Masculindians: Conversations about Indigenous Manhood by Sam McKegney (review)

Relatively little academic attention seems to have been paid to the subject of Indigenous male identity in Canada. The trend has been rather to emphasize issues of Indigenous femininity and feminism, particularly in a socio-cultural context focused on manifestations of violence against Indigenous women. Within the last several years, however, there has been a steady growth in focus on issues of Canadian Indigenous masculinities as part of a broader discursive movement toward greater profundity in addressing topics such as the process of decolonization. Sam McKegney’s Masculindians highlights the complex, multi-faceted nature of this subject with a treatment that involves multiple perspectives and knowledges.

McKegney’s work comprises twenty-two candid “conversations” with a diverse array of subjects including artists, poets, activists, writers, academics, community organizers, and performers, women as well as men, straight, queer, and two-spirited, with the goal of providing multiple perspectives on gender relations, violence, shame, sexual identity, and cultural representation. Masculindians provides a counter-narrative that engages with and deconstructs the stereotypical representations of Indigenous men that have dominated Canadian print and media culture, and that is legitimized through the lived experiences of its Indigenous subjects.

The collection is divided into three parts, each made up of seven conversations. Part 1, “Wisdom,” consists of interviews focused on culture, history, and world view. The fluidity of gender, for example, is discussed in playwright Tomson Highway’s interview, which highlights the gender models that emerge from the Cree language and world view. Novelist Lee Maracle’s conversation focuses on colonization and the “generational madness” that has locked Indigenous peoples into unhealthy lifestyles, along with the need to discuss the breaking down and rebuilding of family as crucial to decolonization and healing. Basil Johnston, an Anishinaabe Elder, discusses Canada’s colonial history, his traumatic experiences in residential school, and the need to return to community teaching of stories and languages. And McKegney’s conversation with poet Louise Bernice Halfe emphasizes the ideas of shame, sexuality, and violence often experienced by Indigenous men and the need to create positive role models for younger generations.

Part 2, “Knowledges,” is formed largely of conversations with academics and emphasizes theoretical approaches to Indigenous masculinity as well as an analytic focus on the concept of balance. The importance of this is highlighted in Taiaiake Alfred’s dissection of balance as a fundamental cultural theme in traditional Haudenosaunee society. Alfred and Kim Anderson each also discuss the importance of healthy families and communities as well as gendered violence and the reframing of the “warrior ethic.” Daniel Heath Justice addresses the internalization of anti-Indian stigma in popular culture alongside notions of shame surrounding the male body and how it has been seen as a source of violence, as well as cultural notions of balance between individual and collective identities. In particular, Brendan Hokowhitu, a New Zealand scholar and leading expert on Indigenous masculinities, serves as a guiding influence on the theorists in this collection, discussing the construction of Maori masculinity as well as the strengths and weaknesses of comparative Indigenous masculinity studies.

Part 3, “Imagination,” takes up similar themes but stresses artistic interpretations of the discourse of Indigenous masculinities. Interdisciplinary artists Adrian Stimson and Terrance Houle discuss the fluidity of sexuality and deconstruct the “pan-Indian” cultural notion of how Indigenous males should act and be. Author Joseph Boyden refers to the male protagonists in his stories, the articulation of their conceived masculinity, and the importance of men finding strength through the display of vulnerability. Authors Richard Van Camp and Gregory Scofield talk about the shame and stigma that emerges from associations of Indigenous male sexuality with violence and heteronormativity.

Masculindians concludes with a final dialogue between McKegney and Professor Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair centred on the need for inclusive discussions about “Indigenous manhood” with Indigenous men at the community level. Sinclair notes that while certain themes and ideas seem to surface in all or most of the conversations, the book nonetheless contains many divergent points of view, often conflicting...