We'wha
We'wha (1849–1896, various spellings) was a Zuni Native American from New Mexico. They were the most famous lhamana, a traditional Zuni gender role, now described as mixed-gender or Two-Spirit. Lhamana were men who lived in part as women, wearing a mixture of women's and men's clothing and doing a great deal of women's work as well as serving as mediators.
We'wha is the subject of the book The Zuni Man-Woman by Will Roscoe. The anthropologist Matilda Coxe Stevenson also wrote a great deal about We'wha, and even hosted them on his visit to Washington D.C. in 1886. During that visit, We'wha met President Grover Cleveland and was generally mistaken for a cisgender woman. One of the anthropologists close to them described We'wha as “…the strongest character and the most intelligent of the Zuni tribe” (Roscoe, 1991, p. 29).
We'wha was a cultural ambassador for their people, and performed the role of Kolhamana, the lhamana kachina of the Zuni. They died in 1896.
References
- Matt and Andrej Koymasky - Famous GLTB - Weiwha. Retrieved February 23, 2006. Former link discovered to be broken as of January 30, 2010, and new retrieved: New URL for Koymasky Weiwa page.
Source listed at this reference: Aldrich, Robert & Wotherspoon, Garry, editors (2001). Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, from Antiquity to WWII. Routledge, London. ISBN 978-0-415-15983-8.
Sources
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Category:We'wha. |
- Gilley, Brian Joseph (2006). Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country. ISBN 0-8032-7126-3.
- Roscoe, Will (1991). The Zuni Man-Woman. (see pp. 29-52 for an account of We'wha's life) ISBN 0-8263-1253-5.
- Two-spirit - T-Vox Retrieved January 30, 2010.