Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: May 6, 2021 at 5:08:16 PM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-German]: Nees on Weber, 'Blood Brothers and Peace > Pipes: Performing the Wild West in German Festivals' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Alina Dana Weber. Blood Brothers and Peace Pipes: Performing the > Wild West in German Festivals. Madison University of Wisconsin, > 2019. 424 pp. $89.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-299-32350-9. > > Reviewed by Heidi L. Nees (Bowling Green State University) > Published on H-German (May, 2021) > Commissioned by Matthew Unangst > > Nees on Weber > > At a historical moment in which racism, xenophobia, sexism, and other > forms of discrimination fuel division and erode humanity, the > prospect of transcultural connection built upon empathy and > admiration and fostered by live performance offers hope. This > comforting refrain lies at the core of A. Dana Weber's _Blood Brother > and Peace Pipes: Performing the Wild West in German Festivals_. > Viewing these performances in Germany as purveyors of bridging > alterities via "a sympathetic drive that can potentially make a > psychological and moral difference and therefore have real-life > consequences," Weber offers a phenomenological study that explores > the cherished place Karl May festivals hold for many Germans and the > ways in which they compose meaning for audiences and participants (p. > 30). > > Weber focuses primarily on one form of entertainment featured in > these festivals: plays that feature May's most famous characters, Old > Shatterhand and Winnetou, and their adventures and camaraderie on the > nineteenth-century American frontier. In her examinations of these > festivals, Weber positions these entertainments as part of a larger > "May-verse" that operates in ways unique and significant to Germany. > _Blood Brothers and Peace Pipes_ considers Germans' enchantment with > the American frontier, particularly Native American cultures therein. > Recognizing May's creation of, and the namesake festivals' > contributions to fantastical renderings, Weber acknowledges the > "cultural dissonance and tensions" that form between German and > (Native) American receptions of these performances (p. 23). > > As a German-speaker with a "German-Romanian cultural background" who > "binge-" read May's works growing up, Weber's particular position in > relation to this subject provides intimate knowledge of May within > German culture (p. 20). Weber's ethnographic field work is expansive: > visits to six festival sites; observations of plays and rehearsals; > archival research; and interviews with over two hundred participants, > producers, visitors, and May enthusiasts. An interdisciplinary > theoretical approach that incorporates history, performance studies, > theater studies, folklore studies, and literary studies informs her > observations and understandings of these shows. > > Structurally, the book is divided into five chapters, each dedicated > to one of the festivals, plus an introduction and a conclusion. Each > chapter begins with a sumptuous description that geographically, > historically, and culturally locates the drama. Using various > theoretical approaches, Weber analyzes a given aspect of each > chapter's case study, using phenomenological and historical lenses to > do so. Supplementing each chapter are an array of photographs > (including one of each stage space) culled from the author's personal > collection, as well as archives. > > One of the most effective analyses within the book takes place in > chapter 1, in which Weber engages a historiographic analysis of the > shifting ideologies reflected in the play located in Rathen during > three key political regimes: Nazism, socialism, and reunification. > This breakdown feeds a wider consideration of visual iconography of > "Indian" characters manifested in the play that traces a history of > stereotyped depictions of Indian figures that shaped German notions > of Indian alterity. This type of historical groundwork appears at > various points of the subsequent chapters and help to frame readers' > understanding of the audience conceptions of the American West and > "Indians." Weber links these contexts to theatrical practices that > establish these plays as a genre within the German theatrical > landscape. Weber not only identifies similar conventions that > undergird the dramatic form, but speaks to the variety within the > genre as well. Whereas most of the dramas are commercial enterprises, > the case studies in chapter 3 are amateur performances: a > semi-improvised show put on by adults for young audiences and a show > performed by children and teenagers. > > Weber's unpacking of Old Shatterhand and Winnetou's "blood brother" > scene and its significance within German culture in chapter 2 aids in > readers' understanding of the gravity of the characters' bond. Her > use of a gender analysis to look at the relationship as written by > May, and the theatrical revision of that relationship provides > fascinating insights to her examination of the various ways in which > this "foundational narrative" of blood brothers has infused > audience's understanding of the story's messages. Weber connects her > assessment of the scene's cultural significance to her reading of an > annual Peace Pipe Ceremony that accompanies the Star Ride, a multiday > horseback trek that is part of the Karl May Days festival in Radebeul > (hence the title, _Blood Brothers and Peace Pipes_). > > While reading the book, a question persisted for me: what are > potential impacts of these portrayals on Native Americans today? > Weber nods to this concern at various points by acknowledging the > exoticization at play in these performances. In chapter 5, she > focuses on the Karl May Days in Radebeul, which she describes as > including the most Native American participation of the festivals she > researched. Her explication of this festival includes interviews with > Native American participants, during which many expressed concern and > discomfort at, as well as conflicted responses to, the > representations performed. And while Weber reminds readers of the > "ambivalences" of the meanings constructed by these performances, and > contextualizes nineteenth- and twentieth-century displays of people > (_V__ölkerschau_) within performances of racial constructs, she > frames the tensions that emerge from contemporary festival > productions as "cultural misunderstandings." Throughout, she claims > that these plays are not political, though some of the issues she > raises, such as the use of makeup in the practice of blackface and > redface in chapter 3, suggest otherwise. Weber avers that to call for > these (mis)representations to cease "reflects a misunderstanding > about the long history and cultural rootedness of these activities" > within German culture. This suggestion that the longevity of reliance > on Indian imagery in German thought elides the encumbered power > differentials attendant to these relations. Weber ultimately argues > that because the misrepresentations are "favorable" and created with > positive intentions, they carry the "potential [for] change" and that > Karl May festivals provide the space for enacting "respectful > negotiation of cultural differences" (p. 291). Specific and material > results of these hoped-for changes, however, are not identified. > > As Weber points out in her introduction, there is "much specialized > nonacademic knowledge" about Karl May festivals, but little academic > study has been dedicated to this topic (p. 26). Weber provides > insightful reflections on the popularity and prevalence of > performances of Old Shatterhand and Winnetou's (particularly the > latter's) frontier adventures in Karl May festivals within German > culture, as well as Germans' attitudes toward the narratives therein. > I am left wondering, though, about the impacts of these > (mis)representations, however well intentioned, in the material > realities and lived experiences of Native Americans today, as well as > the power imbalances that affect the cross-cultural exchanges > ascribed to these festivals. While I share Weber's hope that > "festival producers and spectators will become more sensitive to > problematic modes of cultural representation" (p. 314), the > comforting refrain of transcultural unification and mutual admiration > that underscores _Blood Brother and Peace Pipes_ masks the effects of > settler colonialism that continue to gravely impact Native > individuals and tribal nations. > > Citation: Heidi L. Nees. Review of Weber, Alina Dana, _Blood Brothers > and Peace Pipes: Performing the Wild West in German Festivals_. > H-German, H-Net Reviews. May, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56097 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8384): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8384 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82641009/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
