Tag Archives: Cancel Culture

14 September 2022Access AmericaCanada, Cancel Culture, CBC, Cultural Appreciation, Cultural Appropriation, Drew Hayden Taylor, Germany, Indigenous, Karl May, Leuphana, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Native, Natives, Ravensburger Verlag, Searching for Winnetou, The Young Chief Winnetou, WinnetouHenrike Kattoll

When in Doubt, Ask a Native Author! The Winnetou Debate

By Maryann Henck

After a storm of protests from enraged parents concerning issues of (mis)representation and cultural appropriation in the new children’s movie, The Young Chief Winnetou (2022), the German publisher, Ravensburger Verlag, withdrew the companion book and puzzle to the film. Soon thereafter, the main German TV station (ARD) announced they would no longer broadcast the popular Winnetou movies from the 1960s based on Karl May’s novels. Everyone seems to have their take on the current controversy; yet, there’s been some criticism regarding issues of paternalism due to the lack of Native voices in the debate. That’s why the American Studies Blog has gone directly to the source and interviewed Drew Hayden Taylor acclaimed Canadian Anishnaabe author, frequent flyer to Germany, and creator of the documentary, Searching for Winnetou (2018).

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12 January 2022Best Books & Fabulous FilmsCancel Culture, Dave Eggers, Dystopia, Dystopian Literature, Everyones, Free Speech, Leuphana, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Meta, Novel, Satire, Social Media, Surveillance, Tech Critique, Tech Dystopia, The Circle, The EveryHenrike Kattoll

Cancel Field Trips, Cancel Forest Rangers: The Every by Dave Eggers (2021)

By Sebastian Tants-Boestad

Dave Eggers’s bestselling tech dystopia, The Circle (2013), has finally received a sequel. While The Circle described the rise of a fictitious tech and social media company and its protagonist’s steady descent into the maelstrom of surveillance culture, The Every now picks up a couple of years later, after the Circle has acquired a big online retailer “named after a South American jungle.” The resulting mega corporation, called the Every, is pretty much the monopolist in all things digital tech – from apps to online shopping to cutting edge hardware. Of course, it’s every bit as scary and unlikeable as one would imagine it to be.