Russian Indianists: A Romance with the Image of the North American Indian
Author(s)
Rabodzeenko, Jennifer Rayport
Abstract
For the past seven and a half months of work in St. Petersburg, I have been wrestling with the following question: what was and is the nature of the relationship between “alternative” youth cultural practices and the society in which they arise?1 A related question immediately presents itself: whether and how such previously “unsanctioned” youth cultural groupings have evolved or transformed in postSoviet Russia. Central to the inquiry in both its forms has been an exploration of the types of values young people express through participation in such groups. In order to provide some preliminary answers to these questions in a short space, I will focus on one group which has lived unto itself since 1980 to the present. Indeed its durability and longevity may prove to be a distinctive feature of this youth formation. The group calls itself “Indianists” (Indeanisty). Their unifying passion is the study of North American Indians. In the following sections I will describe the history of the Indianists to the present, their central values and practices, and the personal narratives of the two Indianists whom I have interviewed to date. An analysis of this material will comprise the final section
