How much does the average American really know about Native American women? Famous Indian women in the history books, like Pocahontas and Sacagawea, are only notable because of their heroic acts to save white men. Very few people can name any Native American females who have made a difference on behalf of their own culture.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
“Our history as Native women in the Americas is very different from the history of white European women,” says Monique. “We are coming from a history of genocide that is very close to us. There are different things we are struggling for. Within our culture there has always been a recognized women’s circle and men’s circle, women’s knowledge and men’s knowledge, and those two are often very separate.”
But that doesn’t mean the group ignore men in their work. “In Europe, people would say, ‘Do you deal with men?’” says Lisa. “We said, ‘Yes, we deal with men.’ ‘Then you’re not a feminist,’ one woman said. ‘I’ve come to see your show, but you’re performing for the enemy.’ I said, ‘Who, the Germans?’” She laughs. “She said ‘Men,’ and I thought, Oh! Well, I’m very involved with my nephew, my husband, my son, my father, my uncles. I can’t separate them from my life.” Fittin’ Room, a show they do about social categories and how they limit and distinguish people, “came out of a situation like this,” she says.
The group’s current show is indeed a blossoming collaborative effort. They don’t like to talk about what’s going to happen onstage, but healing is the topic. The women are far from unanimous on the inspiration or meaning behind the work.
When Spiderwoman Theater isn’t traveling around the world performing and lecturing, it maintains residence at the American Indian Community House in New York, where it acts as an agent for other Native American performers and often hosts visiting ethnic groups indigenous to other countries. The three sisters are seen as influential elders in their community.
