Herlands: Exploring The Women’s Land Movement In The United States

312 Pages·2018·5.262 MB·English

by  Keridwen N. Luis

HERLANDS
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Herlands
. . . .
Exploring the Women’s Land Movement
in the United States
Keridwen N. Luis
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
Portions of chapter 3 were previously published in Journal of Homosexuality as “The Gen-
der of ‘Energy’: Language, Social Theory, and Cultural Change in Women’s Lands in the
United States,” 62, no. 9 (2015); reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis. Portions of
chapter 6 were previously published in Journal of Lesbian Studies as “Karma Eaters: The
Politics of Food and Fat in Women’s Land Communities in the United States” 16, no. 1
(2012); reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis.
“THOSE TEARS” is reprinted with permission of the author, Chrystos; copyright 1991.
Copyright 2018 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sys-
tem, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401– 2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal- opportunity educator and employer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Luis, Keridwen N., author.
Title: Herlands : exploring the women’s land movement in the United States / Keridwen N. Luis.
Description: Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical
references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018001928 (print) | ISBN 978-0-8166-9823-3 (hc) |
ISBN 978-0-8166-9825-7 (pb)
Subjects: LCSH: Women in agriculture—United States. | Land use—United States. | United States—
Race relations. | Communities—United States.
Classification: LCC HD6077.2.U6 L85 2018 (print) | DDC 306.3/490820973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018001928
UMP BmB 2018
“ Just tell me,” he says to Lady Blue, who is looking at the
bullet gashes, “what do you call yourselves? Women’s
World? Liberation? Amazonia?”
“ Why, we call ourselves human beings.” Her eyes twinkle
absently at him, go back to the bullet marks. “Humanity,
mankind.” She shrugs. “The human race.”
— JAMES TIPTREE JR. (ALICE B. SHELDON),
“HOUSTON, HOUSTON, DO YOU READ?”
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Contents
Introduction: Welcome to Women’s Land, 1
Here Is Your Umbrella
1. The Political Is Personal: From the Peace Camp and 17
Women’s Music Festivals to Women’s Land
2. Are the Amazons White? Race and Space on 45
Women’s Land
3. “Now My Neighbors and Friends Are the Same People”: 73
Community, Language, and Identity
4. The Giving Tree: Gift Economies Planted in Capitalist Soil 105
5. The Mountain Is She: Gender as Landscape, 129
Landscape as Gender
6. Primally Female: Agency and the Meaning of the 153
Body on Women’s Land
7. We Have Met the Enemy and She Is Us: 187
Scapegoating Trans Bodies
8. The Hermit and the Family: Aging and Dis/Ability 217
in Community
Afterword: Women’s Lands, Women’s Lives 243
Acknowledgments 251
Notes 253
Bibliography 267
Index 289
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· INTRODUCTION ·
Welcome to Women’s Land,
Here Is Your Umbrella
After all, the real question, of course, is not whether women will
practice separatism against men, but rather whether men will
continue to practice separatism against women.
— Joanna Russ, “For Women Only, Or, What Is That
Man Doing Under My Seat?”
Let’s stop pretending that we have all the answers, because when
it comes to gender, none of us is fucking omniscient.
— Kate Bornstein, Gender Outlaw: On Men,
Women, and the Rest of Us
It was our last night of the Landdyke Gathering at Turtle Mesa,1
where the air was thin and the views went on forever. Although women
usually sat around the campfire near the lovely cob house we were using as
a shared kitchen, after dinner the oncoming rainstorm dispersed residents
to their houses and visitors to their tents. My wife and I were staying in a
dome tent just large enough for an air mattress and our luggage, placed
among some pines near the edge of the mesa. As we said our good- nights,
Marta, one of the residents, glanced at the sky and said, “If you have any
trouble with your tent tonight, feel free to come to my place.” We thanked
her, sure that our tent would be okay, and set off.
Our tent was not okay.
It was raining hard by the time we navigated the twisty trails to the tent.
Wary of the ways of nylon tents, I zipped our duffel bag shut and put it
inside a large garbage bag I had brought for waterproofing purposes. I was
pretty sure that the floor of the tent would leak; we had not been careful
· 1 ·