“Like a Slender Tree, I Had Been Uprooted”: Liminality and Religious Representation in Zitkala-Ša’s American Indian Stories

Abstract

This thesis explores the transitional religious representation in Zitkala-Ša’s American Indian Stories by using the theory of liminality. The theory of liminality was first introduced by Turner and Van Gennep but this thesis relies most on more recent work by Thomassen. I apply the theory of liminality to important stages of Zitkala-Ša’s life with a focus on religious expression. Firstly, this thesis explores the entrance into a liminal space as Zitkala-Ša moves to an Eastern boarding school and receives a Christian education. This is researched in relation to her Yankton Sioux religious background. Secondly, I investigate puberty and changing worldviews with regards to liminality. Finally, this is all linked to her activism and aims when writing the instalments of American Indian Stories. It becomes clear that liminality is a useful theory to examine dual-identity and plays a great part in Zitkala-Sa’s religious expression and the shaping of the instalments. Liminality has been brutally forced on her but she manages to use her in-between position as a way to advocate for Native American rights.