Aboriginal Two-Spirit and LGBTQ Mobility: Meanings of Home, Community and Belonging in a Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Interviews by Lisa Passante A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK University of Manitoba Winnipeg Copyright © 2012 by Lisa Passante ABORIGINAL TWO-SPIRIT & LGBTQ HOME, COMMUNITY, AND BELONGING Abstract This thesis reports on a secondary analysis of individual and focus group interviews from the Aboriginal Two-Spirit and LGBTQ Migration, Mobility and Health research project (Ristock, Zoccole, and Passante, 2010; Ristock, Zoccole, & Potskin, 2011). This was a community-based qualitative research project following Indigenous and feminist methods, involving two community Advisory Committees, and adopting research principles of Ownership Control Access and Possession (OCAP) (First Nations Centre, 2007). This analysis reviews data from 50 participants in Winnipeg and Vancouver and answers: How do Aboriginal Two-Spirit and LGBTQ people describe home, community and belonging in the context of migration, multiple identities, and in a positive framework focusing on wellbeing, strengths and resilience? Findings demonstrate how participants experience marginalization in both Aboriginal and gay communities. Their words illustrate factors such as safety required to facilitate positive identities, community building, belonging, and sense of home. For participants in this study home is a place where they can bring multiple identities, a geographical place, a physical or metaphorical space (with desired tone, feeling), and a quality of relationships. Community is about places, relationships, participation, and shared interests. Belonging is relational and interactive, feeling safe, accepted, and welcome to be yourself. Detractors interfere with positive meaning making and are identified in examples of contemporary effects of historical trauma. Also included are participant recommendations for community building, descriptions of holistic wellbeing, and examples of many ways urban Aboriginal Two-Spirit and LGBTQ people are creating communities of Two-Spirit vitality and resurgence (Simpson, 2011). 2 ABORIGINAL TWO-SPIRIT & LGBTQ HOME, COMMUNITY, AND BELONGING Acknowledgements Bringing this work to fruition has been a collective labour of love and commitment. I am indebted to my Advisors, Kim Clare and Janice Ristock. Janice, your research knowledge has been awe-inspiring and challenging (in a good way). Your thoughtful questions have provoked me to become more considerate and articulate. Despite my bashfulness, I have come to consider myself a “researcher”. Kim, your steadfast support, and keen social work eyes and warm heart have helped me come around the block with my MSW work the long way, with more than a “Master’s” worth of learning. Together, you two are a demanding, nurturing, knowledgeable and fierce tag team! Thank you both. To my thesis committee: Deana Halonen, Eveline Milliken, Kiera Ladner, and Marjorie Beaucage… I appreciate your expertise, willingness to participate, and your pointed comments and questions. This study has grown better and has potential to reach farther thanks to your collective efforts. To the community Advisory Committee members: the patience, knowledge and good faith you shared with your participation are gifts you gave not only to the project but also to me. Thank you. Finally, to the participants who shared their stories: without you, none of this could have come to fruition. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, feelings and hopes about what home, community and belonging mean to each of you. I hope I have represented what matters to you in good ways. I accept responsibility that any mistakes in representation or otherwise are my own. 3 ABORIGINAL TWO-SPIRIT & LGBTQ HOME, COMMUNITY, AND BELONGING Now closer to home: My family has been a cornerstone for me during the seven long years I have been in graduate school. They have offered financial, emotional, nutritional, parenting and other supports. It takes a community to raise a grad student … and the Passante and Kuryk families are part of my community. My parents, Tino and Marlene Passante, in particular, always emphasized the importance of hard work, learning to do a good job (and doing it), and the value of education. They, along with my sister Adriana, were my first teachers. Thank you. To my partner, Jackie, I know your patience with my schooling wore out long ago. Despite that, you have been a good sport. You are my rock and my love in life. You have always been where I belong. Thank you. To my daughter, Ruby, you have helped me become a better person from the moment you moved from the dream in our hearts into a real live person. And now, we welcome our newest family member, little Leonie. You two girls bring new meaning to home everyday and give me many chances to practice being well, and being more of the parent I want to be. Thank you. As a community member, I am thankful for all of the peers, teachers and friends I have worked with over the years in common cause. I count many of you among my chosen family and value the belonging I have experienced in your collective presence. Thank you. 4 ABORIGINAL TWO-SPIRIT & LGBTQ HOME, COMMUNITY, AND BELONGING Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 8 Rationale 11 Locating Myself 12 Background: Aboriginal Two-Spirit and LGBTQ Migration, Mobility and Health Research Project 18 Urban Contexts of Winnipeg and Vancouver 19 Literature Review 21 Two-Spirit Writings on Home, Community, Belonging 21 Aboriginal Writings on Home, Community, Belonging 39 LGBTQ Writings on Home, Community, Belonging 49 Chapter 2: Methodology 57 Research Questions 57 Theoretical Framework 57 Anti-Oppressive and Empowerment Perspectives in Research 58 Indigenous Approaches to Research 60 Feminist Approaches to Research 63 Critical Approaches to Research 64 Intersectionality 66 My Methodological Assumptions 70 What do these theories bring to my topic, and how? 71 Methods 73 Research Design 73 Data Collection 74 Differences in Winnipeg and Vancouver Data Collection 76 Data Analysis 78 5 ABORIGINAL TWO-SPIRIT & LGBTQ HOME, COMMUNITY, AND BELONGING Community Consultation 81 Demographic Table (Table 1) 83 Credibility 83 Journal/Reflections 86 Chapter 3: Findings 88 Demographic Information 88 Winnipeg and Vancouver Responses to Demographic Questions 88 Table 1 89 Findings from Individual and Focus Group Discussions 100 Aboriginal Two-Spirit and LGBTQ Identities 101 Descriptions and Meanings of Identities 101 On Having Multiple Identities 103 Home 107 Community 112 Belonging 115 Comparison of Participant Responses in Winnipeg and Vancouver 120 Facilitators 128 Extrinsic Supports and Experiences 128 Intrinsic Gifts 133 Personal Capacities 133 Perseverance 138 Detractors 143 Contemporary Effects of Historical Trauma 145 Aboriginal Two-Spirit and LGBTQ Wellbeing 148 Participant Recommendations 155 6 ABORIGINAL TWO-SPIRIT & LGBTQ HOME, COMMUNITY, AND BELONGING Chapter 4: Analysis and Discussion 161 Conceptual Model 161 Overview 161 Description 163 Safety 164 Multiplicities 164 Contemporary Effects of Historical Trauma 166 Community Building 169 Two-Spirit Cultural Vitality and Resurgence 170 Discussion 173 Chapter 5: Conclusions 177 Strengths and Limitations 177 Relevance for Social Work 179 Applications of the Research 180 Post-Script: Reflections on Myself in Relation to the Project 185 References 187 Appendices 203 A: List of Community Advisory Committee Members 203 B: Guiding Principles of OCAP as accepted in Winnipeg 204 C: Guiding Principles of OCAP as accepted in Vancouver 206 D: Sample Information Letter and Consent Form 210 E: Winnipeg Background Demographic Questionnaire 216 F: Vancouver Background Demographic Questionnaire 222 G: Winnipeg Qualitative Interview Guide 226 H: Vancouver Qualitative Interview Guide 227 I: Template for Home, Community and Belonging Data Summary, Review and Analysis 228 7 ABORIGINAL TWO-SPIRIT & LGBTQ HOME, COMMUNITY, AND BELONGING Chapter 1: Introduction There is very little research that has been done with Aboriginal Two-Spirit and LGBTQ people that focuses primarily on the impact of mobility and on people’s sense of home. Research that has been conducted is usually from the view of Aboriginal Two-Spirit and LGBTQ participants as people living with infections (such as HIV and Hepatitis), as street-involved people (at risk for exploitation, infection, substance abuse, homelessness, etc.), or those in need of support and “intervention” (for example, see Linnebach & Schellenberg, 1997). This is apparent especially in the social work literature, where as a service-based discipline we have developed the field by focusing in many ways on articulating deficits and challenges experienced by specific groups of people (Heinonen & Spearman, 2006; LeCroy, 1992; Lundy, 2004). To address the gap created by problem-focused or needs-based approaches, I completed a secondary analysis of individual and focus group interview transcripts of the Aboriginal Two- Spirit and LGBTQ Migration, Mobility and Health research project conducted in Winnipeg and Vancouver from 2008-2010 (Ristock, Zoccole, & Passante, 2010; Ristock, Zoccole & Potskin, 2011). To clarify terms, Two-Spirit is a contemporary English concept referring to sexual and gender variation among people of Indigenous North American descent. Two-Spirit people may also self-refer as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender