University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2013 Stories, Traces of Discourse, and the Tease of Presence: Gertrude Simmons Bonnin as Orator and Indigenous Activist Paige Allison Conley University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Indigenous Studies Commons, Rhetoric Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Conley, Paige Allison, "Stories, Traces of Discourse, and the Tease of Presence: Gertrude Simmons Bonnin as Orator and Indigenous Activist" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 675. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/675 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. STORIES, TRACES OF DISCOURSE, AND THE TEASE OF PRESENCE: GERTRUDE SIMMONS BONNIN AS ORATOR AND INDIGENOUS ACTIVIST by Paige Allison Conley A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2013 ABSTRACT STORIES, TRACES OF DISCOURSE, AND THE TEASE OF PRESENCE: GERTRUDE SIMMONS BONNIN AS ORATOR AND INDIGENOUS ACTIVIST by Paige Allison Conley The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2013 Under the Supervision of Professor Alice M. Gillam An accomplished writer, editor, musician, teacher, organizer, lobbyist, and political reformer, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin worked tirelessly during the first half of the twentieth century to enhance opportunities for Native Americans. Literary texts authored by Bonnin (writing as Zitkala-Ša) are well known, but her legacy as an early twentieth- century orator and indigenous activist receives little critical attention.