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UnicornOnTheJayneCob t1_j5x9x7y wrote

Reply to comment by cheese_sticks in First Navajo woman becomes Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council by AudibleNod

In other families/clans it might be different, but given the Navajo conception of gender as I was taught it, it would be somewhat unusual to refer to solely a woman’s physical body in that way.

It isn’t that it is private per se, or inconsequential, it just doesn’t give the full picture or convey what is significant about this story. The new speaker is not “just” female. She is specifically a woman (asdzáán). That is, she is a female-bodied person with a feminine spirit who assumes the feminine gender role in society and in her relationships with others.

(Navajo society traditionally has about five genders, of which Woman is the primary.)

Does that make any sense?

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QuestioningEspecialy t1_j5xhz4g wrote

Yeah, that does actually (surprisingly). How did woman become the primary gender, and what are the other 4? o.o

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UnicornOnTheJayneCob t1_j5yiby5 wrote

In Navajo culture as I was taught to understand it by my family, we are all spiritual people housed in physical forms. Our spirit and our relationships are who we “are.” It is part of why a Diné will introduce themselves with the names of the clans of their parents/grandparents when first meeting someone: it establishes their relationships and where they sit in the world.

When we introduce ourselves like this, we lead with our mother’s clans, as the Diné are matrilineal. That’s why woman is the primary gender. Traditional Navajo society is also matriarchal and matrilocal. That is, men leave their mothers’ home and relocate to their wife’s home when they marry, and children “belong” to their mother’s family. So, if you are Navajo, your cousins on your mother’s side are closer to you than your cousins on your father’s side, something a little closer to siblings. Property is also inherited through the mother’s line.

The genders are:

  1. Asdzáán - Woman - as above. To put it in modern terms, a straight cis-gender woman.
  2. Hastiin - Man - male-bodied, masculine-spirited person that fulfills the masculine gender role in Navajo society and in his relationships with others. Straight cis-gender man.
  3. Dilbaa - Female-bodied person with a masculine spirit who fulfills the masculine role in society and in relationships with others. The closest but-not-quite-right analogues in modern society would be a butch lesbian or a FTM transgender person who is attracted to women.
  4. Náhleeh - Male-bodied person with a feminine spirit who assumes the feminine role in society and in relationships. Closest analogues: effeminate gay man or MTF transgender person attracted to men.
  5. Nádleehi - Person of indeterminate physical gender, or of either physical gender, who can switch back and forth between being fully masculine and fully feminine and can fulfill either role in society. We don’t really have a good modern analogue for this - closest would be an intersex person. They are perceived as literally embodying two spirits: a masculine one, and a feminine one, which is what enables them to switch.

Sometimes this last one is broken down even further into relevant subtypes: a person with a male body who changes, a person with a female body who changes, and an androgynous person who switches/changes. That’s why sometimes people say that Navajo culture has “at least five” genders.

As a side note, that could also be a reason why the author didn’t put something like “Navajo council speaker to be woman for first time”, as some people have suggested. It wouldn’t be wholly out of the ordinary for a person in this last category who had been acting according to their masculine spirit until now to “be a woman for the first time” if it were the first time they were fully embodying their feminine spirit. I mean, it would still be a weird headline, and not exactly newsworthy, and it is really, REALLY much more likely that it is just poorly written, but it is just this side of possible that it was a deliberate choice (probably not!)

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redrightreturning t1_j5yod3j wrote

Thank you for taking the time to write this out and teach us a bit more about your culture.

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UnicornOnTheJayneCob t1_j5yz1xd wrote

u/_Gandalf_the_Ghey_ I can totally understand why that people might think that it was retconned and not traditional, but in this specific case it doesn't happen to be that way. I would honestly say that it is more like people are now re-embracing the mythology after a multi-decade period of rejection of it because of assimilation into mainstream American culture. You will definitely see some elders shunning people who identify as something other than "man" or "woman", especially if they are not fulfilling very traditional gender roles otherwise.

The genders like this have been recorded by non-native authors as early as the 1800s and is a part of the Diné creation myth that has been told for thousands of years! Plus, it isn't really a precise fit for modern western conceptions of gender - or especially of sexuality. For example, in traditional Navajo society (at least as I was taught, again), it is not acceptable to be a masculine gay man. If you are a person who forms romantic/sexual relationships with men, it is only okay if you are otherwise fulfilling a strict feminine role in Navajo society, and that is definitely out of step with modern American sensibilities of sexuality.

Plus Navajo hair is pretty difficult to dye blue in my experience. =P

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ThereRNoFkingNmsleft t1_j5za9f5 wrote

I'm a bit surprised that this is the first time that woman becomes speaker, given that it's traditionally matriarchal society. Do you know the context why it has not been a woman so far?

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UnicornOnTheJayneCob t1_j615bi0 wrote

Ah, called out! Confession: I actually don’t think it really is a true matriarchy, or ever has been. In reality, it is matrilineal, Matrilocal, and matrifocal but not actually matriarchal. The clan chiefs have always been men, though the clan system itself and inheritance is all matrilineal, which made it the social system somewhat balanced. But when Europeans came, they were subject to their own biases about gender roles, and therefore dealt solely with the chiefs, reinforcing their leadership. In my opinion, it stuck even as other traditions faded.

Also, the council in anything approaching this form has only existed for 100 years. Women first stated joining it, though not as speaker, within the first 20 years of its inception. The tribal presidency has only existed since the 1980s, and the current Vice President is a woman. I think that between those things, it really makes sense that these are new things.

If you asked my grandmother though, she would laugh at you and ask why women would need to have roles like that when they are so busy running everything anyway?

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ThereRNoFkingNmsleft t1_j618k3n wrote

Interesting, thanks for the answer. I guess whether it's matriarchial or no then depends on the power that the chiefs hold.

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rhodopensis t1_j5xs15w wrote

I mean, the same could just be reworded then, no? Maybe “First-Ever Woman Speaker” to avoid the phrase “First Woman” and the use of female.

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