Abstract
This paper will focus on the use of representations of Native Americans in socialist Czechoslovakia. To demonstrate the use of so-called Indian symbolism in practice, I will use a key study mapping these representations in the Czechoslovak magazine Mladý svět (Young World).
The use of Native American symbolism by various social groups has a long tradition throughout Central Europe. During the Cold War, communist propaganda portrayed the figure of Native American-the so-called Indian-as a proletarian man oppressed by imperialism; on the other hand, he was an embodiment of freedom for a portion of Czechoslovak dissent and the tramping movement.The cultural coding of the American Indian was also accompanied by other ambivalences. E.g., texts expressing support for emancipation movements and condemning racism appeared next to ethnographic articles on natural nations, where Native Americans were objectified and infantilized through the eyes of European travelers and scientists. Although they were portrayed as heroic fighters against imperialism, their representation often did not deviate from the stereotypical depiction of the noble savage.
In my key study, I demonstrate how Native American representations were used in the official media by using the example of Mladý svět (1959-89), one of the most widely read Czechoslovak magazines at the time. In particular, I am interested in the extent to which their constructs were part of the anti-imperialist and internationalist discourses that were strongly present in that period's imagination. To what extent were the representations, on the contrary, merely repetitions of colonial and racist discourses? For these purposes, I analyze representations in the context of a few selected discourses: bodily discourses, i.e., mainly representations of the body and skin color; discourses of backwardness and civilization, and related images of the noble and ignoble savage; and representations of American Indians as victims of imperialism and racism.