Enjoy a Mohawk!

By Susanne Reiche

I’d like to introduce to you this paper stand-up display which I found in a showcase in Berlin Steglitz. It is placed in a tobacco store that besides selling cigarettes is also offering merchandise, watches and perfumes and is located within a huge shopping mall.

When passing the window, the fact that in the middle of a consummate temple such a plain and nature related display is shown caught my attention.  I wanted to get to know what the purpose for putting up an artifact with a Native American could be.
As you can see, the person is holding a red tobacco package in his hand. Doing so he suggests that this is the tobacco you should buy and smoke because it is produced by Native Americans, and as the average citizen knows, Native Americans know how to make tasty tobacco.

That’s the theory, but I want to have a closer look at the Indian that is depicted there.  I assume that he is merely an advertisement figure than a real Mohawk Indian as suggested by the display. Let’s see if I am right.

On the first look, one sees a fringed leather shirt and fringed leather leggings and leather moccasins. As we have learned in class, Indians made their clothes out of the buffalo’s skin. They used every part of an animal without wasting goods. Even though Mohawk men did initially not wear shirts, they adapted to do so. Also the necklace with its wolf or bear claws can be referred to Indian custody in general and to the Mohawk’s in particular; but what about the feather piece?

I found an overview of the different head pieces of the tribes belonging to that confederacy on its webpage of the Six Nations Reservation.

As you can see, the typical Mohawk head piece consists of a cap with only three eagle feathers which stand up straight. This is nothing compared to the head piece the Native American wears on the display. His feather hat covers his entire head. With regard to the Mohawk being originally a warrior tribe, makes it hard to believe, that they would wear such heavy and unsteady cover that they will easily loose in a fight. So there are some aspects of the Mohawk present in the display, but some are also added to create a more general and stereotypical picture of the American Indian.

The last thing I’d like to draw your attention to is the person’s physique. As I mentioned earlier, the Native American had not only to make his own clothes but also had to hunt for meat, cook, build houses and make a living autonomously. By adding the fact that there did no artificial sugar exist in their environment, one could conclude that Native American’s body was well shaped and did lack the signs of obesity. However the display obviously shows the opposite which of course could be explained by the high influence of Western nutrition in everyday life. But if that was the aim, the picture would have not needed this Indian dressed in his ‘original’ clothes but rather in jeans and Lee shirt with a Coke can in the one hand and the tobacco in the other.

After having shared some of my thoughts with you, I’d like to conclude that contrary to my initial thoughts, the stereotype of the Native American still exists not only in people’s heads but especially in the media and advertisement industry which has not yet stopped to exploit Indians.