Native American Voguing
By P. Dante Cuauhtémoc, M.F.A.
Critical Dance Studies Doctoral Program at the University of
California at Riverside
My research focuses on
how Native Americans of the Western Hemisphere have deployed the dance form of
vogue (voguing) as a method of decolonization, anti-colonialism, and
resilience. Though the dance form of vogue was founded and stewarded by
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Black and Latinx
communities, I have observed Native Americans using the form to create their
own kinships, as well as form political-artistic alliances with other queer
peoples of color.
My project will be to
examine how queer Indigenous peoples, often self-called Two-Spirit (2S,
2spirit) people, have created their own families, kinship networks, and
ceremonies (often due to being ostracized from their tribal communities,
because of their sexual orientation or identity). Though in the past, some
tribes revered 2spirit people, the project of British and Spanish imperial
colonialism’s “heteronormative patriarchy” destroyed this cultural value for
some tribes –which in turn has led to the extreme general mistreatment of
LGBTQ2S peoples. Seeking family, and ways to offer their love, talents, and
life, some Two-Spirit peoples have entered the spheres of “Imperial Drag
Councils” (private societies in charge of drag balls and gay neighborhood
cultural affairs), created “Two-Spirit Powwows”, and participated in “The
Ballroom Scene” (where voguing is stewarded).
Today, throughout the
Western Hemisphere, Native American 2spirit people vogue to celebrate and
openly proclaim both their queerness and the indigenous ancestry, while
simultaneously protesting imperial heteronormative patriarchy. This work is significant,
because, to date, there are less than fifteen academic works that address
voguing, and there are less than two articles that look at this culture and its
ideologies from the lens of Indigenous studies. Little work on Indigenous dance
directly address its efforts and struggle of queer coalition of color community
building. Thus, this project’s contribution is to the expansion of the work of
these fields of Native American Studies, Queer/Trans/LGBTQ+ Studies, and Dance
Studies, by challenging, though synthesis, the borders of these fields of study
that have been previously been established as discrete. In this unique way, I
build on the generous and growing trend to recognize and remember the work of
2spirit people in sustaining the resilience of both their Indigenous
communities, and the broader LGBTQ2S communities.
