Skinwalkers and Gender Roles
Start Date
15-4-2021 10:00 AM
End Date
15-4-2021 10:15 AM
Student's Major
Anthropology
Student's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mentor's Name
Rhonda Dass
Mentor's Department
Anthropology
Mentor's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Description
Legends of shapeshifters exist in different forms all over the world. The Skinwalker, or Yenaldlooshi is an evil shape-shifting sorcerer, traditionally most often associated with the Indigenous North American Navaho tribes. To fully understand the Skinwalker stories and what they communicate to their audience, it is imperative to understand the gender portrayal of this monster and how this portrayal shapes the Skinwalker stories. I have gone through a little over one hundred modern Skinwalker stories and selected three stories that I used to perform a comparative analysis of the Skinwalkers gender portrayals to traditional gender representations of villains in folklore within this paper. As the Skinwalker changes its gender portrayal, so does its behavior and function change within the story, often marking turning points in the progression of the story. We can see a clear distinction in the Skinwalker’s behavior and function, emphasized and dependent upon the gender it is portraying, as they fall within expected gender-stereotypical behaviors. This becomes especially emphasized by the Skinwalker’s androgyny, its ability to play on both different gender stereotypes as well as fears of sexual confusion, the undefinable, and the chaotic.
Skinwalkers and Gender Roles
Legends of shapeshifters exist in different forms all over the world. The Skinwalker, or Yenaldlooshi is an evil shape-shifting sorcerer, traditionally most often associated with the Indigenous North American Navaho tribes. To fully understand the Skinwalker stories and what they communicate to their audience, it is imperative to understand the gender portrayal of this monster and how this portrayal shapes the Skinwalker stories. I have gone through a little over one hundred modern Skinwalker stories and selected three stories that I used to perform a comparative analysis of the Skinwalkers gender portrayals to traditional gender representations of villains in folklore within this paper. As the Skinwalker changes its gender portrayal, so does its behavior and function change within the story, often marking turning points in the progression of the story. We can see a clear distinction in the Skinwalker’s behavior and function, emphasized and dependent upon the gender it is portraying, as they fall within expected gender-stereotypical behaviors. This becomes especially emphasized by the Skinwalker’s androgyny, its ability to play on both different gender stereotypes as well as fears of sexual confusion, the undefinable, and the chaotic.
