Experiencing the Native in You

R. Milian

The New York Times did a video on Germany and its fascination with Native Americans. The video details how Germans feel about Native American values and  specifically about the Native American character Winnetou who was created by the famous German author Karl May. May has sold the most books in Germany, including those of Goethe, the great German poet. His stories of Native Americans have penetrated the German psyche. In May's stories all his Native American characters are the good guys as opposed to the way they have been presented in American Cowboy films. May never actually experienced many of the events that he wrote in his stories, although he claimed that he did. The idea one gets of Karl May is that  he was a clever salesman. Even though the German fascination with Native Americans is well-intentioned, It is difficult to accept what they have created in their imaginations as the definition of  Native American culture. When a dominant society redefines a foreign culture, it is very selective in what it adopts. It acts like a shopper at a supermarket only choosing what they favor. For instance, the Germans in this video identify with the connection that Native Americans have to Mother Earth. Cultures are complex and cannot be reduced to what we like.  This video is reminiscent of the Europeans that colonized other continent, describing the inhabitants of those cultures, not on what was real but on their fictionalized accounts.