms are ikwekaazowag and ininiikaazowag, respectively. Interview, Earl Otchingwanigan (Nyholm), 1991. See also Williams, Spirit and Flesh, 110.
48. The ikwekaazowag could participate in war, although there were often restrictions upon their actions. Several stories in the Ojibwe oral tradition recount the bravery of certain ikwekaazowag. Interviews, Archie Mosay; 1993; earl otchingwanigan (nyholm), 1992. In 1801, for example, an ikwekaazo from Manitoba single-handedly held o a Lakota attack to cover the successful retreat of Ojibwe from their village. This event was recounted numerous times and eventually recorded by non-Indian observers, from whom the record of this event is taken. See Henry and Thompson, New Light on the Early History, 1:163–65; Williams, Spirit and Flesh, 67–68.
49. Kellogg, Early Narratives, 244n
50. Kinietz, Chippewa Village, 155; Grant, “Saulteux Indians,” 2:357, cited in Williams, Spirit and Flesh, 31.
53. Catlin, Letters and Notes, 2:214–15; interview, Earl otchingwanigan (Nyholm), 1992; Pond, The Dakota, 124. Although Catlin’s observations of the berdaches were primarily among the Dakota, this practice occurred among the Ojibwe as well. On acceptance, see especially Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, 59:129, 310; James, Narrative of Captivity, 105–6; Williams, Spirit and Flesh, 167–68. An excellent secondary account is discussed in Kugel, Main Leaders, 71–73, 92n.
Notes 48 and 50 only pertain to the male-bodied ikwekaazowag.
Per Note 49, Kellogg (1917) also only mentions male-bodied ikwekaazowag:
They are liberal in cases of illness, and think that the effect of the medicines administered to them is in proportion to the presents given to the physician. Their garments consist only of skins; the women are always clad very modestly and very becomingly, while the men do not take the trouble to cover themselves. I know not through what superstition some Illinois, as well as some Nadouessi, while still young, assume the garb of women, and retain it throughout their lives. There is some mystery in this, for they never marry and glory in deamining themselves to do everything that the women do. They go to war, however, but can use only clubs, and not bows and arrows, which are the weapons proper to men. They are present at all the juggleries, and at the solemn dances in honor of the calumet; at these they sing, but must not dance. They are summoned to the councils, and nothing can be decided without their advice. Finally, through their profession of leading an extraordinary life, they pass for Manitous, that is to say, for spirits, or persons of consequence.1
1 These persons were known as "berdashes", their condition had some religious significance, and they received certain especial honors.
Per Note 53, Samuel Pond (1908) was probably not describing ininiikaazo:
Women sometimes accompanied the men, but very seldom. They did not go to fight but to mangle the bodies of the slain, and none went except those who had lately had friends killed by the enemy and panted for revenge, or some old hag who resembled a woman only in form.
Where did Anton Truer get his information about the ininiikaazo?
 |
| Earl Otchingwanigan |
As bolded above, Truer (2011) relied heavily on information supplied by Earl Otchingwanigan. Once a respected Ojibwe elder. Otchingwanigan is a pedophile who was arrested for sexually abusing an 11-year old boy: https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/content/news/Man-pleads-guilty-to-criminal-sexual-conduct-for-performing-sexual-acts-on-an-11-year-old-boy-498241731.html
Here is another passage from Truer (2011):
Although sociopolitical leaders were almost always male, women were not prohibited from being leaders. One notable woman who achieved highly respected leadership and influence was Gaagige-ogimaansikwe (Forever Queen) of the Pembina Band. Women leaders in this sphere were usually, but not always, lesbian. Though female, they functioned as men socially and politically, took other women as wives, hunted, and engaged in war.42
42. Mittleholtz and Graves, Historical Review, 136 (Gaagige-ogimaansikwe also signed the Pembina Band Treaty in 1878); interview, Earl Otchingwanigan (Nyholm), 1992.
The claim that "women leaders" like Gaagige-ogimaansikwe were "usually, but not always, lesbian" is not derived from Mitteholtz & Graves (1957). Their lone reference to Gaagige-ogimaansikwe is simply:
Ka-gi-ge-mai-ya-o-sek (Woman head Warrior) Pembina, signed the treaty of 1878.
No other information is supplied from them. There is certainly no reference to lesbianism.
This is no fault of Truer's, but it is unclear if the ininiikaazowag really existed, or if they were born out of Otchingwanigan's sick imagination. The same can be said regarding claims of lesbianism.
One possibility is that the ininiikaazowag are but a mere fiction. There are several primary sources which describe the male-bodied ikwekaazowag, but none that describe female-bodied ininiikaazowag. In the study of Native American gender roles, there is a certain fallacy that is sometimes committed, where researchers assume "well, if this was the case for natal males, this was probably also the case for natal females..." This fallacy is committed when there is no good evidence to assume this to be true. The term ininiikaazo might have never been used historically, being something Otchingwanigan invented by swapping the ikwe ("woman") in ikwekaazo for inini ("man").
Another possibility is that Otchingwanigan's information is accurate, and the ininiikaazowag existed.
If the ininiikaazowag did exist, what were they? Quite possibly, girls raised as boys.
Indeed, this is a trend that was reported in certain subarctic tribes. From Lang (1998):
For the Ojibwa, Greenland Inuit, and the Kaska, supernatural legitimation did not play a role; the parents made the decision to bring their daughters up as sons (Honigmann 1954:130; Kjellström 1973:180; Landes 1937:119; Mirsky 1937b:83). As noted, such cases do not really constitute gender role change.
Mirsky (1937) describes this practice in the Inuit under CASE 10:
At Imarsavik (Southeast Greenland) there were twenty-five persons with only five hunters. The fathers, therefore, trained their daughters to hunt seals from the kaiak. A girl of twenty owned a kaiak and was a famous hunter. She was the only child of a man who was a dwarf. Another girl, who had three sisters but no brothers, also owned a kaiak and her younger sister was going to get one soon. These girls behaved and dressed like men, and they were treated by the other inhabitants as though they were. When offered presents, they did not choose any of the things women fancied, but took rather iron arrowpoints and knives (p. 76, note).
Honigmann (1954) describes this practice in the Kaska:
Sometimes if a couple had too many female children and desired a son to hunt for them in later years, they selected a daughter to be 'like a man'. When she was about five years old the parents tied the dried ovaries of a bear to her inner belt. She wore this amulet for the rest of her life in order to avoid conception. The girl was raised as a boy She dressed in masculine attire and performed male allocated tasks, often developing great strength and usually becoming an outstanding hunter. She screamed and broke the bow and arrows of any boy who made sexual advances to her. 'She knows that if he gets her then her luck with game will be broken'. Apparently such a girl entered homosexual relations.
Likewise, a similar practice was described in the Ojibwe by Landes (1937):
Sometimes, when a girl is the only child, she is treated like a boy in all respects, and therefore is sent out to dream. Indeed, her parents do not think of her as fundamentally different from a boy; she is simply the second-best possibility…
...Some girls are reared like boys. This is often the case when there are no boys in the family, and the father takes his daughter as his companion. Sometimes this happens when a girl is the particular favorite of her father. Or a woman, long widowed, may have developed the masculine arts of hunting, trading, and fishing, and rear her daughter in the same way. There is a considerable group of girls and women who like to live alone or in the company of another woman. These girls have to develop certain masculine techniques in order to maintain themselves. Not all these women are permanent bachelors, but they live alone for as long as they choose. Women who have learned male hunting techniques and male attitudes regarding private property also have visions pertinent to men's work; while at the same time they are skilled in women's work. Such women are given the same recognition as men. Female shamans are solicited to cure and teach men and women alike, and female warriors are given the male title of "brave.
The practice of raising girls as boys is different from true homosexuality, as it is a decision of one's parents instead of the individual. A lengthy description of the Inuit practice can be found in d'Anglure's (2018) Inuit Stories of Being and Rebirth: Gender, Shamanism, and the Third Sex, in which he writes:
Cross-dressing has been observed in many Siberian peoples, notably the Chukchi— who live the closest to the Yupiit of Siberia and St. Lawrence Island. It has also been practised by their Amerindian neighbours in mainland Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. Study of this subject is usually biased. Cross-dressed individuals were long believed to be homosexual, but only a tiny minority actually were. In fact, they should be viewed through the lens of gender rather than sexual orientation.
Landes (1969) describes the Ojibwe view of homosexuality:
There have always been occasional men and women who were single all their lives. They are simply called bachelors, with no judgements involved. The women, as they lived alone and had to support themselves, necessarily undertook such masculine activities as trapping, canoe-making, even hunting. The skilled ones were generally respected. One of the men. John Wilson's mother's brother, said he did not marry because he did not like women. No sex abnormalities [same-sex relations] were known of these people; indeed, the Emo people could not understand the description of the berdache.
Sex abnormalities were individual, not institutional. In the one instance known it was punished, but it could be punished only privately. At Hungry Hall, Kavanaugh's mother's sister Avas accused of abnormal relations with her niece. The accusation was private: "Their children looked so queer" (hydrocephaly), that the husbands of these women called a medicine man, a tcisaki, to divine the cause. The tcisaki said that the homosexual relations of the two women had caused the children to be sick. In fact, this was current gossip. The husband of the niece thereupon beat up his wife; and the husband of the aunt left her. The women did not deny the accusation.
As such, it is inappropriate to describe this cultural practice as "Queer".
The Honigmann Controversy
Honigmann's (1954) description of "homosexual relations" is controversial, with him claiming: "Female homosexuals simulated copulation by "getting on top of each other." Such women were often transvestites, but no male transvestites could be recalled." This is disputed by Goulet (1996), who argues that his description is misleading, with little evidence to back the claims of homosexuality. It is more likely that this is a cultural analogue to the Inuit practice of raising girls as boys. Another possibility is that Honigmann was correct. Interestingly, Landes (1937) possibly alludes to homosexuality, in describing women who like to live "in the company of another woman".
This is similar to a description provided by Mason (1895) of a lesbian couple among the Inuit:
A young Eskimo woman, fine looking and of remarkably good physique and mental capacity, held herself aloof from the young men. She said she was as strong as any of them, as they could testify. She could shoot and hunt deer as well as the men, and set snares and nets. She had her own gun, bought from the proceeds of her trapping. She did not desire to do the work of a wife, preferring that which custom allots to the men. When winter came, having made a convert in a smaller, less athletic damsel, the two erected their own house, and here lived and traded in defiance of public sentiment. When on one occasion they were off on a deer hunt "outraged public opinion combined in a mob which reduced their winter quarters to a shapeless ruin. The next year they gave up the unequal contest and returned to the ways of the world."*
* From Dall, Am Nat, Philadelphia, 1878, vol. xii, pp. 4-6, 17.
Lang (1998) comments on this passage: "The Inuit woman who hunted only for herself and her woman life companion, on the other hand, had her house destroyed by the community (O. T. Mason 1895:211), and both women “returned to the ways of the world”—which meant the conventional feminine role."
A pattern of mistreatment was also found in tribes of the American Southwest. For example, the Quechan (Yuma) objected "more strongly" to female inverts (kwe'rhame) than male inverts (elxa'), where parents would "attempt to bully them into feminine ways" (Forde, 1931). Devereux (1937) also provides a detailed description of the mistreatment of female inverts (hwame) by the Mohave.
Further Reading
https://fcpp.org/2025/03/20/how-activists-rewrote-indigenous-history/
References
Pond, S. (1908). The Dakotas or Sioux in Minnesota as they were in 1834 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/gdc/lhbum/0866g/0866g_0366_0551.pdf
Comments
Post a Comment