Textual Performance and The Western Frontier: Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins’s Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims

T e x t u a l P e r f o r m a n c e a n d t h e W e s t e r n F r o n t i e r : S a r a h W i n n e m u c c a H o p k i n s ’s L i f e a m o n g t h e P i u t e s : T h e i r W r o n g s a n d C l a i m s D a n i e l l e T i s i n g e r W e st e r n A m e r ic a n lit er at u r e o f t h e m id - n in e t e e n t h cen tu r y th r o u gh t h e ear ly t w e n tiet h cen tu r y fr eq u en tly r eflects th e co u r se o f E u r o - A m e r ic an cu ltu r al an d t e c h n o lo gical p r ogress fr o m e ast t o w est. Lit e r a t u r e o f c o n t a c t b e t w e e n N a t iv e A m e r ic a n s a n d W h it e A m e r ic a n s p ar t ic u lar ly m in o r s a c o n c e r n a b o u t n a t io n a l id e n t it y as it b e c o m e s lin k e d t o n a t io n a l g e o g ­ r ap h y . In I m p e r ial E y e s : T r a v e l W r it in g a n d T r an S 'C u lt u r at io n , M ar y Lo u ise P r at t ex p lo r es t h e “p o ssib ilities a n d p er ils o f w r itin g in w h at I lik e t o c all ‘c o n t a c t zo n e s,’ so c ia l sp a c e s w h er e d isp ar at e cu ltu r es m ee t, c la sh , an d gr ap p le w ith e a c h o t h er ,” la te r su ggest in g t h a t h e r u se o f t h e te r m “c o n ­ t a c t zo n e ” is fr eq u en tly “sy n o n y m o u s w ith ‘c o lo n ia l fr o n t ier ’” (4 , 6 ). Fred er ick Ja c k so n T u r n er ’s em p h asis in “T h e Sign ific a n c e o f th e F r o n t ie r in A m e r ic a n H ist o r y ” (1 8 9 3 ) o n t h e im p o r ta n c e o f t h e fr o n t ie r in A m e r ic a n c u lt u r a l d e v e lo p m e n t offer s a n im p o r t a n t sit e fo r e x a m in in g th e w ays in w h ic h b o t h N a t iv e an d W h it e A...