mardi 23 novembre 2010

Double scalp


En Europe on ne parle toujours pas des natives Indians mais, comme on le fait depuis la découverte des Amériques, simplement des "Indiens".

Pour ce que j'en sais il y a toujours eu un sentiment de sympathie pour les populations indiennes notamment au regard de la façon dont les white men les ont traités et dépossédés de leurs territoires pour les cantonner dans des réserves.

Les études anthropologiques modernes n'ont vraiment commencé qu'à la fin du XIXè, ce pourquoi les Européens, en général, conservent une représentation très passéiste des populations indiennes. La squaw, le Tipi, le pemmican, les parures, les danses rituelles,  la proximité avec Mother earth et tout ce qui constitue l'imaginaire que les Européens se sont construit au fil des siècles.

Un pays en particulier a développé une véritable affection pour les Natives Indians et c'est l'Allemagne, who would have thought?, "grâce" à un auteur du nom de Karl May qui a écrit à la fin du XIXè toute une série de romans ayant les "Indiens" pour héros, en particulier Winnetou qui est connu d'absolument tous les Allemands. Ne manquons pas de citer son ami blanc, Old Shatterhand lui aussi une figure essentielle de la représentation que les Allemands se font du far-west.

Cette immense influence qu'ont eu les livres de Karl May sur la perception des "Indiens" par les Allemands a conduit à la création de très nombreux cercles d'études mais aussi de divertissements où les participants vivent "à l'indienne" dans un très fidèle respect des réalités historiques, sociales, culturelles des populations indiennes.

Comme quoi des œuvres de fiction, assez bien documentées paraît-il, peuvent conduire à l'émergence d'une curiosité et d'un savoir réservés jusqu'alors à des spécialistes universitaires.


(Le titre est une référence à une BD française des années 50, Oumpah pah, très connue mais de pur divertissement, où le héros, un Indien du nom de Oumpah pah donc, shudders with horror when he discovers that the French aristocrat he's about to scalp actually wears a wig!)


14 commentaires:

Anonyme a dit…

Ah, te voila avoir trouvé le Zuni sunface. :)

Merci pour le 'ti film avec des sous-titres. C'était amusant.

Avec des petit seins?
Combien?


lol

Flocon a dit…

Je suis tombé par hasard sur cette petite vidéo qui m'a amusé.

J'ai dû reporter le billet Double Scalp, je n'arrive pas à le mettre en forme. Il n'est pas prêt dans ma tête mais je l'écrirai anyway.

Anonyme a dit…

Flocon,

Tu sais que les Zuni sont connus pour leur "inlayed jewelry" which is quite refined and delicate.

Anonyme a dit…

Searching around by Googling Winnetou, and searching on YouTube, I discovered that this Winnetou represents some type of fantasy for some Germans. There was a comment on YouTube by some German that Winnetou had him dreaming of going to the U.S. to marry an Indian girl...

Pour ce que j'en sais il y a toujours eu un sentiment de sympathie pour les populations indiennes notamment au regard de la façon dont les white men les ont traités et dépossédés de leurs territoires pour les cantonner dans des réserves.

Yes, I am aware of this. Here in the Southwest, it's those of Spanish descent that the native populations think of when they think of those who stole their lands. At the Zuni pueblo, an anglo is more welcome than an hispanic. My grandmother, a Tewa, was taken forcibly from her family and placed in a Spanish Catholic school.


The one thing that bothers me is that very few people know what Native American life is like today. I can't tell you how many people are disappointed when they meet actual American Indians and discover that they aren't all worshipping "mother earth".

I noted that Winnetou is supposed to be a Mescalero Apache. If you should visit the Mescalero reservation today, the men you would meet would be quite different. There's a lot of crime on this reservation and most of the young people drink way too much alcohol.. So sad..

As for scalping, this was a practice that the Native Americans learned from the colonialists..

Anonyme a dit…

Flocon,
Why does "Why I didn't shed a tear" appear near the of the page?

Flocon a dit…

Anijo,

Here is the soundtrack of this German serie.

When I posted this morning there was a paragraph which I later deleted in order to shorten the post.

Also, I thought it was a bit useless. Anyway, here it is:

"Look for yourself on Wiki which article beholds a golden standard about Karl May.

Bien sûr de nombreux films ont été tournés sur les aventures de Winnetou et Old Shatterhand avec curieusement un acteur français absolument inconnu en France mais qui est célèbre en Allemagne, Pierre Brice dont je n'ai jamais entendu parler"
.

Just compare the space devoted to this actor in the English and in the German articles about him.


"this Winnetou represents some type of fantasy for some Germans."

"Some" Germans means a vast majority of Germans. There are over 80 million Germans living in Europe (to which you can add the Austrians)

"those of Spanish descent that the native populations think of when they think of those who stole their lands"

The Spaniards have a far more incredibly horrendous record than that of the anglos as pertains what they inflicted upon south and central American populations for three centuries.

(Hmmm... I guess they also had ethics and morality and universal Christian values they wanted pre-colombian people to benefit. Kind of nation building, courtesy Spain and Jesus Christ).

"The one thing that bothers me is that very few people know what Native American life is like today"

Yes, I'm afraid you're right. That is the result of books like those Karl May wrote. On the right hand they popularized the cultures of Native Indians but on the other hand they led people into thinking time had stopped and Winnetou was still riding his dark horse through the plains of America.

Not to say there is an absolute ignorance of the current situation of Native Indians (I've seen reports about the gambling industry in some reservation camps for example or the ravages alcool provokes among certain people.

Did you know this Winnetou caracter before?

If you ever happen to meet one German, just mention the name Winnetou and you'll see his eyes briming with nostalgia and surprise that an American knows this exclusively German fictional hero.

I'll read what they say about scalping in Wiki. I thought it was a native Indian practise of its own.

Are you familiar with that landscape Anijo?

Or else that sign?

Flocon a dit…

"Why does "Why I didn't shed a tear" appear near the of the page?"

You mean the top of the page I guess.

Well, I'm glad you noticed because I didn't see it after I created this page which was blank (and still is up to now).

It's a possibility Blogger offers to create up to ten pages which can be reached directly without groping down the archives.

These pages may belong to this blog or any other blog, site, forum etc.

As of today I didn't understand how it worked and what the purpose of this gadget was.

Thanks to you I get the idea.

I've tried before to understand the whole business but couldn't figure out.

I created this page this morning because I thought if the exchanges with SemperFidelis were to be prolonged it would be useful for him to access the page directly.

Now I just have to make it work. Et c'est pas gagné :-(

(It took me several months before I learned how to put playlists in the sidebar -YouTube, Deezer and the classical music reader).

Maybe I'll never understand how to...

But yesterday I've learned how to write ♪ and ♫ and many other signs.

No science rocket indeed...

Flocon a dit…

Here is the Blogger help page where they explain (in French what's more) how it works, the purpose of the gadget, how to, why etc.

En français contemporain:

J'y pige que dalle,
ça me gave,
ça me gonfle,
ça me fout les boules,
ça m'emme.. grave

Anonyme a dit…

If you ever happen to meet one German, just mention the name Winnetou and you'll see his eyes briming with nostalgia and surprise that an American knows this exclusively German fictional hero.

I had never heard of this Winnetou until you mentioned this cartoon character. I did understand from my Google and YouTube searches that he was a character that Germans are quite familiar with, and would be shocked to find that some Mercan might know of him. I found it to be similar to some of the annoying portrayals of Native Americans to be found on the tv in the U.S...



That landscape...

No, I am not familiar with this. I recognize it as obviously some place along the Rio Grande in the fall, but where exactly I don't know.

Rio Rancho, I am not that familiar with, which might surprise you. My IP address often shows me as living in Rio Rancho. I actually live in Mesilla NM and spend some time where my relatives live around the Espanola and Santa Fe area near the Dulce Apache reservation.

But yesterday I've learned how to write ♪ and ♫ and many other signs.

Perhaps not rocket science, however, I delight in learning such things!

Flocon a dit…

"My IP address often shows me as living in Rio Rancho."

Encore un des mystères de l'Internet!

Le blog reçoit régulièrement des visiteurs de Paris.

Les cartes de statistiques n'indiquent qu'une location dans le 2è arrondissement.

J'imagine qu'il doit y avoir une espèce de centrale qui regroupe toutes les activités de Blogger (et d'autres types d'échanges de données).

Une recherche Internet devrait permettre de m'informer.

Press and maintain Alt while
typing 13 and 14 then liberate Alt.

♪ ♫ ♫ ♪

I'm off to bed mais je te donnerai l'adresse d'un site demain.

Anonyme a dit…

♪☺

Anonyme a dit…

☺ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ → ← ▲ ▼ █ ≥

Flocon a dit…

Ok, ok, ok Anijo, I surrender!

Here is the link I used in the first place but there are other sites which give far more complicated shapes and designs and whose utility escapes me.

I'll try to retrieve them


░ ▒ ▓ ┤ad lib...

Anonyme a dit…



Merci Flocon! ☼