We’wha and Hosteen Klah

Today’s Queer History blog focuses on two individuals from Native American cultures, We’wha and Hosteen Klah, who demonstrate a more complex relationship with the concept of gender than we see in Western or European culture. The Zuni tribe, We’wha was part of, are known to have at least three genders. While Hosteen Klah’s tribe, the Navajo, have four. 

We’wha

We’wha was a member of the Zuni tribe, born around 1849 in what is now New Mexico. They became a cultural ambassador for their tribe, but also Native Americans in general, serving as a contact point and educator for many European settlers and visitors. Wa’wha was also known as a notable fibre artist, weaver and potter. They are considered to be the most famous lhamana on record.

Lhamana

A lhamana is a male-bodied person who takes on the social and ceremonial roles generally performed by women. They usually, but not always, wear women’s clothing and perform daily tasks generally associated with women. This identity is a socially recognised third-gender role within the tribe and often the lhamana held positions of honour within the community. Often in modern times, this is referred to with the pan-Indian term “Two Spirit”.

Wa’wha’s Life

Wa’wha was orphaned at a young age and raised by his aunt. His parents likely died of smallpox, introduced to the Native Americans by European settlers. They initially were included in religious ceremonies for boys and received training specifically for men. But in their teenage years, the tribe recognised We’wha’s Ihamana status and began training under their female relatives. This was unusual as often individuals were recognised as lhamana in childhood, as young as 3 or 4.

We’wha began to learn English in the 1870s when protestant missionaries arrived to try and convert the Zuni tribe (they eventually failed). They met and befriended the ethnologist Matilda Coxe Stevenson in 1879. The Stevensons later arranged for We’wha to travel with them to Washington DC as somewhat of a cultural exchange.

Their visit garnered a lot of attention because women* rarely took part in these exchanges. During this time, they met with the current President, Grover Cleveland, and gave him and his wife a handcrafted wedding gift. They are also known to have donated Zuni crafts to the Smithsonian National Museum 

We’wha died in 1896 at the age of 49 of heart disease. 

* The American public believed them to be a cisgender woman, and they were often called a Princess by the media.

Hosteen Klah

Hosteen Klah, sometimes spelt Hastiin Klah, was a member of the Navajo people, born in 1867 in New Mexico. He was an artist and weaver, a medicine man and someone noted for documenting a lot of Navajo religion and ceremonial practices. He is often believed to have been intersex and he was given the gender status Nadleehi, meaning one who is transformed or who changes.

Training

Similar to We’Wha, Holsteen was recognised as Nadleehi in his teens. His training began in both the traditional female craft of weaving and the traditional male craft of chanting. He excelled at both. Chanting was part of Navajo medical practice, with the chant performed to cure the sick. Hosteen mastered eight different chants, whereas most Navajo only manage one or two, which suggests extreme intellectual ability.  

Sand Painting

Hosteen is best known for his so-called sand painting weavings, which were permanent images of sand paintings. These works were very controversial among the Navajo, as sand painting is traditionally a deliberately temporary painting altar in which the patient sits whilst their healing is performed. The painting calls on the power of the Holy People but when this power is not needed it can be dangerous or fatal. Because of this, he had to perform multiple ceremonies to expel evil.

Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art

He worked with numerous non-native scholars to record his songs, ceremonies, stories and sand paintings. Then, after befriending a woman named Mary Cabot Wheelwright, co-founded the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art, which displayed most of his weaving and records of his work. The museum has since been renamed the Wheelwright Museum, and most of his weavings are still in the collection.  

Hosteen died just before the museum opened in 1937 of pneumonia, and is buried on the Museum grounds.