Imaginary and Real Encounters: Czechs and Native Americans. Lecture from the CRASH Series

A lecture by historian and ethnologist Markéta Křížová from the Galerie Rudolfinum's open CRASH series, accompanying the exhibition Crested/mâcistan: Tanya Lukin Linklater and Duane Linklater.

Distant, different, yet close: Imaginary and real encounters between Czechs and Native Americans

Since Columbus's first voyage, Native Americans have occupied a special place in the European imagination. Unlike Asia and Africa, with which Europeans maintained continuous contact, America was a true "New World" - unknown and provocative. In Czech lands too, "Indians" quickly acquired the status of exotic, foreign beings.

During the 19th century, the image of the Native American became firmly rooted in Czech consciousness - connected to massive emigration, particularly to North America, which brought more eyewitness accounts, but also to new media such as popular literature, newspapers, photography, and public exhibitions. At the same time, it acquired a unique characteristic that set it apart from inhabitants of other continents: it became foreign, yet close.

Czechs, who increasingly resented their subordination within Austria-Hungary, projected their own feelings onto Native Americans displaced by Anglo-Saxon colonists. These imaginary bonds were reinforced in subsequent decades by Czech translations of Karl May's novels, the popularity of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, and the tramping and scouting movements. During the Cold War came further symbolic encounters - Western films and an ostentatious Soviet anti-colonial discourse. Despite political changes, Native Americans remain close to the Czech imagination to this day.

Markéta Křížová studied ethnology and history at Charles University, where she now works as a professor at the Institute of History. She specializes in the history of indigenous cultures of Latin America and the colonial and modern history of the region - particularly the relationships between indigenous peoples and Europeans, the impact of encounters with American reality on European self-perception, and the history of modern utopias.