#and bold of me to complain right. cuz like no american friend that ive ever had has been interested in my culture

[everythingsinred]

apparently zoe’s friend coined the phrase “slavaboo” to describe the strange subsection of people who are a little too obsessed with communism and the ussr, call each other comrade, joke about gulags, and pretend to have slavic accents, etc. u know. people who are superficially interested in slavs without knowing anything about slavic culture or history. they took the form of annoying white american boys throughout high school for me and would mansplain to me (incorrectly) about MY culture and history as if their terrible fake russian accent that they put on for kicks trumps my years of being an actual serb. now its tiktok girlies wearing ushankas and making really uncomfortable content about communism and eastern block “aesthetic”.

like on the one hand ushankas are just hats and im really not interested in gatekeeping my culture bc ive always wanted to share it, but tbh what pisses me off is that these ppl ARENT interested in the culture. ill always think back on that post abt cultural appropriation i saw a few years ago, that rightly challenged white ppl pulling elements of poc culture into their lives without first understanding the cultural significance. but that post then turned around and recommended aspects of european culture, specifically slavic and eastern european, that white ppl could use instead (folkwear and holidays), and that pissed me off.

in my balkan class we learned that eastern europe, particularly the balkans, are viewed as europe lite. it’s a strange place to be because obviously were white. thats just a fact. but western europeans view us as savages, uncivilized, a barbaric and war-torn land of backwards people. the first day of class my professor asked us to tell us words we associated with the balkans and GOD DAMN was there plenty of orientalism in that american university classroom. for most of our history we’ve barely been considered europe. our relationship with the word “europe” is so complex and difficult to properly explain. western europe doesnt consider us europe bc were not on their level. so getting grouped in like that, having someone outside of that group give other white people permission to “use” our culture with the same cavalier attitude that they would appropriate poc culture? its UNPLEASANT. i dont like it.

i guess what im trying to say is that knowing about russian war tanks and pilots is cool and all. gushing about eastern bloc architecture and wearing ushankas is fun. but slavic history is a big mess, torn between wanting to be part of the civilized “europe” but also not wanting to reject our specific culture (like the conflict between westernizers and slavophiles in russian history).

im thinking about the heartbreak of telling classmates and friends that i was slavic but having them be more interested in my barebones knowledge of russian history and culture rather than asking me about my serbian culture. that all i was to them was an excuse to talk about the soviet union or the warsaw pact when my country was never even a part of either. they’d get grossed out by the food i brought to school, demonstrate no interest in my culture at all. id watch their eyes glaze over when i excitedly asked them if they wanted me to write their name in cyrillic or teach them serbian phrases... its all so surface level and vapid. tbh really cringe. thats what yall are. cringe. using ur stupid fake slavic accents, calling each other comrades, making jokes about the ussr and gulags as if theres any humor to be found in a gulag. sickening behavior.

i WANT people to be interested in my culture but i want them to appreciate it. i dont want them pulling aspects that they can use for the aesthetic, or for them to oversimplify slavic history or make jokes about the ussr or gulags. i want them learning about folklore and mythology, actually listening to our music (and maybe actual folk music, not just the russian techno ppl like). look at our art, our stories. we have a rich and vibrant and varied culture with many influences. its not all blank cement buildings and ushankas. we have a lot of beautiful culture to offer and it pisses me off how ppl dismiss it.