Native American hobbyism in Germany

Indian Hobbyism, also referred to as Indianism, is the performance and adoption of American Indian culture as a hobby and pastime, such as for a weekend retreat, pow wow, or summer camps. It exists in several European countries, but is prominent in Germany, where it has approximately 40,000 practitioners, known as hobbyists, participate.

Background

According to the history laid out in H. Glenn Penny’s Kindred By Choice, many Germans identify their roots as tribes that lived independently of one another that were colonized by Romans and forced to become Christians. Because of this tribal background and history of colonization, many believe that they are more related to Native Americans than to fellow European nations in contemporary times. This kindred heritage is detailed in Penny’s in-depth study of German fascination with and performances as Native American peoples. Germans also established a connection with Native Americans through art and anthropology. Penny covers this history in Kindred By Choice and other published writings, chronicling the German artists, such as Rudolf Cronau, Max Ernst, Georg Grosz, Otto Dix, and Rudolf Schlichter portrayals of Native Americans. German academics such as Alexander von Humboldt, Karl von den Steinen, Paul Ehrenreich, and Karl Jung all traveled to the United States to learn more about Native Americans and their culture. Their documentation of their journeys were regarded positively by the German public and assisted in fostering German fascination with Native Americans. Penny also details how Germans often denounced the violence inflicted upon Native peoples by the United States government until large groups of German immigrants began settling in the United States.

Another factor in the popularity of Hobbyism in German can be attributed to the many Wild West shows that successfully toured throughout Germany that featured real Native Americans in stereotypical "cowboy and Indian" performances. One of the most popular Wild West shows was organized by William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody. German Hobbyism is generally believed to have been largely popularized by the dime-store novelist Karl May, whose fictional Apache warrior character, Winnetou, and his German blood-brother, Old Shatterhand, adventure throughout the Wild West. In one of the many novels, Winnetou is murdered and Old Shatterhand avenges him and ultimately becomes an Apache chief. The Winnetou novels were first published in the 1890s.

German Hobbyism in the 20th Century

Hobbyism was greatly affected by the separation of Germany after World War II. Katrin Sieg’s Ethnic Drag discusses the differences between West German Hobbyism and East German Hobbyism, saying that while West Germany could continue to openly participate in the hobby, East Germans had to go underground for fear of being targeted as rebels. This translated to a difference in opinion between East and West in how they interacted with real Native Americans; East German hobbyist clubs often interacted with Native Americans and supported them in their issues financially. On the other hand West Germans often avoided contact with real Native Americans, which Sieg surmises is because they feared being told they are not truly Native American. These patterns continue to be true today. Dakota academic Philip Deloria theorizes in his book Playing Indian that there are two types of Hobbyism—people Hobbyism and item Hobbyism. West Germans would be considered, according to Deloria, as item hobbyists who focus on the objects, and the East Germans would be considered people hobbyists, who also include objects but want to interact with real Native Americans and issues facing Native communities.

May’s novels featuring Winnetou and Old Shatterhand have been adapted into both theatrical and film productions in German-speaking countries. It is believed that film adaptations of Karl May’s characters in the 1960s may have saved the West German film industry. Each summer in Bad Segeberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the Karl May Festival (Karl-May-Spiele) hosts stage productions weekly and particularly during the Karl May Festival. The Karl May Festival is an annual event purported to bring the Wild West to northern Germany

German Hobbyism in the 21st Century

German Hobbyism continues today in the form of festivals, museums, pow wows, theater, and clubs. The Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg continues each year and is a popular attraction to families from all over Germany and Europe. Additionally, there are multiple Wild West Amusement Parks all throughout Germany. The Karl May Museum in Radebeul and other museums that host Native American exhibits continue to be wildly popular. Hobbyists that organize through the means of a club host pow wows and teach each other and communities about Native American culture. The topic of German Hobbyism has become more recently documented by mainstream news sources New York Times, the Huffington Post, and independent filmmakers such as Howie Summers, who created a short documentary titled Indianer that explores German Hobbyists and their fascinations.

Journalist Red Haircrow attended the Winter Pow-wow 2014 in Berlin on February 15th. He described the participants as wearing as many “breastplates, bear claw necklaces, feathers and bone jewelry as they seemed able to physically support,” and that the attendees also wore Native American costumes in addition to the hobbyist dancers.

Criticisms

The main criticism of German Hobbyism by Native American journalists and academics regard the cultural appropriation of Native American identity. Cultural appropriation is the adoption by one cultural group of some of the cultural forms of a different cultural group When it comes to appropriating American Indian culture, Deloria dubs it “playing Indian,” which he defines as the adoption or portrayal of being Native by Anglo-American individuals. These actions are often motivated by financial gain and hobby. Further, Deloria writes that these individuals and groups who play Indian build a collectivity in their performance of otherness, which in turn defines their own identity through the distinction of playing the national "other." Sieg applies the thoughts and ideas of Deloria surrounding cultural appropriation to the performance studies field in Germany. Her book Ethnic Drag discusses the ways in which Germans have historically dressed up as “othered” peoples, which includes Jews, Native Americans, and Turks. While the portrayals of Jews and Turks were largely negative stereotypes, the portrayal of Native Americans differed in that they were seen as heroic and noble.

The first Native American women’s theater troupe known as Spiderwoman Theater traveled to Germany and Europe in order to perform a satire of the European and particularly German fascination with Native Americans. According to Spiderwoman Theater, it was an act of resistance meant to reclaim their identity as real Native Americans. Their show is titled Winnetou’s Snake Oil Show from Wigwam City, and parodied Karl May’s characters, New Ageism, and individuals who pretend to be Native American.

Haircrow has written a multitude of articles from Berlin, where he resides, regarding the controversial aspects of Hobbyism from the perspective of a real Native American. Haircrow has traveled to pow wows and reported to Indian Country Today Media Network about his experience as a Native American at an event in which Germans performed Native American identity. He reported the premiere of the blockbuster remake The Lone Ranger, in which Hobbyists were hired to perform as Native Americans in Berlin. Such controversy includes the Karl May Museum affair in which the owners of the museum in Radebeul refused to return Native American scalps to the rightful tribes from which they came. The scalps were not returned to the Ojibwe nation as requested, but they were removed from display. As an act of protest, Native American singer Jana Mashonee chose not to perform at the Karl May Fest in Radebeul, Saxony and released an official statement denigrating the refusal of the Karl May Museum to return the Native American scalps.

In the United States, there is a general discomfort within Native communities about the misuses of Native American identity and culture. This can be seen in recent examples of the Redskins Indian Mascot controversy, the backlash against artists, such as Gwen Stefani and Lana Del Rey, who have donned a feather war bonnet, and the campaigns to educate the public about wearing Native American costumes for Halloween and themed parties, such as My Culture Is Not a Costume. This same sentiment was expressed by Haircrow’s son, who claimed that “they are stealing from others, but don’t want to admit it. That’s why they didn’t want us there, because they know we know what they are doing is wrong.” In a New York Times short documentary titled Lost in Translation: Germany’s Fascination with the American Old West, the actor portraying Winnetou, Jan Sosniok, is asked if he thinks that real Native Americans would take offense to the portrayal of Native Americans. The actor responds that he does not believe they would be offended. The video also portrays a German man who studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico. This person shares his discomfort with seeing a burial dance take place in the Bad Segeberg performance, and calls it grotesque and claims that it perpetuates a stereotypical image of the Native American.

Journalist James Hagengruber includes in his article from Salon’s website that some real Native Americans take offense to the German Hobbyists, saying that hobbyists should be more concerned with contemporary Indian issues rather than their portrayal of pre-1880 Native Americans. A hobbyist featured in the Hagengruber article says that his family participates in a culture that has disappeared, and that what he is doing is not wrong. Journalist Noemi Lopinto in her article for UTNE reports that an Ojibwe man named David Redbird Baker found the performance of sacred ceremonies in Germany to be offensive due to the fact that they are changed beyond recognition. He goes on to further say that even after changing the rituals however the hobbyists want, they bar real Native Americans from attending.

Bibliography

• Chandler, Daniel and Rod Munday (2011). A Dictionary of Media and Communication. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-956875-8
• Deloria, Philip J. (1998). Playing Indian. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300080674.
• Eddy, Melissa (2014). “Lost in Translation: Germany’s Fascination With the American Old West”. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/world/europe/germanys-fascination-with-american-old-west-native-american-scalps-human-remains.html?_r=0
• Galchen, Rivka (2012). “Wild West Germany: Why do cowboys and Indians so captivate the country?”. The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/04/09/wild-west-germany
• Gilders, Adam (2003). “Ich Bin Ein Indianer: Germany’s Obsession with a past it never had”. The Walrus . http://thewalrus.ca/2003-10-feature-2/
• Hagengruber, James (2002). “Sitting Bull: Bush-hating Germans might not sing ‘Hail to the Chief,’ but they’re infatuated with the first Americans”. Salon. http://www.salon.com/2002/11/27/indians/
• Haircrow, Red (2013). “Ich Bin Ein Tonto: Johnny Depp at ‘Lone Ranger’ Premiere in Berlin”. Indian Country Today Media Network. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/gallery/photo/ich-bin-ein-tonto-johnny-depp-lone-ranger-premiere-berlin-150589
• Haircrow, Red (2014). “A Star Trek Convention for Native Enthusiasts: Inside a German Pow Wow”. Indian Country Today Media Network. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/02/24/star-trek-convention-native-enthusiasts-inside-german-pow-wow-153712
• Haircrow, Red (2014). “An Agreement Is Reached Regarding Scalps at the Karl May Museum”. Indian Country Today Media Network. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/14/agreement-reached-regarding-scalps-karl-may-museum-155307</ref>
• Levine, Carole Quattro (2008). “’Indianer’: A glimpse inside the world of German Hobby Indians”. Scene4 Magazine. http://www.scene4.com/archivesqv6/may-2008/html/carolelevine0508.html
• Lopinto, Noemi (2009). "Der Indianer: Why Do 40,000 Germans spend their weekends dressed as Native Americans?". Utne.com . http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/germans-weekends-native-americans-indian-culture.aspx#axzz3Iclt4HSK
• Penny, H. Glenn (2011). “The German Love Affair with American Indians: Rudolf Cronau’s Epiphany”. Common-Place.org. http://www.common-place.org/vol-11/no-04/reading/
• Penny, H. Glenn (2013). Kindred By Choice . The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1469607641.
• Sieg, Katrin (2002). Ethnic Drag. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472112821.
• Spiderwoman Theatre (1999). “Winnetou’s snake oil show from Wigwam City”. Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library. http://hidvl.nyu.edu/video/000086266.html
• Stetler, Julia Simone (2012). “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West in Germany. A Transnational History”. University of Nevada, Las Vegas Theses/Dissertations/Professional Papers/Capstones. Paper 1634.

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