Ma-Nee Chacaby

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Ma-Nee Chacaby
Born (1950-07-22) July 22, 1950 (age 73)
Ombabika
NationalityCanadian, Ojibwa-Cree
Occupation(s)Author, activist
Notable workA Two-Spirit Journey (2016)
Websitema-nee.art

Ma-Nee Chacaby (born July 22, 1950) is an Ojibwe-Cree writer and activist from Canada.[1] She is most noted for her memoir, A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder.

Early Years[edit]

Born and raised in the remote Northern Ontario indigenous community of Ombabika,[2][3] Chacaby escaped the Indian residential school system only because she was away hunting and trapping with her stepfather when government agents arrived in the community during the Sixties Scoop.[2] She later lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Thunder Bay, Ontario, and sparked a local controversy when she openly identified herself as a lesbian in a television news story for Thunder Bay Television in 1988.[2] She remained a local activist on LGBTQ and indigenous issues, and later began to create and exhibit work as a painter,[4] before writing and publishing A Two-Spirit Journey. She is fluent in both Cree and Ojibwe.[5]

Publications[edit]

A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder was co-authored by Mary Louisa Plummer and published by the University of Manitoba Press in 2016.[2] It is the 18th title in the Native History Series published by the press. Methodologically, it combines social science and indigenous oral history.[6] The authors conducted over one hundred hours of interviews as part of their writing process, and the book deals with themes of child abuse, alcohol abuse, sexuality, and post-traumatic stress disorder.[7]

Critical Acclaim[edit]

The biography was awarded the U.S. Oral History Association's 2017 Book Award,[8] as well as the Ontario Historical Society's 2018 Alison Prentice Award for Best Book on Women's History in Ontario.[9] In addition, A Two-Spirit Journey was a shortlisted Lambda Literary Award finalist for Lesbian Memoir/Biography at the 29th Lambda Literary Awards in 2017,[10] and was shortlisted for the Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher at the 2017 Manitoba Book Awards.[11]

In 2019, A Two-Spirit Journey was published in French as Un Parcours Bispirituel by Les éditions du remue-ménage.[12] That same year, Chacaby served as one of the grand marshals of the Fierté Montréal parade.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "What being two-spirit means to Indigenous elder Ma-Nee Chacaby". The Next Chapter (CBC Radio), June 9, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Scott Paradis, "Book chronicles two-spirited elder's struggle and redemption". TB News Watch, May 21, 2016.
  3. ^ Chacaby, Ma-Nee (2016). A Two-Spirit Journey. University of Manitoba Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0887558122.
  4. ^ a b Anouk Lebel, "Ma-Nee Chacaby : le parcours hors du commun d'une militante autochtone bispirituelle". Ici Radio-Canada, August 17, 2019.
  5. ^ Pyle, Kai (2018). "Naming and Claiming: Recovering Ojibwe and Plains Cree Two-Spirit Language". Duke University Press. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  6. ^ Leung-Pittman, Emily. "A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder by Ma-Nee Chacaby with Mary Louisa Plummer." The Goose, vol. 16 , no. 2 , article 26, 2018, https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol16/iss2/26.
  7. ^ Pyle, Kai (2017). "Review of A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder". Studies in American Indian Literatures. 29 (2): 95–98. doi:10.5250/studamerindilite.29.2.0095. ISSN 0730-3238. JSTOR 10.5250/studamerindilite.29.2.0095.
  8. ^ "2017 OHA Awards". Oral History Association.
  9. ^ "Two-Spirit Elder's Autobiography Recognized with Provincial Award" (PDF). Ontario Historical Society.
  10. ^ Becky Robertson, "M-E Girard, Vivek Shraya among 13 Canadians nominated for 2017 Lambda Literary Awards". Quill & Quire, March 14, 2017.
  11. ^ Sue Carter, "Katherena Vermette, David Bergen, Ma-Nee Chacaby nominated for Manitoba Book Awards". Quill & Quire, March 24, 2017.
  12. ^ "Un parcours bispirituel: Récit d'une aînée ojibwé-crie lesbienne". Les éditions du remue-ménage. 11 March 2019.
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