Friday, June 19, 2009

Why Russia?















Me and Sif. He's been here 5 years and has been able to tell me a lot about the Black experience here in the Russian Federation.

A lot of people have been asking where my interest in Russia came from. The answer is simple. Professor Walker.

It all started my Freshman year when I saw this pamphlet in his office entitled "The Negroes in A Soviet America" written in 1935 by James W. Ford. I had always thought anything Soviet or Communist was a bad thing. And they pretty much are. BUT I would have never put Black people, Soviet, and American in the same sentence.

Fast-forward a year. (Sophomore Fall) I'm taking a Russian Literature course and I want to use the pamphlet for our group presentation. Professor Walker actually LENDS it to me and I take it to class and we use it for our presentation. I really enjoyed the Russian Literature class. It was focused on Blacks in Russia. We read a lot of really good books and articles in the class and if you put in a lot of work you got a lot out of it.

(Sophomore Spring) I have to pitch a research project to the Mellon Mays board to become a Mellon Mays Fellow. If they like what I am researching I'll get $10,000 over two years to complete that research project plus they'll help me prepare for graduate school. This was one of the most crucial moments of my life. I wasn't sure WHAT I was going to do with my life. As a history major I knew I had options but things concerning the future just seemed to be very obscure to me. I knew that if I could get this I'd have something I could focus on and work towards.

Coming into college I had a fascination with Alchemy and the Philosophers Stone. After taking the most amazing European History class ever my Freshman Spring I was dead set on studying the Czech language and doing a semester in Prague my junior year. I wanted more than anything to learn about the history of science and the point in time in history when people changed from believing in God and The Church to believing in Science and rationalism. I was working on figuring out a way to interweave the two and I was on the verge of going into some deep research as to how The Holy Trinity and the Philosophers Stone were not just related but the exact same thing.

I wanted to propose that to the Mellon Board. However, someone advised me that no one was going to give me money to research "magic, witchcraft, and wizardry"and that pretty much of deflated my dream of continuing to do research in my original field of interest.

I didn't get to go to Prague cause one of my ADVISORS told me I don't need to learn another language cause everyone else in the world speaks English. True. But terrible advice.

So I go back to Professor Walker and ask him what I should pitch as my research topic. And without pausing to think he told me that I should do Blacks in Russia because I had taken a class on in last semester. HELLO! Genius idea. I asked other people what they thought about it and they said that it was a genius idea as well. I asked my homie Beau (a senior and also a Mellon Fellow) if he thought I should propose a research project on alchemy or if I should do Blacks in Russia. As soon as I said Blacks in Russia he told me that was the one to roll with. So I rolled with it. I got the fellowship and funding. And have been rolling with it ever since.

I have not always been completely ignorant of Russia. Before I knew anything about Russian history in college I had always been impressed with the history of the Russian Ballet. I also saw a film in high school about the Cold War that was pretty cool too. There was one scene showing some Russian sailors laughing at a short film depicting a spoof of the Ku Klux Klan and that they basically thought American racism was ignorant.

So. My interest in Russia started pretty much on a whim. A pamphlet in my professors office and a Russian Literature class.

I've decided to write my Honors Thesis on James Ford and will see where Russia, Russian History, and knowing Russian will take me.

Stay Tuned.



1 comment:

  1. I feel like I know you so much better now. I didn't know you were having such a difficult time choosing a topic. I feel bad that I wasn't consulted, but it's all good, you ended up with an awesome project.

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