Department of English and American Studies

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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature

Martin Slezák

Karl May’s Legacy: Czech and German

“Indians” vs. Cultural Appropriation

Master ’ s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Mgr. Martina Horáková, Ph.D

2020

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I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

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Author’s signature

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I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Mgr. Martina Horáková, Ph.D, for her advice and undying patience, as well to many people close to my heart for supporting me during the process of writing this thesis.

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Introduction

The phenomenon of “Indian”¹ hobbyism is surrounded by controversy among both the academics and Native people², themselves. It is an act, in which non-Native people get together and imitate Native cultures by wearing the traditional clothing, performing sacred rituals, and recreate traditional ways of life; simply put, they “play Indians”. The general premise towards hobbyism is that it is a form of cultural appropriation. This thesis aims to look into the phenomenon of hobbyism and show in what ways it impacts the contemporary Native people and whether it is a case of cultural appropriation or rather a harmless form of cultural appreciation. It explores the complexity of the issues with hobbyism such as commercialization of Native cultures, commodification, various opinions on hobbyism from hobbyists themselves, scholars, and Native people. In addition, it also highlights the differences in the two styles of hobbyism where one focuses on authenticity with which the hobbyists display their devotion to Native cultures, whereas the other is more focused on the commercial approach. Contemporary Native people face a lot of struggles, which are the result of over 300 years of colonialism, cultural genocide, assimilation, and systematic racism.

With 6.79 million population which is about 2% of the entire US population according to the US Census Bureau of 2020, and 1.67 million of population of Canada accounting for a 4.9% of population, according to the Census of Population of 2016, the perception of Native peoples is infested with stereotypes. The stereotypes are very much imbedded in the mainstream society and are one of the reasons that diminish the chances of Native

1 The term “Indian” refers to the stereotypical image formed by various media that people, especially in

Europe, have of a Native person.

2In this thesis the term “Native” refers to both Native Americans in the US and First Nations and Métis of Canada. The term “Indigenous” is not used because it covers wider range of people whom the Indian hobbyism, which is the main topic of this thesis, does not involve.

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peoples to gain a voice in today’s world as well as cultural sovereignty. The media, especially the film industry and popular dime novels have vastly contributed to the constructions and continuation of these stereotypes. The phenomenon of hobbyism has not only elaborated on some of the core images from these media, but it might also be one of the contributors of perpetuating these stereotypes further and even though some of the images are hundreds years old (such as Natives living in teepees, wielding bow and arrow, etc.), I dare say that majority of people in Europe still believe them to be the true representation of a contemporary Native person. There is almost no representation in history books when it comes to contemporary Native peoples (not to mention that the overall representation of Native cultures is lacking). Hobbyism (and the media mentioned earlier), promotes the traditional way of life and stereotyped images, which could potentially cause even more prejudice and hardships for Native people and to really become visible to the Europe’s public eye than it already has. Michael Roberts, a Tlingit who leads the Colorado-based First Nations Development institute, states that

“‘there’s a real invisibility when it comes to Indian people,’ ‘We don’t show up in the media, we don’t show up in textbooks, we don’t show up in everyday conversation.

Folks don’t know Indians or anything about Indians’” (qtd. in Ahtone). Along with the invisibility, the stereotypical images that are still promoted by the media, as well as the Native paraphernalia, such as costumes, headdresses, etc. enforcing the sense that Natives belong to the past, because there is only the representation of the past, and not the present. In addition, some representations might be altered or completely fictional, which then takes away the authentic meaning behind them and takes away Native people’s control over their own culture. On the other hand, some Natives see hobbyism as a positive thing that might spark more interest in the culture among non-Native people, so that they could eventually start to educate themselves and learn more about

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the contemporary issues. In this way, Natives could gain more support in their efforts to achieve equality and recover from years of oppression and systematic racism. It is important to research the key aspects of hobbyism, particularly those which criticized the most, so that the challenges they pose could be altered, or even completely removed.

Even though the hobbyists themselves do not want to cause any harm intentionally, they cannot ignore the potential damage they might be causing to contemporary Natives by relegating them to the past. The thesis is a cultural study and the sources and examples for analysis are taken from documentaries, literature, movies, academic work, media and even from a Native play The Berlin Blues by Drew Hayden Taylor. The topic of this thesis is built around the idea of comparing two styles of hobbyism portrayed in documentaries Searching for Winnetou (2018), directed by Drew Hayden Taylor, an Anishinaabe playwright, author and journalist, and If Only I Were an Indian (1995), directed by John Paskievich, an Ukrainian-Canadian director. The documentaries portray two different approaches to hobbyism, creating a big enough parallel between them for the main argument of this thesis. Among other sources, this thesis draws on the academic work of Michael Brown, in Who Owns Native Culture?, Katrin Sieg, in Ethnic Drag: Performing Race, Nation, Sexuality in West Germany (Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany), and György Ferenc Tóth, in From Wounded Knee to Checkpoint Charlie where the authors delve into the phenomenon of hobbyism, cultural appropriation, and commodification of Native cultures. By analyzing key issues such as cultural appropriation, commodification, commercialization, etc. in hobbyism in both documentaries is followed by a closer examination of these issues, offering different opinions and perspectives from both Native Americans and academics concerned with the topic of hobbyism.

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The first chapter provides some background information to hobbyism in Germany and the Czech Republic, identifying the key characteristics of hobbyism and motivations for participating in hobbyism. The background information is followed by an explanation of the term hobbyism and by introduction and categorization of the main hobbyist groups in the second chapter of the thesis. The third chapter then analyzes and compares the concepts of cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. By providing practical examples, in which the question of whether it is a form of cultural appropriation is rather ambiguous, the chapter is trying to highlight the complexity of the discourse of cultural appropriation. It also provides a rough summary of how contemporary Native people have tried to reduce the extent of cultural appropriation in the past, by pushing for legal protection of their cultures. The fourth chapter examines in detail the two documentaries, Searching for Winnetou and If Only I Were an Indian.

It explores the content of both documentaries, with focus on the motivations of hobbyists and the evaluation of hobbyism by Native visitors. The documentaries reveal some of the key problems with hobbyism such as commodification, appropriation of Native cultures, and provides opinions of Native people on the matter of hobbyism. The final chapter further explores the issues that were laid out by the examination of the two documentaries, by using secondary materials from various scholars and opinions of Native peoples, providing a variety of opinions in order to form a conclusion on the questions whether the hobbyism is a form of cultural appropriation and what the problematic issues with the hobbyism are.

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1. Infatuation with the “Indian”

This chapter aims to show how the interest in hobbyism began and why it was so popular in both Germany and the Czech Republic, and what might be the key factors how and why are people interested in hobbyism. To understand how the phenomena of hobbyism became so popular with Czech and German groups, it is essential to examine the origins of the infatuation with the Native American culture and how it is tied to the history of both countries. The first notions about Native Americans came to Czechs soon after Columbus had “discovered” America in 1492. The former Czech kingdom, after the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) became part of Austrian Empire, which only privileged Catholic religion and the Non-Catholic churches were forced to leave. One of those churches were Moravian Brothers, who found shelter in Saxony, and as they were able to prosper there, they wanted to spread their faith and in 1735 they have sent missionaries to North America. They arrived in Pennsylvania and later established themselves as missionaries among the Natives in the New World. Natives themselves were intended to be “civilized” by forcing them to abandon their supposedly “pagan”

beliefs and by converting them to Christianity to be freed from their pagan beliefs and deities to be taught how to enter the Gardens of Eden and the arms of a single true God.

In their homeland, the Native Americans, similarly to other Indigenous populations across the world, were mostly viewed by European settlers as barbaric heathens who occupied their land. Allegedly the Moravian Brothers had a different approach with the Natives:

The Moravian focus on religion from the heart and their Love Feast were compatible with Native American spiritual traditions. Unlike other Protestant

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missionaries, the Moravians lived and dressed like the Indians and it was not uncommon for European visitors to mistake the Moravians for Indians. (Burch) According to Thomas F. Mchugh, John R. Burch, Jr., PhD and other sources like The Moravian Church in America IBOC website, the Moravians had a very functional relationship with the Native Americans, because instead of rejecting their culture, they were embracing it, sometimes even dressing up as Natives in order to “fit in”. From the mid-19th century, an increasing current wave of emigrants flowed to America, where, besides Czech communities in the East, new settlements were established, especially in Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas and the Dakotas, where people were in direct contact with local Native tribes such as the Sioux, Pawnee, Osage, and Kiowa. Because of this contact, a glass trade between US and Czechs has been established in mid-19th century, in order to provide glass beads for the Native beadworks, which replaced their beads made from bones, shells, copper, etc.

The Germans too came to America after the Thirty Years War, but “for the most part Germans approached Indian country for much the same reasons as other Europeans did and behaved in much the same way as they did, and Indians responded to them accordingly.” (Calloway 48) According to Calloway, Germans were a major force in

“repeopling” (Calloway 48) North America and as such, they left their mark on the land and culture. They were sometimes friendly to the Natives, but also sometimes primed aggressors in frontier conflicts. In the 1730s, Protestants from Salzburg immigrated to Georgia, where “Baron Philip George Friedrich von Reck, a young Hanoverian nobleman in charge of transporting the Salzburg immigrants, did sketches and paintings of Uchees, Creeks and Cherokees and penned a brief report on the Indians living in Georgia.” (Calloway 49) He praised the Creeks very much for being “honest, open- minded, truthful, not interested in personal gain” (qtd. in Calloway 49), but allegedly he

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did not hold high regards for the other tribes as much. Because Germans lived around areas which were neighboring Native American territories, and because some of them established very good relationships with the Natives, some of the Germans became

“white Indians” during the Seven Years War (1756-1763). The Germans too, have become missionaries for the Moravian church, and like Czechs, lived among the Native Americans, sharing their way of life and culture. From these encounters and connections that were established from the first contacts with the Native Americans, an interest in the Native culture arose for both nations.

Interest in North American Indigenous cultures in Europe was surely influenced by a number of western novels. Among those novels were for example James Fenimore Cooper’s The Leatherstocking Tales (1823 - 1841) which is a collection of five novels which depict life in the Wild West countryside approximately in the 1740s. One of the novels is The Last of the Mohicans (1826) which portrays the frontier life of the French Indian War, and captures a sense of vanishing wilderness and the Natives, hence the title. But perhaps the most influential author, whose works, according to Kuester, were inspired by Cooper’s work, is the German writer Karel May. Starting in 1875, Karel May wrote dozens of books set in a fictional Wild West setting. In 1878 he wrote a book called Winnetou which had 4 sequels, which were so popular that they were translated into 22 languages including Braille and were made into 11 movies in total.

Karel May has very much romanticized the atmosphere of the Wild West, making it very attractive for the public masses. His heroes are the epitomes of human virtues and they fight both crude fate and vile villains in various adventures that stray away from the ordinariness of life. Karl May’s novels were extremely popular not only among the general reading public but also, as Raymond Wood points out in his article “The Role of the Romantic West in Shaping the Third Reich”, among many leading historical figures

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in Germany, such as Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, Franz Kafka, Fritz Lang and most notably one of the most notorious German leaders, Adolf Hitler. The popularity of Winnetou in the Czech Republic was not as big as in Germany because the availability of the translated version of the books came later in the years of 1901 and 1908. After the year of 1945, Karel May’s works were banned due to political reasons and it was not until 1963 when it became unbanned and along with the release of Winnetou movies.

The love for Karl May’s work had already had its foundations in groups like the Czech Tramping movement, which was the first steppingstone for the rise of the “Indian infatuated” movements, or as Campion-Vincent Véronique states:

The Czech Tramping movement is still active in 2017. It emerged in the 1920s as an independent outgrowth of the more organized Scouts and Woodcraft activities that already existed in 1913. It survived German occupation and the harsh early years of the Communist Era and was better tolerated in the 1970s, when specific Indian Hobbyist movements were also on the rise. The emphasis on outdoor life, including a positive attitude toward nature and a modest lifestyle, have taken root in Czech and Slovak societies. (Campion-Vincent 17) Karl May’s work provided groundworks for some of the members of these organizations to switch/alternate to a more fitting setting that would transform the emphasis on the outdoor live into a level of a lifestyle.

The most influential story from Karl May, that started this rise in infatuation with the Native cultures is undoubtedly the Winnetou. It is important to point out that Karl May did not write the story with authenticity in mind and a lot of the landscapes, people or culture are either fictional or altered in order to appeal more to the story. The story of Winnetou follows a young German engineer Karl, who befriends an Apache chief named Winnetou and together they serve as this hand of justice, fighting against

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other bloodthirsty “savages” and evil greedy bandits. They do not become friends right away, because Old Shatterhand is considered to be an enemy to Winnetou, but through various occasions where their paths cross, they develop a mutual interest in one another.

György Ferenc Tóth points out, that “[a]t the core of Old Shatterhand’s alliance with the Apache is attraction. Karl is immediately drawn the ‘noble’ appearance and behaviour of Winnetou, and he later finds that the feeling is mutual” (Tóth 23). The focus in Karel May’s books is on Indianers. The term Indianer refers to the German image of Native Americans, not the contemporary image of “Indians”.³ Winnetou would be the prime example of what an Indianer is. The Indianer concept is very much based on the concept of the “noble savage”. This term is commonly associated with the 18th century philosopher named Jean Jacques Rousseau. His concept presupposes that though men were born noble in the first place, they became corrupted by the modern-day progress.

Some academics claim that Rousseau was not the initial author of the term, but they can agree on that he conveyed in such a way that it was thereafter generally associated with his name. Nevertheless, for this study, the very concepts, and definitions of “noble savage” (especially the newer version of the term), are more important than the myth’s origin. In the 19th century when the colonization of Native American lands was at its peak, the concept got twisted the other way around and Native Americans were seen as the savage people who need civilization in order to survive. Those Natives who were accepting of the terms, technologies, religion, and new way of life were considered

“noble savages”. Those who refused were labeled “ignoble savages”. Their practices and lack of values of law, government, etc. were seen as “ignoble”, and the Native Americans were seen as “barriers to civilization and progress” (The “Indian Problem”

3The term “Indian” is used here to illustrate the difference between Indianer and Indian. The term

“Indian” represents the perception that the mainstream public has of Native people.

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00:05:42 - 00:05:44). This concept is thoroughly used within the Winnetou series, where the members of the other tribes are “ignoble savages”, whereas Winnetou would be the perfect example of a “noble savage”. The newest edition of the “noble savage”, according to D. Waldron and J. Newton, is perceived with a “sublime and romantic desires” (Waldron and Newton 69) that feeds directly into the images that hobbyism chooses to perpetuate: “Gillian Cowlishaw chooses the concept of ‘mythologizing culture’ to refer to discourses about Indigenous that highlight suffering and, as an antidote, justify protection and rejuvenation of traditional culture” (Waldron and Newton 69). Helen Gardner, an associate professor of history at Deakin University, in her article “Explainer: The Myth of the Noble Savage”, where she aims to map the evolution of the term “noble savage”, adds that in the New Age Romanticism,

“Indigenous peoples are credited with special powers, such as healing or enhanced spirituality. New Age practitioners might seek to recreate or dance through Indigenous ceremonies, often with little idea of their original meaning” (“Explainer: The Myth of the Noble Savage”).

The German and Czech hobbyists are inclined to feel connected to this concept of “noble savage”, because they believe they share a similar fate both historically and culturally wise. The first link that might have caused this collective feeling of oppression dates back to the Roman empire era. In an article “Karl May and the Origins of a German Obsession” Michael Kimmelman attributes the origins of German feeling of this shared fate to early German tribes: “The Roman historian Tacitus described German tribes as uncorrupted, primitive, fierce and at one with nature, a people on the edge of a corrupt and voracious empire.” (Kimmelman). The Seven Years War, which has been briefly mentioned earlier in the thesis, is another incentive for this shared fate phenomenon. Susan Zantop, who was a German American political scientist and

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Germanist, sees the end of 18^th century as another, and more recent, event for the development of this collective feeling of oppression and shared fate:

Susan Zantop suggests that towards the end of the eighteenth century, “when the German states were trying to redefine themselves against imperial(ist) France,” a

“collective sense of inferiority, resulting from military and political defeat” led to the German people forming “a collective identification with ‘the Indian’ as the underdog” (qtd. in Broughton 19)

Common event for both countries is the political situation and the state of the society after the World War II. Germans, after the World War II., were occupied by the Americans, who set various regulations that were vastly hampering the sense of freedom in Germany. Similarly, Czechs were occupied by Germans during the World War II., and by the Soviets after the World War II. Among the hobbyists from the Czech Republic the occupation by the Soviets, and the era of Communism are the biggest links to the presupposition that they share similar oppression as Native people do. Lastly, the Czech hobbyists feel connected to the fact that Native Americans are fighting to restore their language, because Czechs too, in the 15th century, the Czech language was declared inferior by the Habsburg re-catholicization, and it was not until the 18th century when Czech language was restored and continued to develop. Jürgen Michaelis, a German hobbyist interviewed by Michael Kimmelman, stated states “‘It was a little bit of adventure, an escape and romantic,’... ‘From the books I saw it was a hard life being an Indian, and I identified with that. Indians could handle any situation with no resources, just like here. All this put the flame in me.’” (qtd. in Kimmelman).

There is a certain level of cultural escapism involved, that helps the people cope with the aftermath of the events like World War II., for example, or sometimes even by the status of (post)modern society. Hartman Lutz claims that “‘there’s a certain

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escapism...Being German is not very comfortable. Sometimes it’s easier to identify with the victims of history. You can almost forget you belong to the nation of the victimizer.’” (qtd. in Gerson) It might seem that this escapism negates this feeling of shared fate, mentioned above, but Erina Duganne, in her essay “Becoming ‘Der Indianer’: Andrea Robbins and Max Becher’s German Indians” argues that this sense of shared fate and identification is enforced rather than negated by this escapism: “Besides assigning the motivation for this practice as a response to Europe’s history of colonization and genocide, particularly Germany’s fascist ideologies, including Nazism, Churchill has likewise derided German hobbyism as a form of cultural ‘escapism’ that serves to link, not distance, its practitioners from this troubling past” (Duganne 157).

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand connect both the link and the form of cultural escapism together, because of the brotherly love that they have for one another, because each of them adopt pieces of each other’s culture, and together they fight against the oppression of bandits and other tribes. So not only the first impulses began as early as 15th century but also were strengthened by the pre and post war situations in both countries. The two main reasons behind the infatuation with Native cultures can be attributed to Karl May’s Winnetou and later by the state of (post) modern society in both Czech Republic and Germany. In addition, one of the reasons for the infatuation with Native cultures could be attributed to this feeling of shared fate, created by the “troubling past” in both countries.

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2. Indianthusiasm in Czech and German Contexts

This chapter explains what hobbyism is and aims to highlight the diversity among the hobbyists and to show the complexity and infrastructure of their groups/clubs. More specifically, the difference between the approach some hobbyist groups choose to perpetuate the Native cultures with. The difference in the approach toward the Native cultures will then be closely examined in chapter four, which is devoted to the two documentaries of Searching for Winnetou and If Only I Were an Indian. In order to provide sufficient background information on the phenomenon of hobbyism, it is important to establish what the term of “Indian hobbyism” means and what the intentions of the groups that practice hobbyism are. From the research conducted, the term refers to people who actively imitate or perform Native American cultures. This applies to the Wild West fantasies based on Karl May’s fiction as well, because his concepts are only loosely based on the Native American cultures. There are some common features that these hobbyists share. The hobbyists, Colin F. Taylor claims, are predominantly male, but it is not uncommon for children and women to be involved; they are usually blue collar workers (Collin 562); most of these individuals have a romanticized view on the Wild West culture and Indigenous life, and the focus of their interest is more on the culture of the Plain Indians.⁴ Hartmut Lutz, who is teaching a course in German Indianthusiasm at the University of Calgary and interviewed in the documentary Searching For Winnetou documentary, has coined a term for this phenomenon as — Indianthusiasm, which is a more acceptable term among the hobbyist groups, as many of them dislike the term “hobbyist”. ⁵

4Plain Indians are the tribes who used to live on the Great Plains of North America.

5 The term “hobbyist” or “hobbyism” is used thought the whole essay without any derogatory intentions

or meanings.

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One of the aims of this thesis is to show the difference between the groups presented in the documentaries. The two documentaries, If Only I Were an Indian and Searching for Winnetou, show parallels between the business-oriented hobbyist group and the grassroot group that is more concerned with the authenticity. In his book Playing Indian, Philip J. Deloria introduces various types of hobbyists, categorizing them by their traits, the difference in the approach towards the authenticity of their acts, but also by their involvement in commercialism and commodification of Native American products. He names one of the groups “hobbyists”, “(super)hobbyists” or

“People hobbyists”, “who attempt to establish and keep a direct contact with some Native band, community and/or individual and consider authentication by Natives desirable and even dance with Indians and participate in rituals” (Kádár 100). The second type Deloria identifies are the “powwow Indians” and “weekend warriors”, who

“do the opposite in the fear of non-authentication, non-validation” (Kádár 100), meaning they do not seek contacts with the Native people, nor they are concerned with authenticity of their acts. Other scholars in the field use Deloria’s model for labeling the hobbyists in their works as well and add own observations to the categorization. For example, Tóth F.György acknowledges Deloria’s categorization, but offers a more simplistic definition and labeling of the groups:

...Deloria distinguished between two groups of hobbyists. ‘Object hobbyists’

replicated Indian artifacts as their objects of desire without engaging living Indians, who they considered part of the past and racially other. ‘People hobbyists’ engaged in intercultural contact with live Indians on the powwow circuit and negotiated the differences between Native agency and Euro- American imagination. (Tóth 26)

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While other academics do not come up with names or terms to label the types of hobbyists, they too see the diversity among the members of hobbyist clubs. For example as Penny H. Glenn writes:

Members of hobby clubs have always ranged from part-time participants interested mostly in socialization and play to dedicated enthusiasts focused on the minutia of material culture, the intricacies of microhistory, and the political plight of contemporary tribes. (Glenn 191)

Therefore, according to this categorization, the Czech group introduced in If Only I Were an Indian fit the “people’s hobbyist” category, while the hobbyists shown in Searching for Winnetou documentary fit the “powwow Indians and weekend warriors”

category presented by Deloria. The business-oriented German group and the Czech grassroot group were both influenced by Karel May and his romanticized Wild West fantasy. The difference is that the Czech hobbyist group views Karel May’s romanticized image and fiction as a starting point, rather than the final product of their act and focus more on the authenticity, seeking further knowledge and perfection in their craft while there is no focus on the commercial and business values in their act.

German hobbyists embrace Karl May’s version of the Indianer, using his fictional perception of Native cultures, and occasionally mixing in bits and pieces of real Native cultures, but usually not in the right context. The popularity and fame of Karl May’s works reinforces the commercial aspect of hobbyism. With hundreds of imported goods, plain commercial replicas, or items created by the “tribes” in Germany, the focus is more on the business rather than authenticity. While trying to search the internet for some Czech shops that advertise Native paraphernalia, I was only able to trace a few of them, certainly not so many as with the German counterpart. The number of German

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hobbyist groups is estimated to be over 40,000 of people interested (Lopinto) and, from what I could find, there are merely around 1,000 of Czech hobbyists (Spálený).

The groups have their own organizations such as Indian Corral Westerners International (ICWI), which is one of the Czech organizations that was created after 1989. It is an official organization for all the Czech Indian enthusiast and “hobbyist”

groups. There are also unofficial groups that promote their own views on the hobbyism, but all these groups fall under The Woodcraft League of Czech Republic. The following section explains why the ICWI members choose to imitate Native cultures. The ICWI website states that:

It is more about learning as much as the members can about the culture of Native Americans and trying to apply it in the modern world. They are interested in the history, culture of both material and spiritual sort but also contemporary issues of Native American communities. For them discovering the essence of Native American culture is by their own words “trial and error” and “an interactive game”. They acknowledge that the Native American culture is not extinct, that it is evolving, expanding and changing and that a lot of Czech people are interested in that. Some of the members actively visit USA or Canada and are in contact with various members of contemporary Native American tribes. (About the Association)

Indian Corral Westerners International is a part of the worldwide association of Westerners International, located in Oklahoma USA and they recreate the American West settings. In Germany, there are also official and unofficial groups, as C. G.

Calloway has mapped in Germans and Indians: Fantasies, Encounters, Projections (2002):

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Today, two umbrella organizations exist, one in each part of the formerly divided Germany: the Western bund (Western Association) in the old Federal Republic and the Indianistik-bund (Indianist Union) in the erstwhile German Democratic Republic. In 1998 the Western Association had a membership of 156 clubs, while 53 clubs are affiliated with the Indianist Union. The main difference between the Western Association and the Indianist Union is the exclusive focus on Indian cultures in the latter, whereas the former comprises a wide range of identifications with anything Western. (Calloway 223)

These organizations are still active today, and for example, the Western Association actively participates in the events of the Karl May Museum in Germany. As is stated on their website, they involve even groups from other countries: “The Western-Bund eV was founded in 1969. At that time, the goal was to ensure the organization of the meeting known as the Indian Council, which had been organized by individual associations since 1951. The Western Bund represents member associations from Germany, Switzerland and France” (Western -Bund e.V.). There are, of course, German hobbyist groups very similar to The Woodcraft League of the Czech Republic, that deal only with the authentic, such as Blackfoot Tribes in Düren. One of their leaders says in an interview: “We deal intensively with the authentic history of the Indians,” explains Frank Degen, the ‘finance minister’ of the tribe. For Frank Degen, the emphasis is on the word ‘authentic’: “The Indian stories by Karl May are only legends for us. We are dealing with the real story” (Zirke). What is interesting is that both these groups state on their websites that they are well aware of the contemporary issues and are trying to stay away from the stereotypes. Many of the other websites from different hobbyist groups sometimes do state that their utmost desire is to be as authentic as possible, however, many times it is not the case.

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The “weekend warriors” congregate in places like Pullman City in Bavaria or El Dorado in Berlin which are essentially Western style theme parks which host events like the “Indian Week”, provide stores with “authentic Indian wares”, and stage shows in honor of Karl May, in which non-Native actors play “Indians” in the Winnetou style.

There are also Cowboy shows and reenactments of Wild West shows that do not include imitators of Native cultures, but the biggest events are those with the “authentic Indian”

themes. Kádár J. Agnes addresses this need for show behavior with Native cultures by saying that “they consider Indians ethnographic objects to read about and take pictures of, so these so-called object hobbyists reinforce the vanishing Indian attitude with their very approach to Native American culture” (Kádár 100). In contrast to the “weekend warriors” category, the “powwow Indians” (Kádár 100) differ in the manner of seriousness they put into their activities. Unlike the “weekend warriors” who, to my understanding, attend only the types of events such as the “Indian Week” in the Pullman City to participate in the game of playing Indians, the “powwow Indians” have a sense of community. The “powwow Indians” hobbyists are a mix of the “weekend warriors”

and “people hobbyists” categories, as they profess their admiration to Native cultures, yet they do celebrate and promote mostly the stereotypical images of Karl May’s fiction and occasionally mix in some of the more realistic Native features, nevertheless, authenticity is not their concern. There are business-oriented groups that promote Native cultures in the Czech Republic as well. They promote Native cultures in the forms of

“Wild West Towns”, which are fairly popular, but they are not as big in term of visitors and facilities as their German counterparts. In his article “‘He Scarcely Resembles the Real Man’: images of the Indian in Popular Culture”, Brendan Frederick R. Edwards does not necessarily observes different styles of hobbyists, but captures the mixing of Karl May’s fiction with Native cultures:

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Indian Hobbyist clubs in Central and Eastern Europe are common. Participants not only dress like [Karl] May’s conception of Plains Indians, but also profess to live by ‘Indian Values.’ Events vaguely resemble traditional Aboriginal powwows, featuring several teepees, wigwams, and sweat lodges. European hobbyists gather most of their information and ideas from textbooks of May, supplemented with details from anthropological and historical texts. More than simple fun, hobbyists take such events very seriously, often objecting to scrutiny or observation of outsiders. (Edwards)

Considering the findings so far, the thesis so far has identified two different approaches to hobbyism among the hobbyist groups. One focuses on the authenticity when perpetuating the Native cultures and learning something from the other cultures, and the other, which focuses less on the authenticity and more on the commercial values and entertainment. These approaches are present in both Germany and Czech Republic hobbyist groups, however, the business-oriented approach seems to be represented more in Germany, as the interest there seems to be much bigger in terms of numbers of participants and the staging of the Native cultures than in Czech Republic.

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3. Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Appreciation

As the topic of cultural appropriation is rather complex, this chapter aims to provide an overview of what the term stands for and provide examples of cultural appropriation to illustrate the complexity and thin line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. Cultural appropriation has become a common occurrence and it is a topic of heated discussions not only among the scholars, but also in the fashion world, movies, music videos, etc. It can be sometimes very unclear what a cultural appropriation is, as sometimes even eating food from a different culture is labeled as cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation refers to adopting elements of one culture by members of another culture, or as Michael F. Brown in Who Owns the Native Culture? states, it is “when personal information (or for that matter, information associated with clearly defined groups) is appropriated by others for their benefit, the victims suffer both emotional distress and economic deprivation, at least relative to the economic gain enjoyed by the appropriators” (Brown 38). R. A. Rogers points out that after 15 years of research he could find only one source with a clear definition that could potentially be applicable to all instances of cultural appropriation. Rogers categorizes cultural appropriation into 4 categories, and argues that using someone else’s culture for personal gains is not the criteria for determining whether it is an instance of cultural appropriation or not:

1. Cultural exchange: the reciprocal exchange of symbols, artifacts, rituals, genres, and/or technologies between cultures with roughly equal levels of power.

2. Cultural dominance: the use of elements of a dominant culture by members of a subordinated culture in a context in which the dominant culture has been imposed onto the subordinated culture, including appropriations that enact resistance.

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3. Cultural exploitation: the appropriation of elements of a subordinated culture by a dominant culture without substantive reciprocity, permission, and/or compensation.

4. Transculturation: cultural elements created from and/or by multiple cultures, such that identification of a single originating culture is problematic, for example, multiple cultural appropriations structured in the dynamics of globalization and transnational capitalism creating hybrid forms. (Rogers 477) To illustrate why it might be so difficult to apply the definitions of cultural appropriation, I have decided to include practical examples that debated whether it is a case of cultural appropriation or not. In the following examples there are different levels in how serious they are in terms of cultural appropriation to offer a more critical view on the phenomenon. A seemingly innocent example is the pop singer Justin Bieber wearing dreadlocks debated in a YouTube video named “Bieber’s dreadlocks:

Appropriation or appreciation? - BBC Newsnight”. Emma Dabiri, a teacher at School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) and a visual sociology researcher, argues that it is a cultural appropriation as dreadlocks are a part of African cultural heritage, and it is not okay to be wearing them without understanding the history behind it. If one is to wear dreadlocks it is important to acknowledge their cultural background and not wear it because it is fashionable. However, after researching more into the topic to provide better constructive argument for this instance of cultural appropriation, I have stumbled upon a video from a user “Kris McDred”, who has a channel where he discusses African American history. In one of his videos titled “Can White people have dreadlocks?”, McDred explains that dreadlocks form naturally therefore cannot be claimed by a culture. He then adds that dreadlocks can be worn only if earned in certain African tribes. Another instance of an example of cultural appropriation was brought up by Ian

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Dunt, who participated in the same debate with Emma Dabiri as her “opponent”. He stated that Elvis took the concept of blues and started rock-n-roll, that we all enjoy and love, and therefore cultural appropriation is actually a positive thing for people to share and mix their culture for everyone to enjoy. Emma Dabiri argues that it is not necessarily about that Elvis took the concept, it is that he is claimed to be the sole owner of it, aka king of rock n roll, erasing the fact that it arose from African American struggle and concepts of music. It might not seem that important, especially in the example with Elvis, but the fact that Elvis never claimed to have invented rock-n-roll and that he was inspired by other artists, most of which were of African American descent, creates this public notion that omits these connections and erases the part the African American culture played in creating the rock-n-roll genre. All Elvis did was he exposed wide range of people to rock-n-roll, and in public’s eye (to those who do not necessarily want to learn about the origins of the genre) he is the first “king” of the genre. Another example of cultural appropriation would be Selena Gomez wearing bindi while performing in a public concert. In 2013 Selena Gomez performed with bindi on her forehead wearing a Hindu inspired dress. Bindi is a red dot that serves as religious symbol, and also symbolizes a third eye “serving as a constant reminder to keep God at the center of one’s thoughts” (Shuvi Jha) in India. It is a religious symbol of Hindu, and therefore not to be used out of context or by someone who is not a part of that cultural group. Nevertheless, as Shuvi Jha suggest, the bindi is now being used in all shapes and forms, acting as more of an accessory. She also suggests that people should not use this without at least learning all the background information behind the symbol. The justifications for participating in cultural appropriation follow the same pattern, there is always a counterargument or some sort of a condition, like learn about the meaning of it first, then you may use it, etc. However, I would dare to state that to apply the same

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kind of approach to Native peoples that have been systematically robbed of their culture until the 19th century is wrong and cannot be justified with similar arguments like the ones stated previously.

One of the most common appropriations is Native symbolism such as names of sports teams or stereotypical Native logos in teams like Washington Redskins, Ottawa Tomahawks, even in hockey teams in Europe, like HC Plzeň who have a Native person wearing a big feathered headdress in their logo. The most infamous case of Native peoples struggles to stop this stereotypical imagery is with the Washington Redskins.

The Redskins have been asked to change their name of the team because, as the protestors state, it involves a racist slur within the name. As in the previous examples, there is a variety to the opinions amongst the Natives regarding this topic, because some members of the community do not feel offended by this. As shown for example in “I’m happy to be a Redskin” from Washington Post, some Native people shown in the video are genuinely proud to be associated with the term “redskin”. The logo also involves eagle feathers, which to some tribes is a very sacred imagery, not to mention the Native person in the logo is painted red. Not only does it diminish the meaning behind sacred objects, but it also provides open space for racial slurs and stereotypical images to take hold, or rather to amplify the racist treatment that comes with such images. The struggle with the team sports is to get rid of the mascots that dance during pre-games at sports events, dressed from head to toe in traditional (sometimes fictional) Native outfits, cheering up crowds with various war cries, and stereotypical “dances” which are supposed to represent traditional dances and Native representation in the logos of the team that are often times very disrespectful or inaccurate. The former APA (American Psychological Association) President Ronald F. Levant, EdD states that “[t]hese mascots are teaching stereotypical, misleading and too often, insulting images of

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American Indians“ (Levant). The use of symbols like the feathered headbands, even sacred rituals of sweat lodges or smoking of the ceremonial pipe are the most common examples/cases of cultural appropriations that are common even outside of the United States or Canada. These images / symbols of people who do not belong into the Native cultures are keeping up the stereotypes of Natives and create a false image about Natives in America, Canada, and Europe.

One of the reasons why cultural appropriation of Native objects and cultures is so widespread might be because of the stereotype of the vanishing race. It is a myth that Native people are dying out, as they are unable to adapt to the modern society and progress. Those who have survived have been stripped of their original Native cultures and therefore are not seen as the “real Indians⁶”. In “The Myth of the Vanishing Race”

David R. M. Beck claims:

This imagery had long been a part of popular culture, but the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 and the end of the Plains Indian wars, Frederick Jackson Turner's 1893 announcement that the American Frontier had closed, and the federal attempts to forcefully eradicate Indian culture and assimilate Indians into American society all converged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to firmly cement that imagery as a myth of a vanishing race, with the notion that Indians are historical features of an American landscape, not functioning members in a modern society . (Beck 4)

The stereotype was spread, among other things, through novels such as James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, where Uncas, one of the last members of the Mohican tribe, dies and Chingachgook, the other member of the Mohican tribe, is too

6 The term “real Indian” refers to the stereotypical image of how Indian looks in the perception of the

public.

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old to further his creed. Even one of the more recent movies, Hostiles (2017), perpetuates the stereotype through the ending in which a group of Natives fight the white oppressors over a land, until there is only a young Native boy left. He is then taken by train to a town, dressed in fashionable clothes, symbolizing his transformation into a person of the society. There is one event that needs to be added to the list of events mentioned by Beck, and that is finding and death of Ishi, the last of the Yahi tribe. Ishi’s tribe has undergone a genocide during the California Gold Rush (1848- 1855), and Ishi was the sole survivor. After he was found, he was put into a museum where he was studied, and became very popular among academics, but also among the general public. His death in the year of 1916 was the supposed marking of ending of the

“real Indian”. The most notorious propagator of the vanishing race myth, however, is Edward S. Curtis and his collection of photographs in the namesake album The Vanishing Race. Curtis paid Natives to pose and dance in several staged settings that would evoke the feeling that Natives are disappearing: “Curtis used ‘not only “phony”

costumes, additions, and poses,’ observed James Faris in Navajo and Photography, ‘but indeed, in some cases actual phony Navajo…’ He removed parasols, suspenders, wagons, the actual traces of modernism and material culture in his pictures of natives”

(qtd. in Handley and Lewis). With the perception that Natives are disappearing, it labels the culture as free for the taking, since there is no one left to object against that, or to object against any adaptations, or fantasies, that could be derived from the originals.

In addition, the myth was enforced largely by the fact that there was no copyright for the Native imagery until the 19th century. With the continuous appropriation of Native cultures by non-Native people, Natives sought to protect their heritage through legal powers. It was usually through various acts like National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which allows for certain areas to be identified as part of

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Native American heritage, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, which aims to protect and preserve the beliefs of Native Americans. Native Americans also formed official organizations like National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) created in 1944. which is “deeply concerned with the repatriation of Native American human remains and funerary objects, the vigorous enforcement of the Indian Arts &

Crafts Act, and the revitalization of Native languages” (Cultural Protection &

NAGPRA). For example, the NCAI employed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990 which assures that any Native American items or human remains found in the US are to be given back to tribes which they belong to. Lastly, the Indian Arts & Crafts Act (IACA), which was also enacted in 1990, aims to protect tribal cultural resources by preventing the sale of goods produced by non-Natives and advertised as authentic Native goods. Unfortunately, as NCAI websites informs, the IACA has been ineffective because of the lack of proper enforcement from the government and low penalties for the entrepreneurs who got caught in the act of selling the “authentic” goods. Therefore, Natives are trying to protect their culture any way they can. Since it is common to have Native styled accessories, selling these artifacts is a big business. This is where hobbyism comes in, because it promotes this business and is a big consumer at the same time. By using sacred artifacts like feathered headdresses or ceremonial pipes, it creates a lot of controversy. Fern Mathias, a leader of American Indian Movement in Southern California, reacted to this phenomenon and urged officials to regulate the use of all Indian symbols, especially religious ones.

Just because the Indians didn’t have copyright laws doesn’t mean others can take and use their symbols,” she said. She continued: “We, as Indian people, never had to regulate fairness, dignity and respect. It came naturally. But we live in

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America, in the modern age, and we have to protect ourselves. We need to make a list of Indian symbols, especially the religious ones, that should be excluded from commercial use. We need to create an awareness of these symbols and explain why it is offensive to use them. Every company and official organization needs to be furnished with such a list so there will not be the excuse of pleading ignorance. (qtd. in Brown 80)

There is a very fine line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. To define cultural appreciation is much more elusive, as it depends on what does one wants to use from another culture, why, and how the particular culture views it. It involves researching the background of the particular culture, the collective history of given culture, so that one could determine that the cultural element is okay to use. It should also involve the people of that culture, which is probably the most important step. Rosanna Deerchild, a Canadian Cree writer states that cultural appreciation is “truly honor[ing] our nation’s art and cultures. You take the time to learn and interact, to gain an understanding of a culture or cultures, different from your own”

(Cultural Appropriation vs. Appreciation 00:02:43-00:02:50). The right intentions do not necessarily mean it is a case of appreciation, as Rogers has stated. Cultural appreciation could perhaps be classified as a form of cultural exchange, to put it into the categorization list by R.A. Rogers, that is based on mutual respect and dignity. The problem is that if one is to judge someone, it is impossible to know what their intentions are, or if the person has done the research to pass the conditions that would tip the scales to the side of cultural appreciation unless they a proper study is conducted. That is why the Native visitors in the documentaries of Searching for Winnetou and If Only I Were an Indian go and see the communities of hobbyists for themselves, to see where they stand. The aim of this chapter was to illustrate the complexity of the term cultural

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appropriation and its application on various examples, along with Native responses to cultural appropriation of some of their cultural elements. The fine line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation is possibly of biggest relevance, since it is one of the thesis questions for this research. Because of this ambiguity when it comes to the question of whether hobbyism is a harmful form of cultural appropriation, it is important to bring more attention to studying the hobbyist groups, and see how and why they choose to imitate the Native cultures.

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4. Winnetou meets the “Indian”

This chapter is devoted to the analysis of the two documentaries of Searching for Winnetou (2018) and If Only I Were an Indian (1995). Both documentaries portray encounters between Natives and hobbyists, and present lay out of various issues with hobbyism. The chapter first introduces the documentaries, pointing out some of the key issues that the documentaries portray. A closer examination of these issues, a comparison between the two documentaries, and elaboration of the more complicated issues like commodification, commercialization, appropriating the Native cultures, or the perpetuation of the stereotypes will follow in the next chapter of this thesis.

4.1. The Legacy of Winnetou

The documentary Searching for Winnetou directed by Drew Hayden Taylor and written by Paul Kemp. Released 28 January 2018, it explores the phenomenon of German hobbyism. It features Drew Hayden Taylor, an Anishinaabe playwright, author and journalist. Hayden Taylor the explores controversy surrounding hobbyism, such as the ways in which Karl May romanticized the American West, as well as the Indianers who tend to appropriate the elements of actual Native heritage, which are, as Hayden Taylor himself admits, not used in the right context. The documentary maps many interesting and essential parts of German hobbyism such as the origins of hobbyism, which are tied to popular Karl May’s Winnetou novels, the commercialization and commodification of Native cultures present in hobbyism, and the extent of cultural appropriationof Native cultures.

In his search for the reasons behind Germany’s obsession with Native cultures, Hayden Taylor travels to Bavaria, to a fictional town called Pullman City. Pullman City, as mentioned earlier, mainly serves as a tourist attraction; described as a “living

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Western Town” (“Wild West Adventure”) which hosts various Western shows and once a year there is an “Indian Week” in which people celebrate the romanticized Wild West life, as well as Karl May’s legacy. To form an opinion on hobbyism, Hayden Taylor interviews several German hobbyists who share their motivations as to why they chose to engage in imitative Native cultures. The first of the interviewees, Astrid Gessler, claims that “for some people it is only a hobby” (00:13:29 – 00:13:32). She refers to people who buy Native paraphernalia such as headdresses. She calls them “Hollywood Indians” and dismisses them as not the real representatives of the cultures, whereas for Astrid it is a serious matter, a “lifestyle” (00:13:35 – 00:13:50). Another of the interviewees, Hans Jurgen Kelter, states that “[he] play[s] Indian ... [he] love[s] this lifestyle and that’s it” (00:19:40 – 00:20:05). He confesses that he dresses up only once a year during the festivals in Pullman City. The implication is that for Hans, it is not exactly a “lifestyle”, but more of a fun thing to be participating in. There is an interesting dynamic between various participants in these festivals which prove Deloria’s categorization of the hobbyists: Astrid would fall into the “powwow Indians”

category, while Hans is rather a “weekend warrior”. On the other hand, later in the documentary Drew Hayden Taylor interviews hobbyists who reside, as one of the hobbyists describes it, in an “authentic area” of Pullman City. This authentic area is advertised on the Pullman City website as “inhabited and run by private people. These buildings and outdoor areas are built and designed as authentically as possible using their own funds” (“The Authentic & History Area”). These hobbyists seem to be taking hobbyismmore seriously than the participants in the Wild West shows, like Astrid and Hans, they focus on the more authentic representation of Native cultures, fitting the category of “(super) hobbyists”. One of these hobbyists is Christian Lommer, who says that “[f]or [him] it is not a carnival, [he is] interested in the real story” (00:21:41-

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00:21:45). He states that he loved Winnetou as a kid, and continues with addressing the Native history of oppression a little bit, namely the killings and taking of land: “white men came from Europe and killed them and took their land” (00:21:18- 00:21:25). He then proceeds to express that he feels connected the historical background of Natives too, because “a little bit like a farmer [he] can imagine what it means if anybody took [his] land” (00:21:31 – 00:21:34). He says this not only from a standpoint of a farmer, but he also speaks of the shared fate — one that Tacitus has been referring to. Christian is trying to identify with Natives, with the oppression and historical injustices, but even though there is evidence of similar historical events, such as the oppression of the German tribes, World War II., etc., this identification is not justified as I believe that non-Native people can hardly imagine what it feels like to be a victim of systematic racism. In addition, Christian is also one of the hobbyists whose interest in the Native cultures made him travel to the USA and visit contemporary Native communities. Many hobbyists and participants have never been to America and have no idea how contemporary Natives live. Even though Christian has learned about some of the contemporary problems with alcohol, drugs and suicides during his stay in the USA, and has witnessed how contemporary Natives live, it did not change his mind about his hobby. The visit, however, shattered his image of the “real Indian”, taken up from Karl May’s books, which he shows by saying: “Where are the proud Natives? Hope they will come back again” (00:22:18 – 00:22:23), probably referring to the image or an idea that he had about how contemporary Natives look like / live.

Another topic that keeps recurring in the documentary is the appropriation of Native symbols and elements of cultures. Appropriation, in this context means that the objects were either placed out of context in which they are supposed to be, or completely misplaced not only from the context, but also from the culture of that

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specific tribe. These appropriations are closely related to the process of commodification in hobbyism because the various artefacts are often sold at shops, worn by the hobbyists, or used as decorations. One such example in the documentary is when Drew Hayden Taylor encounters a wood-carved sculpture of what appears to be a Mohawk warrior, situated near a pen where buffaloes are kept. He refers to this as an instance of pan-Indianism. Pan-Indianism was created essentially as a reaction to Christianity by trying to preserve aspects of traditional Indigenous cultures. Pan- Indianism may be loosely defined as “the process of synthesizing the collective spiritual reality and Traditional wisdom of more than one Native American Nation, but not necessarily all of them” (Robbins) or, as writer and educator at Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, Chelsea Vowel, puts it: “You may hear about a woman’s moon-time, tobacco offerings, burning sage or sweetgrass or cedar when smudging. There is a common ‘lingo’ at play that is easily picked up as being common to all aboriginal peoples, regardless of which nation you are actually from” (“Pan- Indianism, Pan-Métisism”). Buffalo was hunted by the tribes that lived on the Great Plains and were nomadic, so that they could follow the herds easily. However, the Mohawk tribe is part of Northeast Woodland and they were primarily farmers. Thus, the image mixes together cultural elements from various tribes into one image of Natives — that of the warrior hunting buffalo, completely disregarding the variety and complexity of the Native cultures. Then there are symbols which are there purely to attract tourists and perhaps some of the hobbyists as well. There are the “wooden tipis” in Pullman City advertised as “An authentic teepee on the outside, cozy ambiance on the inside”

(“Wild West Adventure”). This again is an instance of commodification, but also of pan-Indianism because it also contributes to the stereotypical image that all Native people live in teepees, even though the wooden teepees have no representation in Native

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culture, nevertheless they are presented as a piece of authentic Native culture, which they are, just not for all the tribes.

The documentary also shows a man called Hunting Wolf, who is a performer in the Wild West shows and has a shop with Native artefacts and paraphernalia in Pullman City. He claims that he imports some of the Native products from America and sells them in Germany. In his shows, Hunting Wolf brings a herd of buffalo to the streets of Pullman City and interacts with them by kneeling before the buffalo and putting his head onto the buffalo’s, showing off his “mystical” connection to the animal. He also owns an e-shop, where people can buy various items of Native theme. On the website of his e-shop and on the website of Pullman City, he is advertised as a “Cheyenne Half- Blood”. Further research about Mr. Hunting Wolf has shown that there are articles that are promoting Hunting Wolf’s Cheyenne ancestry. Unfortunately, the articles have been pulled down from the websites of Pullman City. However, there is a thread on the NAFPS (New Age Frauds & Plastic Shamans) site devoted solely to Hunting Wolf, where the articles are stored. In one of the articles, Hunting Wolf is advertised as follows: “Who could better speak of the Indians’ culture than Cheyenne Half-Breed Hunting Wolf? He visits the reservations every year for an exchange with the Natives in North America and to be able to pass on their knowledge to the people in Europe”

(Nello Messori aka “Hunting Wolf”). In the documentary of Searching for Winnetou he is described by Drew Hayden Taylor as someone who is infatuated with Indianer, implying that he is not of Native descend. So as a “representant of Cheyenne culture”, Hunting Wolf is an example of commodification of Native cultures and a “plastic shaman”. This imagery is another instance of pan-Indianism; it is spreading the stereotype of Natives being very close to the nature and possess mythical healing

Department of English and American Studies

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts