As Calgary gears up for Pride month, Dr. Prud’homme-Cranford explores the intersection between Indigenous identity and gender sexuality
Photo by Laura Cros on Unsplash
By Daniel Itai
Dr. Rain Prud’homme-Cranford, from the University of Calgary is embarking on a research that explores the intersection between Indigenous identity and gender sexuality.
According to Dr. Prud’homme-Cranford, the goals and outcomes of Pride month bring an Indigenous sense of accountability, responsibility, and respect, of which collectively bring balance to a community and nature.
"We have thousands of Indigenous communities that before settler colonialism had Indigenous spectrums of gender identity. It’s that trifecta of colonialism, capitalism, and Christianity that was brought to the Americas that suppressed and indoctrinated ideas of binary gender. So, when people outside our communities look at the queer movement from the 1960’s forward, the bodies that are highlighted are particularly male, gay-identified bodies. So, there is a perpetuation of this erasure of our space and continuity.
Also, I think it’s great to see the city involved in Pride, but I wonder how involved the city would be in Pride if it was not an economic factor. Pride has become capitalized in much the same way other things have and whenever capitalism comes into play, those of us who have been historically disenfranchised have a harder time moving in these spaces," said Dr. Prud’homme-Cranford.
Furthermore, Dr. Prud’homme-Cranford said intersectionality is built off black female bodies adding that indigeneity has been homogenized in the same way gender and sexuality has
"Intersectionality is built off black female bodies in academia and I think that matters. Blackness erases the amount of indigeneity in black bodies as well. Africa is not a singular space.
Africa is made up of hundreds and thousands of tribal Indigenous people, so when we talk about Black Canadian identity it has been done historically in a way to erase global indigeneity. So, indigeneity has been homogenized in the same way gender and sexuality has. This is the starting point of exploring intersectionality.
Right now, front and centre, I am in the midst of working on a book project that is becoming an installation project. The book is a collection of poetry specifically about what it is like to live in a white-passing, differently-abled, fat, queer body. Those poems are juxtaposed against art of fat women of colour, and photography of queer couples, heterosexual couples, whose bodies are in contrast to each other. This is now moving into an installation project that I am hoping will have video, art, poetry, music, and spoken word," said Dr. Prud’homme-Cranford.