Indigenous American Tourism Inspired by Winnetou and Twilight: Comparative Perspectives Between Europe and North America

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2023-06-15

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en

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The Red Atlantic encompasses the transportation, physical or intellectual, of Indigenous Americans around the Atlantic. This thesis adds tourism to this conversation as it once again shows the significance of Indigenous American presence in societies that constitute the Atlantic world. It focusses on a comparison of Indigenous American popular culture tourism between Europe and North America, using the case studies of Winnetou and Twilight. In this these two cases, Indigenous people are involved either through control and/or by having their culture serve as the essence of the attraction. However, because of the different locations of the tourism spaces and activities there are significant differences in terms of representation, agency, and authenticity of Indigenous Americans and their culture. Winnetou tourism in Germany relies heavily on stereotypical representations, while Twilight tourism in North America does not. Twilight tourists have the opportunity to experience actual authentic Indigenous American culture, while this is not the case for Winnetou tourists whom are met with staged authentic elements. In terms of agency of Indigenous Americans themselves within the tourism industries, it has become clear that they both exist within the ideological Western tourism ideals, causing them to have to adapt to this, while trying to maintain their own values at the same time. There is a significant national/continental differences in Indigenous American popular culture tourism between Europe and North America, that exist within the contexts of points of convergence and divergence in histories of appropriation and misrepresentation.

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