The Marginalization of Zitkala-Ša and Wendy Rose
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The Marginalization of Zitkala-Ša and Wendy Rose Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Barajas, Dina Kristine Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 25/09/2021 04:44:29 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/193416 1 THE MARGINALIZATION OF ZITKALA-ŠA AND WENDY ROSE By Dina Barajas _________________________ Copyright © Dina Barajas 2010 A Thesis Submitted to the faculty of the GRADUATE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM IN AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2010 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Dina Barajas APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: Mary Jo Tippeconnic Fox May 11, 2010 Associate Professor of American Indian Studies Date 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank God for giving me the inner-strength that has kept me motivated and gave me the courage and confidence to accomplish my goals. I would also like to thank my mom and dad who have been my biggest supporters; my committee members; my mentors, Dr. Manley Begay and Dr. Roberto Rodriguez, and all of my friends who have provided me with the extra support and encouragement I needed. In addition, I would like to thank the University of Nebraska Press for the use of the poem, “A Ballad”: Reprinted from Dreams and Thunder by Zitkala-Ša by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright © 2001 by the University of Nebraska Press, and for the use of the text, Their Own Frontier : Reprinted from “Zitkala-Ša: A Bridge between Two Worlds” by Franci Washburn in Their Own Frontier: Women Intellectuals Re-Visioning the American West edited by Shirley A. Lecknie and Nancy J. Parezo by permission of the University of Nebraska Press; Wendy Rose for her permission to use the poem, “The Parts of a Poet” and Mrs. Leah Schwartz, widow of the late Mr. Herman Schwartz, publisher of Strawberry Press, for her permission to use the poem, “The Parts of a Poet”: first published in 1976 and reprinted in 1981 by Strawberry Press. THANK YOU! 4 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to all those who are marginalized, may your unique positions and perspectives be sites of strength and empowerment. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………...9 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………...12 CHAPTER 3: METHODS ………………………………………………………...28 CHAPTER 4: BIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………..31 Zitkala-Ša : Dakota World …………………………………………………...32 Zitkala-Ša, the Writer ……………………………………………………….39 Zitkala-Ša and the Native American Church …………………………..43 Faithful to her People …………………………………………………….....46 Wendy Rose: Growing up Urban …………………………………………..52 Activism for the American Indian ……………………………………......55 American Indian Academic ………………………………………………..57 CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ………………………………...65 The Marginalization of Zitkala-Ša: Identity ……………………………66 Early Memories of a Harsh Reality ……………………………………....66 Yearning for a Place to Belong …………………………………………….67 The Peyote Controversy: A Struggle for Self-determination ……......69 Further Attempts to Silence the Red Bird’s Voice ………………….....70 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued The Affects of Living within the Margins: Activism …………………71 Zitkala-Ša Outspoken and Independent: A Woman of Principle ...72 Reconnecting with Dakota Values ……………………………………....73 Advocacy for Native Dignity and Rights: A Voice for her People ….74 An Alliance with Agency: Organizations ……………………………….75 The Marginalization of Wendy Rose: Intra-racism ………………….76 Racially Mixed and Cast Out ………………………………………….....78 Reactions from the Pressure of being placed in the Margins: Dulling the Pain .............................................................................................................79 The Exploitation of the Young Native Writer ………………………..80 Ignorance in the Ivory Tower ……………………………………………81 Negotiating for her People ………………………………………………..82 The Instructor Learns a Lesson in Racism ……………………………83 Advocacy through the Written and Spoken Word: Writings ……...84 Articles and Interviews ……………………………………………………85 Poetry …………………………………………………………………………86 A Union with a Familiar Soul ……………………………………………89 Directing the course of Native Knowledge through Professionalism and Activism ………………………………………………………………...90 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Comparative Analysis Questions and Findings …………..………….91 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ………………………………………………..95 APPENDIX A PERMISSIONS ……………………………………………….97 WORKS CITED …………………………………………………………...........100 8 ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to show how the Native American activists Zitkala-Ša and Wendy Rose, two women from different eras, were marginalized and how these experiences affected their personal and professional lives and activism. It is important to examine why and how these women were marginalized because of the scarce amount of research on the topic and on Native American women in general. Zitkala-Ša and Wendy Rose are examples of Native American women activists whose lives and activism have been affected by marginalization, and who have faced adversity, pushed against the margins and demanded justice for their people. In order to conduct the research, primary and secondary works by and about these subjects were examined. The limitation of this study is that the literatures examined are writings by or about the authors. Interviews were not conducted; therefore the primary and secondary works were the main sources of analysis. 9 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The purpose of this research is to show how the Native American activists Zitkala-Ša and Wendy Rose, two women from different eras, were marginalized and how these experiences affected their personal and professional lives and activism. It is important to examine why and how these women were marginalized because of the scarce amount of research on the topic and on Native American women in general. Marginalization is a direct consequence of colonialism and post-colonialism. In a lecture on colonialism and post-colonialism provided by Dr. Franci Washburn during her Fall 2008 course, “American Indian Studies 696F: Post-colonialism and American Indian Literature,” she maintained that within the process of colonization the colonizers appropriate a territory, a people and all of the components of that culture and society. This appropriation is accomplished by the following “tools” utilized by the colonizers: (1) A Force of Arms, which includes a military invasion and occupation of the colonized land and people, (2) Missionizing, which involves the imposition of the colonizers religious beliefs and institutions upon the colonized, and (3) Diseases, which involves the deliberate transmission of diseases to the colonized in order to annihilate the people. Washburn asserted that colonization also entails systemic domination, which includes the imposition of the colonizers religious, political, economic, educational and social institutions upon the colonized (“Post-colonialism Class Lecture”). In the text, Columbus and Other Cannibals: The Wétiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism and Terrorism , scholar Jack D. Forbes claims that colonialism and its outgrowth, post-colonialism, which enables the exploitation of a territory and its inhabitants, continues in the United States. 10 This is evident in the abusive and inhumane treatment of migrant workers, among the rural and impoverished Afro-American communities in the South, and within Native American communities such as the Sioux and the Inuit, among others (13). Thus, post- colonialism is the continuance of the initial colonizers systematic and systemic means of conquest and governance over the colonized. Marginalization is the result of the oppression, disenfranchisement and discrimination that the colonized people and their descendants have experienced through the processes of colonialism and post-colonialism. Marginalization can be defined as the oppression of people based on their differences in relation to the dominant society or group. Those who are part of the dominant society are usually people within the upper-middle and upper classes of society who maintain a fundamental belief system and a national identity that is utilized as a standard in order to compartmentalize and define the rest of society. Those who do not conform to these standards or ideals are excluded from the dominant society and are therefore pushed to the margins. These differences include but are not limited to: race, gender, class, political and/or sexual orientation. This definition is taken from four authors, Marcia Tucker, bell hooks and Jordan and Weedon. In the text, Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Culture , Tucker asserts that marginalization