Honouring Our Ancestors

In these rigorous and challenging essays, writers from Aotearoa and Turtle Island (Canada and the United States of America) explore the well-being of takatapui, two-spirit, and Maori and Indigenous LGBTQI+ communities. Themes include resistance, reclamation, empowerment, transformation and healing. Central to Honouring Our Ancestors is the knowledge that, before colonisation, Indigenous peoples had their own healthy understandings of gender, sexual identities and sexuality. Some of these understandings have survived the onslaught of colonisation; others require decolonisation so that our Indigenous nations can begin to heal. Through this lens, the writers gathered here contribute their knowledge and experience of structural and social change. This collection was inspired by two major research projects: the HONOR Project, which investigated well-being in American Indian and Alaskan Native two-spirit communities, and the Honour Project Aotearoa, which investigated Kaupapa Maori strengths-based understandings of the health and well-being of takatapui and Maori LGBTQI+ communities. Edited by Alison Green and Leonie Pihama, Honouring Our Ancestors upholds the independent authorities and languages that distinguish our Indigenous nations and celebrates the relationships that bind us. Decolonised Indigenous knowledges are offered as a wellspring of unlimited potential for Indigenous communities and nations everywhere.

Author Biography

Alison Green (Ngati Awa, Ngati Ranginui) is a mother, a grandmother, and a professor in the School of Indigenous Graduate Studies, Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi. She holds a PhD in Maori and Pacific Development. In 2019, Alison was awarded the inaugural Misiweskamik Indigenous Post-Doctoral Fellowship to the University of Saskatchewan, where she taught at the Department of Indigenous Studies. She is also the chief executive of a Kaupapa Maori organisation that delivers sexual and reproductive health support, policy, advisory services and research.

Leonie Pihama (Te Atiawa, Nga Mahanga a Tairi, Waikato) is a mother of six and grandmother of six mokopuna. She is a professor of Maori and Indigenous research, director of research at Tu Tama Wahine o Taranaki, and director of Maori and Indigenous analysis. She has held roles as professor of Maori research at Nga Wai a Te Tui Research Institute, and director at Te Kotahi Research Institute (Waikato) and the Indigenous Research Institute for Maori and Indigenous Education (University of Auckland). She was a recipient of the Hohua Tutengaehe Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship and the inaugural Nga Pae o te Maramatanga Senior Maori Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Washington. In 2015, Leonie was awarded the Te Tohu Pae Tawhiti Award and the Te Tohu Rapuora Award. She has served on the boards of the Maori Health Committee for the Health Research Council, Maori Television, Te Mangai Paho and Nga Pae o te Maramatanga.