2023年经济学人 牛仔竞技与印第安文化（在线收听）

    Culture

    文艺版块

    Cowboys and Indians

    牛仔与印第安人

    Rodeo plays a central role in Native American culture.

    牛仔竞技比赛在美国原住民文化中扮演着核心角色。

    Freshly washed Wrangler jeans and shiny silver belt buckles.

    人们身穿新洗过的威格牛仔裤，腰带上的银色皮带扣闪闪发亮。

    Coors Light and Michelob Ultra for sale at the concession stands.

    售货摊位上卖着银子弹啤酒和米凯罗啤酒。

    It could have been any of the 650 professional rodeos sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), the oldest and largest rodeo group, which 6m Americans attend each year.

    这可能是职业牛仔竞技协会批准的650场职业牛仔竞技表演中的任何一场。职业牛仔竞技协会是美国历史最悠久、规模最大的牛仔竞技团体，每年有600万美国人前来观看竞技表演。

    But instead, this was the Indian National Finals Rodeo (INFR), which recently took place in Las Vegas.

    相反，这其实是最近在拉斯维加斯举行的印第安全国牛仔竞技总决赛(INFR)。

    Contestants were members of the 574 Native American tribes, and most of the 20,000 attendees were Native American, too.

    参赛选手来自574个美洲原住民部落，2万名观众也大多是美洲原住民。

    At one afternoon show, the national anthem was sung in Apache.

    在下午的一场表演中，人们用阿帕切语唱起了民族之歌。

    “Where’s the Navajos at?” the announcer boomed, as he warmed up the crowd.

    “纳瓦霍人在哪里？”播音员在热场时大声喊道。

    Though historically sidelined, Indian rodeo is thriving, with more than 100 separate events across the country.

    印第安牛仔竞技尽管在历史上一直被边缘化，但如今正在蓬勃发展，有100多项不同的活动在全国各地举办。

    The sport is remarkably popular among tribal members: though Native Americans account for only 3% of America’s population, the INFR claims 3,500 cowboys and cowgirls, around half the members the PRCA has.

    这项运动在部落成员中非常受欢迎：尽管美洲原住民只占美国人口的3%，但印第安全国牛仔竞技总决赛号称有3500名牛仔男孩和牛仔女孩，大约是职业牛仔竞技协会成员数量的一半。

    Native competitors are becoming increasingly prominent in mainstream rodeo, too.

    原住民选手在主流牛仔竞技中的表现也愈加突出。

    Among the biggest stars are Dakota Louis, a bull-rider, and Derrick Begay, a roper, who will compete in the PRCA’s National Finals Rodeo, held in December (also in Las Vegas).

    其中最耀眼的明星包括骑牛手达科塔·路易斯和绳索套牛手德里克·贝盖，贝盖将参加12月举行的PRCA全国牛仔竞技总决赛（同样在拉斯维加斯举行）。

    For many on rural tribal lands, rodeo is not just a sport.

    对于生活在农村部落的许多人来说，牛仔竞技不仅仅是一项运动。

    It is “one of the few opportunities in Indian country to get out, to make a living, to get an education”, says Bo Vocu, a retired bull-rider and president of the INFR.

    已退休的骑牛手、现为印第安全国牛仔竞技总决赛主席的波·沃素说，这是“印第安农村为数不多的走出部落、谋一份生计、接受教育的机会之一”。

    Unemployment among Native Americans is more than double the national average and hovers around 50% on some reservations.

    美洲原住民的失业率是全国平均水平的两倍多，在一些保留地，失业率徘徊在50%左右。

    With jobs scarce, bull-riding and roping can offer income and even bring college scholarships.

    在就业机会稀缺的情况下，骑牛和套牛可以带来收入，甚至带来大学奖学金。

    But rodeo is not just a proverbial “ticket off the rez”, though its material rewards are real and attractive.

    牛仔竞技带来的物质回报是真实且诱人的，但它不仅仅是人们常说的“离开雷兹的车票”。（注：雷兹是一个保留地的名称。）(The INFR paid out more than $1m this year.)(印第安全国牛仔竞技总决赛今年的奖金总计为100多万美元。)It is also a celebration of the fact that many Indians have long been cowboys and “rodeoed”.

    牛仔竞技也是对印第安牛仔的一种赞颂，在历史上许多印第安人都是牛仔，也互相“竞技表演”。

    The sport is often associated with white cowboys.

    这项运动现在通常与白人牛仔联系在一起。

    But modern rodeo, which began in the 1880s and 1890s, was originally a “very multicultural, multilingual space”, says Rebecca Scofield, an associate professor of history at the University of Idaho.

    但爱达荷大学历史学副教授丽贝卡·斯科菲尔德表示，始于19世纪80年代和90年代的现代牛仔竞技比赛最初是一个“非常多文化、多语言的活动”。

    Rodeos brought together European immigrants, Mexican vaqueros, freed blacks and Native Americans.

    牛仔竞技将欧洲移民、墨西哥牧民、被解放的黑人和美洲原住民聚集在一起。

    Rodeo’s name comes from the Spanish rodear, “to round up”.

    牛仔竞技的名字rodeo来源于西班牙语rodear，意思是“围拢”。

    Regular round-ups to sort and brand cattle led to competitions to see who could rope and ride with the greatest skill.

    人们定期围拢聚集在一起，给牛分类和做标记，然后就开始互相比赛，看谁的套牛和骑马技术最好。

    In 1888 a rodeo in Prescott, Arizona, was the first to charge admission and among the first to award prizes.

    1888年，亚利桑那州普雷斯科特的一场牛仔竞技比赛是第一个收费入场的牛仔比赛，也是最早颁奖的牛仔比赛之一。

    By 1922, rodeo had even reached Madison Square Garden.

    到1922年，牛仔竞技甚至扩张到了麦迪逊广场花园。

    As rodeo cowboys unionised in the first decades of the 20th century, some organisations explicitly excluded blacks and Native Americans, who were often relegated to separate events.

    随着牛仔选手在20世纪初成立了工会，一些组织明确将黑人和美洲原住民排除在外，他们通常只能参加级别更低的其他活动。

    By the late 1940s, the stereotypical rodeo cowboy had become “white, straight and hyper-masculine”, according to Ms Scofield.

    据斯科菲尔德女士说，到20世纪40年代末，传统的牛仔竞技表演已经变成了具有“白人、异性恋和超级男子汉”特点的活动。

    The INFR provides a forum for Native Americans to connect and to be in a rare rodeo majority.

    印第安全国牛仔竞技总决赛为美洲原住民提供了一个平台，让他们能够彼此交流，并罕见地成为牛仔竞技中的多数群体。

    “It definitely is a gathering of the nations for Indian cowboys,” says Megan Lunak, a roper from the Blackfeet tribe.

    “这绝对是印第安牛仔的各民族大聚会。”来自黑脚部落的套牛手梅根·卢纳克说。

    With poverty and mental illness high on reservations, rodeo is a celebration of “resilience”.

    在保留地充斥着贫困和心理疾病的背景下，牛仔竞技表演是对“坚韧”品质的赞颂。

    It is also a “a way to feel free,” since it facilitates travel, says Delphine Red Shirt, a lecturer in Native American Studies at Stanford.

    斯坦福大学美洲原住民研究的讲师德尔芬·红衫说，牛仔竞技也是一种让人“感觉自由的方式”，因为它可以让人出门旅行。

    Indian rodeos offer practice for competitors to be bucked off and beaten up as they develop the skills required to succeed on the higher-paying, mainstream rodeo circuit.

    印第安牛仔竞技让选手们可以在被牛甩下来或被打倒的过程中得到锻炼，从而培养出更好的技术，之后在奖金更丰厚的主流牛仔竞技表演巡回赛上取得成功。

    The INFR is “pushing more Indian cowboys to get out there” rather than “just chase their local rodeos”, according to Bo Tyler Vocu, Mr Vocu’s son, a talented bronc- and bull-rider.

    沃素先生的儿子波·泰勒·沃素说，印第安全国牛仔竞技总决赛正在“推动更多的印第安牛仔走出去”，而不是“仅仅和当地的牛仔竞争”，波·泰勒·沃素也是一名优秀的野马和公牛骑手。

    Pro rodeo has begun to embrace Native American participants, in no small part because tribal riders come with a devoted following.

    职业牛仔竞技已经开始欢迎美洲原住民选手，这在很大程度上是因为部落骑手有自己忠实的粉丝。

    Many Native Americans know someone who rodeos or have rodeoed themselves.

    许多美洲原住民都认识牛仔竞技选手，或自己就参加过牛仔竞技表演。

    As the sport seeks to shore up its audience (as white rural populations shrink), rodeo will only continue to get more diverse.

    随着这项运动开始寻求保住其观众基础（农村白人人口在减少），牛仔竞技表演只会继续变得更加多元化。

    The rodeo of the future may well look more like the rodeo of the past.

    未来的牛仔竞技很可能会更像过去的牛仔竞技。