Showing posts with label Vienna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vienna. Show all posts

Friday, March 18, 2011

An Indian and a Soldier in Vienna, Austria

Andrea Herrera was in Intro to American Indian Studies, a course I taught at the University of Illinois in its American Indian Studies program. She was in the class in Fall 2010.

Today (March 18th) Andrea sent me the photo shown here. She's in Vienna, Austria this semester. I'm uploading the photo, with her permission. Thanks, Andrea!

It is striking! Many questions come to mind... Obvious ones like... Who painted it? Why? What building is it on? How big is it? When was it put there?

Andrea said the building has other paintings on it, too, and that many of them are also stereotypical.

How to make sense of the painting? Is this a common image that comes to the mind of an Austrian when he/she thinks "United States" or "America"? 

I wonder what sorts of images of Indians I'd find in children's books by Austrian authors/illustrators?