aaus-list @ ukrainianstudies.org -- Re: [aaus-list] Poltava 2009

["Rubchak, Bohdan" <kalush@uic.edu>]

Natalko,

it seems to me that Mykola Riabchuk's piece was conceived not so much to
tell his readers that Catherine's monuments are out of place in Ukraine
(which is surely obvious even to them), but that Christopher Columbus'
monuments are out of place in the Americas, which they now would love to
hear.

The comparison between the two historical figures and situations strikes
me as bizarre. Having oversimplified the recent criticisms by the
postleninist left of the erection of new monuments to Christopher Columbus
as a symbol (or even poetical signifier) of the oppression of the Indians,
and hence the replacement of tribal micronarratives by national
hypernarratives (let us remember that not only the United Stages but also
Venezuela is involved), Mr. Riabchuk overlooks the fact that Columbus is a
metaphor of the intervention of historical or linear time into tribal
cyclical temporalities, with the happy result not only of Chavez and not
so much of George Bush, but also of George Washington (of whom at least
one Ukrainian spoke rather well), the American Constitution, the
Ukrainian-Canadian pioneers, the awareness of the oppression of Native
Americans in every American grammar school, and, finally, Fulbright
fellowships. If Columbus did not exist, someone would have had to invent
him.

I really hope that a Russian wit does not take Mr. Riabchuk's unfortunate
comparison a tiny step further and say that even as Columbus introduced
historical time in the Americas, Catherine inroduced it in Ukraine, and by
oppressing the carefree, tribal, singing and dancing Cossacks, made
possible the birth of Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, and last but by no
means least, Mykola Riabchuk.

Stay well,

Bohdan







On Wed, July 18, 2007 7:42 pm, Natalia Pylypiuk wrote:
> The following article by Mykola Riabchuk implicitly addresses the
> essence of such celebrations:
>
> *Shanuvaty kolumbiv i kayeryn krashche v barseloni ta Peterburzi*
> http://www.gpu-ua.info/index.php?&id=171812
> (10-VII-07)
>
>
> |||||||||||||||||
> Greetings!
> Natalia Pylypiuk
> University of Alberta
>
>
> On Jul 11, 2007, at 2:51 PM, stephen velychenko wrote:
>
>> Putin and Poltava mayor  ready to celebrate glory of Russian arms.
>> No statement from Kyiv yet.
>>
%3