Verwobenin “Indianthusiasm”: A Uniquely German Entanglement

Abstract

AbstractThe German fascination with North American Indigenous peoples is extensive. Primarily based on the writings of the nineteenth-century German author Karl May, the Indianer permeates German culture, and yet it is little known outside Central Europe. Many North American Indigenous artists, writers, filmmakers, and performance artists are aware of this phenomenon and are often met with resistance from a German perspective when they intervene and assert their voices into the conversation. This article examines the German fascination with North American Indigenous peoples and contemporary Indigenous responses. Kent Monkman and Drew Hayden Taylor challenge the constructed German images of Indigeneity by practicing what Gerald Vizenor has termed “Native survivance.” Ideas of colonialism, sexuality, and contemporaneity are challenged and expose deep-rooted cultural and societal truths regarding Indigenous peoples in North America and their Indianer counterparts.