Settler Colonialism, Systemic Queerphobia, and Indigiqueer Mental Health Outcomes: An Application of Geronimus’s Weathering Hypothesis

Abstract

Geronimus’s weathering hypothesis, initially derived from studies of African American women and their newborns, posited that their physical health outcomes were worsened by accumulated stress produced by long-term experiences of pervasive intersectional oppression. African American women experienced sociopolitical and economic oppression produced by the synergistic interactions of structural anti-Black racism and patriarchy. The weathering hypothesis can be extrapolated beyond African American women, and beyond physical health, as an analytic framework to understand how other less-studied intersectional groups may experience poorer mental health outcomes due to the intersections of multiple axes of oppression. The present work argues that Indigiqueer people, who exist at the intersection of Indigenous and queer identities, may similarly be weathered by their experiences of combined oppression arising from systemic forces of settler colonialism and queerphobia. After introducing the weathering hypothesis, its neuroendocrine mechanisms, and its original application to African American women, we then separately detail the ways that Indigenous and queer people in Canada experience oppression, linking the forms of oppression experienced by both populations to their respective mental health. In consideration of this discussion of the impacts of and queerphobia, we reapply Geronimus’s weathering hypothesis to understand the mental health disparities experienced by Indigiqueer people and defend this recontextualization of the weathering hypothesis. In closing, we celebrate Indigiqueer vitality and issue a call to action for Canadian healthcare systems to apply a holistic intersectional lens towards viewing Indigiqueer people and their lived experiences to make meaningful progress towards Indigiqueer mental health equity. 

Keywords— Indigiqueer, Two-Spirit, Weathering Hypothesis, Intersectionality, Mental Health Equity