Wonderful Discussions

Today was another long day, which started at 9 am when we left our hostel to go the University for class. There were three groups of german students who had each created a presentation to discuss different aspects of the topic of Native American influence in Germany. Although we did have breaks, we sat and listened to the presentations and had discussions in that classroom for 9 hours. At the end of the first presentation we had an activity where we were given the background of an individual who was an East German citizen. Our job was to figure out what that person would have done in the future based on their personalities. For example, my group had a man who was considered a loyal citizen of the GDR, but was highly involved with Indianism and believed in the Native American culture in a religious way. His involvement in Indianism made him more aware of the environment and the pollution problems that were occurring in East Germany. We had to determine what it was he would do in the future considering his interest in indianism and environmentalism and his loyalty to the GDR. Once we had presented our ideas, we were told what he actually did, which was to continue publishing articles related to the social practices of Native American culture in Germany and also to appeal to the East German Government and to the public about the environmental problems in Germany.

In the next group we had a discussion about whether it was morally right for Germans to reenact Native American Rituals. I found it to be a difficult question to answer because it depends on the intentions of the people reenacting the ritual, and their understanding of what that ritual means. I don’t think its okay for people to just reenact the rituals if they are doing it because they think its cool and it might be fun to try. I also don’t think it’s okay if individuals who are reenacting rituals are doing the rituals out of context of when they should be performed. The rituals are not just a show for the Native Americans, so it shouldn’t be for the people who wish to practice their culture. However I do think that its okay if the people are learning and practicing the native American culture because they really believe in the beliefs of the Native Americans, and they are knowledgeable about what they are doing. Having people interested in and willing to learn and practice another culture helps to keep that culture alive at the cost of the ideas being misinterpreted and practiced inaccurately.

In the third presentation we discussed how Native American culture and other cultures have been appropriated by other people. For example, it is popular in fashion to wear ‘tribal’ prints. The patterns don’t really represent the Native American culture and just because people wear things with tribal prints, doesn’t mean that they know anything more about that culture.

After all of the discussions were over, we got to go back to the hostel briefly, though we also had to get dinner before we met up for a guided tour of Jena by some of the students. Natalie, Mira, Hannah, Jasmine, and I all went to a little food stand that had a long line and found out that it was a place that specialized in French fries and different flavors of mayo (because Germans prefer mayo for dipping fries instead of ketchup or mustard). I got currywurst with French fries and a guacamole-mayo and it was really quite delicious and cheap. Once we had finished eating, we met up with everyone else and our tour guides and we went all around Jena. They pointed out the ‘7 wonders’ of Jena, which are different landmarks or art pieces that are around Jena. The legacy of the 7 wonders has been used to identify people who went to the University and those who hadn’t because only the people who were a part of the University supposedly knew all the seven wonders. On the tour we learned about the history of the university and some of the buildings and statues around Jena, and even the students who go to Jena University who came on our tour learned something new.

At the end of the tour, the students led us to a bar that they like to go to and everyone ordered a drink, except me and one other girl who wasn’t really feeling like a drink that night. Soon after Hannah and Mira finished their drinks we left to go back to the hostel and finally rest.