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‘FromLovetoHate’:AStoryofGermaniaandSam
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usuallyutilizedtodefendGermanandEuropeanculturalidentity.But
theunusualmannerofSam’sbirth(respectivelyMacduff)strongly
affectedrelationsbetweenAmericaandEurope.ItstimulatedEuropean
imagination,hopes,andfears,butalsogaveattentiontotheoutcomes
oftheAmericanexperiment.Americawantedtolearnfromthehistory
oftheoldcontinentandavoidfuturemistakes,butwasstillperceivedas
the4oldlady’,asanexampletoimitateorarolemodel(Ceaser1997).
Asmanystudiesinsocialanthropologyandphilosophyhaveshown,
thediscoveryofsomethingdifferentisalwayslinkedwithadisco-
veryofone’sownself.AsTzvetanTodorov(1984:3)asserted:“We
candiscovertheotherinourselves,realizewearenotahomogeneous
substance,radicallyalientowhateverisnotus.”Fromhisnotionof
4othering’wecanconclude:Theothercanonlybethoughtasinrelation
tooneself,theso-called4me’.Withoutgoingdeeperintothismatter,
weherewouldonlyliketorefertotheseveraltheoriesofsocialand
culturalidentity(e.g.,WilliamJames,GeorgeH.Mead,andErikH.
Erikson)inwhichtherelationshipbetweenthe4I’or4me’andthe4signi-
ficantothers’hasbeenexplored.InthecaseofAmerica,Christopher
Columbus’andalltheotherconqueror’sstrikingbeliefswereclosely
connectedtotheChristiannotionofanearthlyparadisethatneedsto
bediscovered(Todorov1984:16).ThebirthoftheAmericannationis
regularlyrelatedtoEuropeancolonialexpansionandviolentChristian
evangelism,ashasbeenshowninpostcolonialstudies.Butwehave
chosenthiswidelyknownnarrativeofthediscovery,conquest,and
inventionoftheothersalsobecauseofthefactthatitisstillpartofour
present4culturalmemory’(Assmann2002)andidentity,nevertheless,
ithasinfluencedourwaysofinterpretation.Withthediscoveryand
conquestvoyagesofEuropeansfromthe16thCentury,therealsocame
thenewknowledgeofpreviouslyunknownpeoplesandtribes,cultures,
andreligions.Besidemerchants,sailors,diplomats,colonists,resear-
chers,andexplorersalsomissionariesbelongtothegroupofpeopleof
4Weltensammler’(4collectorsofworlds’–see:IlijaTroyanov’swork)
whohaveentered,ontheonehand,new,andunknownterritory,inorder
topersuadetheothersaccordingtotheirbeliefs.Ontheotherhand,they
werealsooneswhoinanearlyperiodbroughttheirculturalknowledge
offoreignpeoplesandreligions,traditionsandcustomstotheirhome,
