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Why Do Boys All Over The World Play Indians? By Alexandr Vaschenko Alexandr Vaschenko, professor of English, scholar, translator and teacher at the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Moscow State University, has chosen American Studies, and particularly Native American Studies, as the subject of his life-long interest.  The newly established program of the American Studies (the fall of 1992) is an internationally well-developed field, scholarly and educational. However, Russia, due to its unique historical and cultural connections with America, has developed its own views of this exciting area.One of the early explorers of the United States has said, that "America is a young country with an old history." Certainly, the earliest and the most thrilling aspect of the American history and culture is Native Americans, or Indians. Since the times of Shakespeare these peoples have continued to soar in the imagination of the rest of humankind. "Out of the Indian approach to existence there came a great freedom - an intense and absorbing love for nature; a respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and the principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations" - says the early 20th century Dakota writer, Chief Standing Bear. So I, too, was fascinated since early childhood by these cultures and peoples, and invented Indian names for myself, and became part of what seems to be the general disease; for hadn't Albert Einstein once wondered: "Why is it that the boys all over the world play Indians?" Intuitively, at my early age, I felt things that I was able to explain only much later. Now I understand that the image of a horseman with a feathered warbonnet is breathtakingly beautiful, that these people knew the way of survival for the rest of the world - they were the striking example of a traditional culture that knew the ways of adaptation to the surrounding natural environment, but kept to its ancient sacred ways, never giving up values which they thought to be vitally important.  Now, being over fifty-five, I am happy that I was the first to establish in Russia the popular and scholarly interest for the American and Canadian Native American Literature and oral tradition. That required first-hand knowledge of the material, and involved the acquaintance and sometimes close relationship with some of the most wonderful personalities I had ever met. I am especially proud of the friendship with N. Scott Momaday, the famous Kiowa prose-writer, poet, playwright, essayist and artist. This remarkable man came to Russia in 1974, as a first Fulbright lecturer at Moscow State University, and since that time his deep interest for Russia and especially for Siberia has not diminished.Through the Indians, as I have learned, one can come to the overwhelming discoveries of your own neighbors, the Native Siberian cultures. After getting some experience in the sacred songs, myths and ceremonials of the various Native American tribes, I was prepared to get excited while listening to the Bear Ceremony of the Khanty hunters and reindeer-breeders of Siberia… And this already presupposed comparative studies - in order to better understand our own culture, and the nature of our own humanity. I translated Native American folklore and literature into Russian, wrote criticism, then decided to translate the Native Siberian literature into English. Thus the first Anthology of Native Siberian writing in English, "Ways of Kinship" (2003), came to be. What we often think to be marginal, at close inspection proves to be central; this is the case with the Native cultures of America. Two of the most American words - "Yankee" and "O.K". - have an Indian origin. The American animal - the Alaskan black fox -was put on the coat-of arms of Totma, a small town in northern Russia, because of the many merchant expeditions to the New World, and the rich Russian contacts with the Natives in Alaska… The magic of Native cultures has provided an exciting journey for me, a life-journey that continues until now. |
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