Abstract
This paper is based on Chapter 2 of my upcoming book and explores the Women’s Land movement or Land Dyke Movement of the 1970s-1990s through the specific creation of a community in Northwestern Arkansas USA. I explore the beginnings of the “Lesbian Nation” separatist movement, the issues involved with creating lesbian land, including racism and exclusion, the creation of land for women of color, the connections lesbian separatists felt regarding nature and the eroticism reported regarding not expending energy on men. In creating these unique communities, queer women found space to nurture and expand subversive ideas regarding pleasure and resistance. After a series of in depth and often heated discussions, in 1979 Diana Rivers deeded 120 of the 500 acres of Sassafrass (a land community in NW Arkansas) so two women could start their own Women’s Land collective to support women of color, particularly indigenous women. María Christina DeColores Moroles, a two-spirit individual of Mexican and Indigenous American descent, also known by the ceremonial names of Sun Hawk and Aguila, is one of the founders of the land community, Arco Iris. In this paper, I examine the controversy and joy surrounding the creation of Arco Iris.
Presenters
Lindsey ChurchillProfessor/Director of Women's Research Center and BGLTQ+ Student Center/Director Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, History/Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2026 Special Focus—Indigenous Spiritualities in Global Perspective
KEYWORDS
Women, Gender, Sexuality, Indigenous, Land, Movement, Arkansas, USA, Lesbian
