Abstracts
Abstract
In recent years, gender has factored heavily into the study of Inuit archaeological remains. Frequently, archaeologists have used diagnostic men’s and women’s tools to “see” gender in the archaeological record. However, recent anthropological literature attests to the existence of nonbinary gender categories in Inuit tradition. While the concept of nonbinary gender is not new in anthropological literature, it has not commonly been translated into meaningful archaeological research. Although many archaeologists studying Inuit gender have acknowledged the possibility of Inuit gender fluidity, virtually no archaeological research has directly addressed Inuit nonbinary gender. In this article, I discuss the anthropological concept of nonbinary gender and its diversity within Inuit culture, and then propose a variety of ways in which archaeologists conducting research on pre-contact Inuit gender might begin to study sites and materials within an interpretive framework that is more inclusive of these gender categories. These approaches include examination of artifacts, studies of the spatial distribution of sites, and re-examination of mortuary data. Through this work, I emphasize that gender occurs as a complex system rather than as two or three distinct sets of static social roles and that archaeologists need to adjust our approaches to past genders in order to see them through a culturally specific and meaningful lens.
Keywords:
- Archaeology,
- nonbinary gender,
- pre-contact,
- queer theory
Résumé
Au cours des dernières années, le genre a été fortement pris en compte dans l’étude des vestiges archéologiques Inuit. Fréquemment, les archéologues ont utilisé des outils de diagnostic masculins et féminins pour « voir » le genre dans les archives archéologiques Cependant, la littérature anthropologique récente témoigne de l’existence de catégories de genre non binaires dans la tradition Inuit. Bien que le concept de genre non-binaire ne soit pas nouveau dans la littérature anthropologique, il ne s’est généralement pas traduit en une recherche archéologique significative. Si de nombreux archéologues qui étudient le genre inuit ont bien reconnu la possibilité d’une fluidité inuit entre les sexes, pratiquement aucune recherche archéologique n’a abordé directement le genre non binaire inuit. Dans cet article, je discute du concept anthropologique du genre non-binaire et de sa diversité au sein de la culture inuit, puis je propose diverses façons pour les archéologues de mener des recherches sur le genre inuit avant le contact incluant ces catégories de genre. Ces approches comprennent l’examen des artefacts, les études de la distribution spatiale des sites et le réexamen des données mortuaires. À travers ce travail, je souligne que le genre se présente comme un système complexe plutôt que comme deux ou trois ensembles distincts de rôles sociaux statiques et que les archéologues doivent ajuster leurs approches aux genres passés afin de les considérer dans une optique culturellement spécifique et significative.
Mots-clés:
- Archéologie,
- genre non-binaire,
- pré-contact,
- théorie queer
Appendices
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10.7202/017569ar