Tribal Fantasies : Native Americans in the European Imaginary, 1900–2010

This transnational collection discusses the use of Native American imagery in twentieth and twenty-first-century European culture. With examples ranging from Irish oral myth, through the pop image of Indians promulgated in pornography, to the philosophical appropriations of Ernst Bloch or the European far right, contributors illustrate the legend of "the Indian." Drawing on American Indian literary nationalism, postcolonialism, and transnational theories, essays demonstrate a complex nexus of power relations that seemingly allows European culture to build its own Native images, and ask what effect this has on the current treatment of indigenous peoples. Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright -1 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 9 One Union of Chance: Native Portrayals by Dogroy Beaulieu 33 Two Ethnographic Novels: American Indians in Francophone Comics 48 Three “I’m indiginous, I’m indiginous, I’m indiginous”: Indigenous Rights, British Nationalism, and the European Far Right 66 Four From Karl May to Karl Marx: Ernst Bloch and the Native American Tribe as Concrete Utopia 91 Five Teepees and Totem Poles: Toy Representations of North American Indians in European Popular Culture for Children 106 Six Native Americans, Europeans, and the Gay Imagination 122 Seven Monstrous Bodies and Ignoble Savages: Depictions of Indigenous Peoples in European Hardcore 142 Eight Polish Literary Depictions of Native Americans in Soviet-Era Adventure Novels 159 Nine Indian Spirit: Amerindians and the Techno-Tribes of Psytrance 177 Ten Wee People, Red Devils, and the Old Women Back Home: Representations of Native Americans in Micí Mac Gabhann’s Rotha Mór an tSaoil and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne’s “The Pale Gold of Alaska” 200 Eleven Afterword 214 Bibliography 229 Notes on Contributors 250 Index of Nations, States, Areas and Cities 254 Subject Index 256 Front Matter....Pages i-vii Introduction....Pages 1-24 Union of Chance: Native Portrayals by Dogroy Beaulieu....Pages 25-39 Ethnographic Novels: American Indians in Francophone Comics....Pages 41-58 “I’m indiginous, I’m indiginous, I’m indiginous”: Indigenous rights, British Nationalism, and the European Far Right....Pages 59-83 From Karl May to Karl Marx: Ernst Bloch and the Native American Tribe as Concrete Utopia....Pages 85-99 Teepees and Totem Poles: Toy Representations of North American Indians in European Popular Culture for Children....Pages 101-116 Native Americans, Europeans, and the Gay Imagination....Pages 117-136 Monstrous Bodies and Ignoble Savages: Depictions of Indigenous Peoples in European Hardcore....Pages 137-153 Polish Literary Depictions of Native Americans in Soviet-Era Adventure Novels....Pages 155-172 Indian Spirit: Amerindians and the Techno-Tribes of Psytrance....Pages 173-195 Wee People, Red Devils, and the Old Women Back Home: Representations of Native Americans in Micí Mac Gabhann’s Rotha Mór an tSaoil and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne’s “The Pale Gold of Alaska”....Pages 197-210 Afterword....Pages 211-225 Back Matter....Pages 227-265 Contributors argue that the last hundred years have seen the way Europe imagines Natives shifting from exoticism to outright fantasy, mirroring the changing European perception of America itself.