Separate People: Speaking of Creek Men and Women

Subjectivity, gender, and language are examined among contemporary Creek Indians of northeastern Oklahoma. Creek men are shown to define and shape social reproduction. Women's generality and unbounded “flow,” such as that signified by menstruation, provide vitality and growth that force the separation of men from women and signal their definition as “separate(d) people.” Creek language use is shown to be organized through these mutually interdependent principles of gendered subjectivity.