Ma-Nee Chacaby

Ma-Nee Chacaby 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, which was co-authored by Mary Louisa Plummer and published by the University of Manitoba Press in 2016.[2] The biography was awarded the U.S. Oral History Association's 2017 Book Award,[3] as well as the Ontario Historical Society's 2018 Alison Prentice Award for Best Book on Women's History in Ontario.[4] 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,[5] and was shortlisted for the Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher at the 2017 Manitoba Book Awards.[6]

Born and raised in the remote Northern Ontario indigenous community of Ombabika,[2] 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,[7] before writing and publishing A Two-Spirit Journey.

In 2019, A Two-Spirit Journey was published in French as Un Parcours Bispirituel by Les éditions du remue-ménage.[8] That same year, Chacaby served as one of the grand marshals of the Fierté Montréal parade.[7]

References
  1. "What being two-spirit means to Indigenous elder Ma-Nee Chacaby". The Next Chapter (CBC Radio), June 9, 2017.
  2. Scott Paradis, "Book chronicles two-spirited elder's struggle and redemption". TB News Watch, May 21, 2016.
  3. "2017 OHA Awards". Oral History Association.
  4. "Two-Spirit Elder's Autobiography Recognized with Provincial Award" (PDF). Ontario Historical Society.
  5. Becky Robertson, "M-E Girard, Vivek Shraya among 13 Canadians nominated for 2017 Lambda Literary Awards". Quill & Quire, March 14, 2017.
  6. Sue Carter, "Katherena Vermette, David Bergen, Ma-Nee Chacaby nominated for Manitoba Book Awards". Quill & Quire, March 24, 2017.
  7. Anouk Lebel, "Ma-Nee Chacaby : le parcours hors du commun d'une militante autochtone bispirituelle". Ici Radio-Canada, August 17, 2019.
  8. "Un parcours bispirituel: Récit d'une aînée ojibwé-crie lesbienne". Les éditions du remue-ménage.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.