Ep 14: Appropriation or Appreciation?

Gabriele and Nick place their work on The Hill in a historical context of popular culture’s use of the terms “woke” and “cultural appropriation.”

They relate personal stories of growing up in their respective cultures (the US and Germany) and reflect on society’s movement toward cultural awareness.

They discuss the ground-breaking film Dances with Wolves – which coincidentally opened the same weekend the tipi was erected and won the Oscar in 1991.

They also discuss the highly controversial 1991 Smithsonian exhibition, The West as America, which recontextualized treasured American artworks created between 1820 and 1920 that depicted the American West and bolstered “manifest destiny.” The curators wanted the audience to question standard interpretations of familiar works of art, to see past the art works themselves to the historical conditions and patronage that created them, displeasing conservative audiences that resented revisionist history:

“For historians and artists, the 'winning of the West' was a glorious achievement that heralded the triumph of 'civilization' over 'savagery.' Indeed, by the conventional scholarly wisdom and orthodox artistic vision, the vanquishing of Indians and the march of manifest destiny made America great and made Americans special.” -- Smithsonian Magazine

Tracking the term cultural appropriation through Google ngram: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=cultural+appropriation&year_start=1980&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3

"I searched the database and found 2,129 sports teams that reference Braves, Chiefs, Indians, Orangemen, Raiders, Redmen, Reds, Redskins, Savages, Squaws, Tribe and Warriors, as well as tribe names such as Apaches, Arapahoe, Aztecs, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Chinooks, Chippewas, Choctaws, Comanches, Eskimos, Mohawks, Mohicans, Seminoles, Sioux and Utes. (Not all teams with the names “Raiders” and “Warriors” are referencing Native Americans, but we spot-checked 20 schools with each name and a majority of each did.)" -- https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-2128-native-american-mascots-people-arent-talking-about/

Lemont's 'Injun' logo now history: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-09-24-0409240255-story.html

#conceptualart #guerrillaart #homelessencampment #homeless #nychistory #1990s #woundedkneememorial #activism #manifestdestiny #KarlMay #Winnetou #mascots

For extensive documentation and to purchase the book, "The Hill": thievestheatre.org

Contact Nick and Gabriele: podcast@thievestheatre.org

@tipionthehill

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