Indian Blood

Finalist for the 2017 Lambda Literary "Lammy" Award in LGBTQ StudiesThe first book to examine the correlation between mixed-race identity and HIV/AIDS among Native American gay men and transgendered people, Indian Blood provides an analysis of the emerging and often contested LGBTQ "two-spirit" identification as it relates to public health and mixed-race identity.Prior to contact with European settlers, most Native American tribes held their two-spirit members in high esteem, even considering them spiritually advanced. However, after contact - and religious conversion - attitudes changed and social and cultural support networks were ruptured. This discrimination led to a breakdown in traditional values, beliefs, and practices, which in turn pushed many two-spirit members to participate in high-risk behaviors. The result is a disproportionate number of two-spirit members who currently test positive for HIV.Using surveys, focus groups, and community discussions to examine the experiences of HIV-positive members of San Francisco's two-spirit community, Indian Blood provides an innovative approach to understanding how colonization continues to affect American Indian communities and opens a series of crucial dialogues in the fields of Native American studies, public health, queer studies, and critical mixed-race studies.

Preface Acknowledgments 1. Indian Blood: Two-Spirit Return in the Face of Colonial Haunting 2. Two-Spirit Cultural Dissolution: HIV and Healing among Mixed-Race American Indians 3. Historical and Intergenerational Trauma and Radical Love 4. Gender and Racial Discrimination against Mixed-Race American Indian Two-Spirits 5. Mixed-Race Identity, Cognitive Dissonance, and Public Health 6. Sexual Violence and Transformative Ancestor Spirits