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Lhamana, in traditionalZuni culture, arebiologically male people who take on the social and ceremonial roles usually performed by women in their culture, at least some of the time.[1][2] They wear a mixture of women's and men's clothing and much of their work is in the areas usually occupied by Zuni women. Some contemporarylhamana participate in thepan-Indiantwo-spirit community.[3]
The most famous lhamana wasWe'wha (1849–1896), who in 1886 was part of the Zuni delegation toWashington D.C., where We'wha met with PresidentGrover Cleveland.
Accounts from the 1800s note that thelhamana, while dressed in "female attire", were often hired for work that required "strength and endurance",[4] such as hunting big game and chopping firewood.[1]
In addition to doing heavy work, somelhamana people have excelled at traditional arts and crafts such as pottery and weaving.We'wha, in particular, was a noted weaver.[5]
Bothmasculine andfemininepronouns have been used forlhamana people. Writing about her friend We'wha,anthropologistMatilda Coxe Stevenson described We'wha as:
She performs masculine religious and judicial functions at the same time that she performs feminine duties, tending to laundry and the garden.[6]
...the most intelligent person in the pueblo. Strong character made his word law among both men and women with whom he associated. Though his wrath was dreaded by men as well as women, he was loved by all children, to whom he was ever kind.[7]
Though generally seen byEuropean colonialists and modern adherents ofqueer studies asgay,LGBT ortransgender, the Zunilhamana, like other Indigenous social, cultural and ceremonial roles, exist in an Indigenous matrix. Indigenous writers on these roles feel that these identities cannot be reduced solely to same-sex desire or adherence to a conventional set ofgender roles, even moderntransgender orgenderqueer ones.[3][8][9][10]