Description
Book SynopsisIndianthusiasm refers to the European fascination with, and fantasies about, Indigenous peoples of North America, and has its roots in nineteenth-century German colonial imagination. Often manifested in romanticized representations of the past, Indianthusiasm has developed into a veritable industry in Germany and other European nations: there are Western and so-called ""Indian"" theme parks and a German hobbyist scene that attract people of all social backgrounds and ages to join camps and clubs that practise beading, powwow dancing, and Indigenous lifestyles.
Containing interviews with twelve Indigenous authors, artists, and scholars who comment on the German fascination with North American Indigenous Peoples, Indianthusiasm is the first collection to present Indigenous critiques and assessments of this phenomenon. The volume connects two disciplines and strands of scholarship: German Studies and Indigenous Studies, focusing on how Indianthusiam has created both barriers and opportunities for Indigenous peoples with Germans and in Germany.
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction / Hartmut Lutz, Florentine Strzelczyk, and Renae Watchman
- 2. I thought to myself: ""Well, I'll appropriate from the people who appropriated from us"" / Ahmoo Angeconeb
- 3. Most people can't be informed because of the way they are being informed / Jeannette Armstrong
- 4. Germany is my other Heimat now; ""Groan"" (poem) / John Blackbird
- 5. The focus on remembering "" a sort of superego kind of thing / Warren Cariou
- 6. When the gaze turns in both directions / Jo-Ann Episkenew
- 7. I actually never wanted to like Germany / Audrey Huntley
- 8. The thorn is in my side when I'm talking to Europeans, who begin lecturing me on Indianness / Thomas King
- 9. You can deal with stereotypes! At least you are dealing with some knowledge / David T. McNab
- 10. It's been my job to not only entertain them through my dancing and singing, but also to educate them in the actual original traditional stories / Quentin Pipestem
- 11. I was definitely an ambassador and sort of a mythbuster in many ways / Waubgeshig Rice
- 12. You can't underestimate the influence of Karl May's Winnetou / Drew Hayden Taylor
- 13. They want redemption somehow / Emma Lee Warrior
