Category Archives: Previous RSACS Conferences

Abstracts of the The XLIX RSACS International Conference

Russian Academy of Sciences Arbatov Institute of the USA and Canada Studies

The Society of American Culture Studies

 

The XLIX International Conference Abstracts

 

«Ways to Success in American Culture»

 

Moscow, November 29 – December 3, 2023

 

Editorial team: Oksana Danchevskaya, Elena Kornilova, Alexey Matveyev, Boris Maximov, Andrey Ruskin, Nadezhda Shvedova, 

Editor: Larisa Mikhaylova

 

Keynote Lecture

Chris T. Cartwright, MPA, EdD

Portland State University, Oregon, USA

An Interculturalist’s Perspective on Ways to Success in American Culture

The United States is emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic a deeply fractious society. We seem to be recovering economically, but very unevenly. Politically we are often contentious and disappointed. Culturally and socially, we are often anxious and discontented, especially for those not in the majority racially, ethically, gender identity, ability, and socio-economically class in terms of order and fairness.

No one discipline or perspective can do justice to the complexity we are experiencing in the US at this time. As an interculturalist, a scholar and consultant most focused on the ebbs and flows of communication and engagement across difference, I can offer a perspective on how culture and intercultural competence is impacting this unique time.

***

Chris Cartwright, MPA, Ed.D.is an assessment consultant, trainer, and instructor supporting individuals and organizations in assessing and developing inclusion, intercultural, and global competencies. He has 40+ years of experience in multiple sectors. He assesses, consults, coaches, trains, teaches, and researches regionally, nationally, and internationally in areas of inclusive and global leadership development, intercultural competency, assessment and evaluation, and social justice.  He is an associate of the Connective Leadership Institute, the Kozai Group, icEdge, and Aperian Global.

He is an adjunct faculty for the Portland State University, Minerva, as well as Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and Pepperdine University. He recently served as Director of Intercultural Assessment and Associate Director of the Graduate Program for the Intercultural Communication Institute for 10 years. Prior to this work, he has served as the Dean of Academic Programs for the International Partnership for Service Learning and Leadership.

Section 1. USA Journalism

Coordinator Dr. Andrey Ruskin

(Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia)

December 2, 2023

10.00-12.00 (MSK)

  1. Darya Yeremina,  Dobrolyubov Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University, Russia

The Role of Journalists in the Struggle for Women’s Rights

The struggle for women’s rights has a long history in American culture. Women are an integral part of American culture. They occupy high positions in business, politics, science, art and other fields. There are many moments in American history when journalists covered issues related to gender inequality, violence and discrimination. From simple misogyny to opening up new opportunities for women in professional journalism.

This question is undoubtedly an important element of the path to success and development in American culture. How exactly does journalism bring about successful changes in American culture, revealing the concept of “woman” as an independent and self-sufficient person? In my report we will look at how journalists in different periods of history used their positions to fight for women’s rights. Specific examples of the work of journalists will be considered. Contemporary challenges related to gender inequality and the role of journalism in combating them will also be discussed. Continue reading

Program of the RSACS XLIXth International Conference, November 29 – December 3, 2023

 

Plenary Opening Session

Wednesday, November 29, 2023 19.00 (MSK) 

  1. Organizers’ Greetings to the Conference participants.

Sergey Kislitsyn
Director of Arbatov.Institute of the USA and Canada.Studies
Natalya Gladysheva
GAUGN Vice Dean

2. Conference schedule

Larisa Mikhaylova, RSACS Academic Secretary

3. Keynote Lecture

Chris T. Cartwright, MPA, EdD

Portland State University, Oregon, USA

An Interculturalist’s Perspective on Ways to Success in American Culture

The United States is emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic a deeply fractious society. We seem to be recovering economically, but very unevenly. Politically we are often contentious and disappointed. Culturally and socially, we are often anxious and discontented, especially for those not in the majority racially, ethically, gender identity, ability, and socio-economically class in terms of order and fairness.

No one discipline or perspective can do justice to the complexity we are experiencing in the US at this time. As an interculturalist, a scholar and consultant most focused on the ebbs and flows of communication and engagement across difference, I can offer a perspective on how culture and intercultural competence is impacting this unique time.

***

Chris Cartwright, MPA, Ed.D.is an assessment consultant, trainer, and instructor supporting individuals and organizations in assessing and developing inclusion, intercultural, and global competencies. He has 40+ years of experience in multiple sectors. He assesses, consults, coaches, trains, teaches, and researches regionally, nationally, and internationally in areas of inclusive and global leadership development, intercultural competency, assessment and evaluation, and social justice.  He is an associate of the Connective Leadership Institute, the Kozai Group, icEdge, and Aperian Global.

He is an adjunct faculty for the Portland State University, Minerva, as well as Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and Pepperdine University. He recently served as Director of Intercultural Assessment and Associate Director of the Graduate Program for the Intercultural Communication Institute for 10 years. Prior to this work, he has served as the Dean of Academic Programs for the International Partnership for Service Learning and Leadership.

 

Section 1. USA Journalism

Coordinator Dr. Andrey Ruskin

(Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia) 

December 2, 2023, 10.00-12.00 (MSK)

  1. Nikolai Zykov

Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

Success stories in the materials of the Voice of America 

2. Irina Isakova

Freelance researcher, Moscow, Russia

Evolution of the theory of success and its role in foreign policy coverage: from Containment to Competitive Endurance 

3. Elena Lioznova

Department of Public Administration, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

The Monroe Doctrine success: social and political debates in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century 

4. Svetlana Orekhova-Tibbits

Tibbits Foundation, Washington, USA

Elon Musk as a Communicator

5. Andrey Ruskin

Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

Success Stories Covered by US Local Daily Newspapers in 2023

6. Fedor Serdotetsky

Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

The Cult of Success in American Social Networks 

7. Yelena Sokurenko

Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

Cross-cultural analysis of American and Russian Advertising Narratives

(on the example of the Google brand) 

8. Egor Shapovalov

Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

Importance of Historical Elucidation as the Consistent Author’s Approach in Modern Documentary Cinema (Analysis of Downfall: the case against Boeing (2022), dir. Rory Kennedy)

  Continue reading

Registration to 2023 RSACS conference started August 15, 2023

The annual International Conference of American culture researchers will be held in 2023 from November 29 to December 2, online, with the support of the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and  World Politics Department of GAUGN. The theme of the XLIX Conference is “Way to Success in American Culture”. Socio-cultural conditions and models of success in America and their reflection in various areas of US culture will be considered from a historical and modern perspective.

The traditional sections planned are :

Journalism

Culture of America in the 17th-19th centuries

American Culture of the 20th-21st Centuries with the Roundtable on American Drama

Ethnic aspects of American culture

Gender Aspects of American Culture

Fantastic in the Arts and Culture of the United States

Canadian Dimension of American Culture

Round table “Imprints: The Image of America and the Image of Russia”

Until October 20, proposals for holding additional panel discussions, round tables and sections are accepted at the address larmih@gmail.com. To organize such a discussion and a round table, it is required to submit a list of questions in Russian and English and names of three participants. For a section, introduce the concept of the section.

Registration starts on August 15, 2023 at https://lomonosov-msu.ru/eng/event/8293/
Registration deadline for all presentations is October 31, 2023.

The Organizing committee decides on inclusion to the program until November 15, 2023, the acceptance letter will be sent electronically on that date.

The abstracts of the reports included in the program will be published on the Society’s website in Russian and English.

After discussion in the sections, the reports are recommended for publication in the collection. The best papers are recommended for publication in the journal “USA AND CANADA: ECONOMY, POLITICS, CULTURE”. Full texts are accepted after the conference. Template requirements will be sent to participants personally.

See you at our conference!

Larisa Mikhaylova,  RSACS Academic Secretary

Plenary Opening Session 2022

November 30, 7.00 PM   room 103

Session will be in English

  1. Dr.Larisa Mikhaylova

Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University

RSACS Academic Secretary

Introduction of the Plenary Speakers and the schedule of the conference

 

  1. Dr. Carolyn Calloway-Thomas

Past President, World Communication Association

Professor and Director of Graduate Studies

Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies

Indiana University, Bloomington, U.S. A.

Carolyn Calloway-Thomas at IU Bloomington on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. (Photo by Chris Meyer/Indiana University)

Dr. Carolyn  Calloway-Thomas is past president of the World Communication Association.  In November 2022, she was invited to serve as an intercultural communication competence expert advisor on the  World Council on Intercultural and Global Competence.   She received  her doctoral degree in  communication  from Indiana University Bloomington, where she is currently professor and director of Graduate studies in the Department of African  American and African Diaspora  Studies.  Her areas of specialization   are intercultural communication, empathy  and conflict,   transforming divided communities, pedagogy of empathy,  communication in black America,  and civic engagement. She is  author of Empathy in the Global  World: An Intercultural Perspective, coauthor of Intercultural Communication Roots and Routes and  Intercultural Communication: A Text with Readings, and coeditor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Sermonic Power of Public Discourse.  Her coauthored book, Intercultural Communication between Chinese and North Americans,  is forthcoming in 2023.  She is also  a member of the Central States Communication Association’s Hall of Fame,  and has  given hundreds of talks on intercultural communication, empathy, diversity,   and intercultural   competence both nationally and internationally. Her many awards include a Ford Postdoctoral Fellowship, a  Fulbright Fellowship, a Carnegie Scholarship,  the W. George Pinnell Award for Outstanding Service, the National Council for Black Studies’  Paul Robeson and Zora Neale Hurston Award for Outstanding Leadership and promotion of African Humanities, and the National Communication Association’s Samuel L. Becker  Distinguished Service Award.

 Portrayals of the American Family in Print  Media:  ‘Cells of Consciousness and Quilts of Reality’

“Each member of the family in his own cell of consciousness, each making his own patchwork quilt of reality—collecting fragments of experience, here, pieces of information there.”

—Toni Morrison

Once upon a time,  over fifty years ago, it was easy for Americans to define what is a family. Today, however, technology, educational attainment,  and shifting values and attitudes have profoundly  changed  the definition (s)  of  family,  leading to more diverse views of what constitutes an American family.  But what are some social  and cultural trends that intersect to promote changes in family life? Why do such trends matter?   And what are the implications  of such trendlines for the larger society and our place in it?  Although the reasons are complex and various, part of the answer lies in the way newspapers and magazines frame the nature, structure,  and idea  of the American family.

This presentation examines the way select newspapers and magazines frame trends and patterns of American family life through the specific lens of a thematic cluster analysis.  An analysis  of articles and editorials have much to recommend, because they can  reveal perceptions of  what  diverse  families share in common,  as well as suggest what is strategically significant in holding American society together and sustaining citizenship and  collective familial bonds. Newspaper articles and editorials  in the New York TimesThe Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Post form the basis of the analysis,  augmented by literature from the Pew Research Center.  My major emphasis is on the words authors and editors  use to talk about the American family and how the words work. The end  goal is to see how editors and writers view the American family  in the twenty-first century.

 

  1. Dr. Maria Zolotukhina

Assistant Professor

Sociocultural Practices Chair,Department of Culture Studies

Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia

 

Maria V. Zolotukhina is an Assistant Professor at the Russian State University of Humanities and holds a PhD  in history. She has been teaching at several Russian universities. Her courses include Ethnosociology, Sociology of Family, Sociology of Culture, Intercultural communication, History and Culture of Everyday Life (in English). Her academic interests include: history and social anthropology of childhood and family, ethnic identity, history and social anthropology of childhood and family in the US and Russia, gender issues, memorial culture and collective memory, and oral history.

Золотухина _список публикаций_2022

 

The New American Dream: changing values of parenting and parenthood

To launch a child into adulthood right at the time of entering college (and via doing that) has been one of the fundamental values of American middle class – vague as this category may appear. It served as the criteria for successful parental efforts of upbringing and its tangible result – an independent person, already focused on his or her own future success, separated from the family of origin. What seems to have changed quite significantly over the past decades are both the time frame of growing up and the criteria for achieving adulthood thus calling into question the very philosophy of life for Americans. The good old formula – “leave your home, become independent, live the American dream” – that served so well as a universal cultural imperative, while remaining recognizable, has lost its immutable character. Therefore parenthood and parenting as a project changed their rather substantiative qualities: in what constitutes being child-centered now, how is independence and autonomy taught and – most of all – what is the new understanding of affection and its manifestations. Such profound changes can not but influence the core elements of American childhood – an ideal space for a child at home, means of learning financial independence and charity, the notion of privacy and self-esteem and achievement. New types of parenting having become media mems (helicopter parenting. Tiger moms, bulldozer parenting etc ) create both moral panics (boomerang children never leaving home once they are back) and bring about condescending smiles. Emerging adultdood – a term coined by Jeffrey Arnett as a phenomenon even made insurance companies extend their policies up to age 24-25. Covid pandemic of 2020 and 2021 seems only to have reinforced the already existing new patterns without fully doing away with the old ones creating a new version of the American dream.

The presentation is based on long time included observation, media sources and interviews.

XLVIII RSACS International Conference Schedule

DAYTIMESECTIONROOM
November 30,
Wednesday
10.00 -15.30
17.30 -18.50
Registration217
19.00 - 20.30Opening Plenary Session103
December 1, Thursday10.00 - 14.30Section 3.
Contemporary American Culture of the 20th and 21st Centuries
15.00 - 16.30Section 1. Journalism103
17.30 - 19.00Section 2.
American Culture of the 17th-19th Centuries
103
December 2, Friday10.00 - 13.30Section 4.
Ethnic Aspects of American Culture
103
December 3,
Saturday
10.30 - 15.30Section 5.
Gender Aspects of American Culture
103
15.30 - 16.00Coffee-Break
16.00 - 18.00Section 6.
Fantastic in the Arts
103
18.00 - 18.30Coffee-Break
18.30 - 20.30Prof. Zassoursky Round Table Discussion
Imprints: Image of Russia and Image of America
103
20.30 - 21.30Closing Plenary Session103

Abstracts of the XLVIII International RSACS Conference “American Family in Flux Reflected in Literature, Art and Media”, November 30-December 3, 2022

Plenary session

November 30, 7.00 PM   room 103

 

  1. Dr.Larisa Mikhaylova

Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University

RSACS Academic Secretary

Introduction of the Plenary Speakers and the schedule of the conference

 

  1. Dr. Carolyn Calloway-Thomas

Past President, World Communication Association

Professor and Director of Graduate Studies

Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies

Indiana University, Bloomington, U.S. A.

 Portrayals of the American Family in Print  Media:  ‘Cells of Consciousness and Quilts of Reality’

“Each member of the family in his own cell of consciousness, each making his own patchwork quilt of reality—collecting fragments of experience, here, pieces of information there.”

—Toni Morrison

Once upon a time,  over fifty years ago, it was easy for Americans to define what is a family. Today, however, technology, educational attainment,  and shifting values and attitudes have profoundly  changed  the definition (s)  of  family,  leading to more diverse views of what constitutes an American family.  But what are some social  and cultural trends that intersect to promote changes in family life? Why do such trends matter?   And what are the implications  of such trendlines for the larger society and our place in it?  Although the reasons are complex and various, part of the answer lies in the way newspapers and magazines frame the nature, structure,  and idea  of the American family.

This presentation examines the way select newspapers and magazines frame trends and patterns of American family life through the specific lens of a thematic cluster analysis.  An analysis  of articles and editorials have much to recommend, because they can  reveal perceptions of  what  diverse  families share in common,  as well as suggest what is strategically significant in holding American society together and sustaining citizenship and  collective familial bonds. Newspaper articles and editorials  in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Post form the basis of the analysis,  augmented by literature from the Pew Research Center.  My major emphasis is on the words authors and editors  use to talk about the American family and how the words work. The end  goal is to see how editors and writers view the American family  in the twenty-first century.

 

  1. Dr. Maria Zolotukhina

Associate Professor

Sociocultural Practices Chair,Department of Culture Studies

Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia

The New American Dream: changing values of parenting and parenthood

To launch a child into adulthood right at the time of entering college (and via doing that) has been one of the fundamental values of American middle class – vague as this category may appear. It served as the criteria for successful parental efforts of upbringing and its tangible result – an independent person, already focused on his or her own future success, separated from the family of origin. What seems to have changed quite significantly over the past decades are both the time frame of growing up and the criteria for achieving adulthood thus calling into question the very philosophy of life for Americans. The good old formula – “leave your home, become independent, live the American dream” – that served so well as a universal cultural imperative, while remaining recognizable, has lost its immutable character. Therefore parenthood and parenting as a project changed their rather substantiative qualities: in what constitutes being child-centered now, how is independence and autonomy taught and – most of all – what is the new understanding of affection and its manifestations. Such profound changes can not but influence the core elements of American childhood – an ideal space for a child at home, means of learning financial independence and charity, the notion of privacy and self-esteem and achievement. New types of parenting having become media mems (helicopter parenting. Tiger moms, bulldozer parenting etc ) create both moral panics (boomerang children never leaving home once they are back) and bring about condescending smiles. Emerging adultdood – a term coined by Jeffrey Arnett as a phenomenon even made insurance companies extend their policies up to age 24-25. Covid pandemic of 2020 and 2021 seems only to have reinforced the already existing new patterns without fully doing away with the old ones creating a new version of the American dream.

The presentation is based on long time included observation, media sources and interviews.

 

Section 1. Journalism

Coordinator Dr.Andrei Ruskin (Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia)

December 1, Thursday  3 PM – 4.30 PM room 103

 

  1. Andrei Ruskin

Journalism Department

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

The Family Subject Coverage by the US Local Media: a comparative analysis based on the 2022 daily newspapers publications

Publications in regional newspaper-type dailies on family topics in the broad sense of this issue have been constantly presented. Even in local newspapers, which began to be published in the XIX century and even earlier, the topics of family culture and relations between spouses, approaches to raising children, principles of household management, family property and inheritance of fortunes have always been raised. Invariably, newspapers reflected all sorts of intra-family conflicts when they became public, and even more so if it affected famous people. Another topic that American journalists dealt with thoroughly was related to the study of family unions that arose at the junction of different races, religions, cultures, traditions, estates and social classes. In recent years, publications about single-parent families and their problems, marriages between representatives of both the same sex and without gender indication, social support for low-income and disadvantaged families, families of new immigrants and migrants, refugees have increasingly appeared in the materials of local publications. The aim of the study was to determine whether there are pointed differences in the coverage of the family topic in newspapers of different states and, if so, which ones and how it is presented, whether or not it is related to the geographical factor, or the economic situation of a certain region of the USA. To conduct the study, a sample of 50 local publications was selected (one for each state). As criteria for the sample, factors such as publication in traditional paper and electronic form, daily frequency (at least five issues per week), the universal nature of newspapers (non-specialized) were taken into account. Only those publications were searched where the topic of family (or its derivatives) was not just mentioned, but also considered in detail (thus, the predominant genres of the selected publications were articles, reviews, interviews, sometimes reports and editorial columns). As a result of the conducted research on the coverage of the family topic by local newspapers, it was not possible to identify significant differences on a geographical basis. Almost all newspapers paid equal attention to the most significant and topical aspects of this subject. One of the explanations for this conclusion can be considered as the «publisher factor». Many local newspapers are still controlled by large publishing and media holdings, which «recommend» the same approaches to all «their» publications.

 

 

  1. Fedor Serdotetsky

Journalism Department

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

Genre and Thematic Features of the American Media Platform Twitch.Tv and Family Image On This Service

 

American platform Twitch.tv as a youth media platform  The topic of the report is the genre and thematic features of journalistic content on the American streaming platform Twitch.tv and the policy of this service regarding statements about new types of families in the United States.  The problem of the study is due to the difference between traditional media, which are used mainly by the older audience, and youth media, whose main consumers are young people under 35 years old, as well as the promotion of new ethical standards. The idea behind this study is to argue that streaming platforms and Twitch.tv in particular are extremely popular media sources among young people. For the report, foreign and Russian Twitch channels were selected, which are divided into the following categories: official media accounts, accounts of political journalists and accounts of video gaming magazines. The random sampling method was used for selection. On the example of these channels, genre diffuseness and hybridization of classical genres were revealed. Such genre specificity and format are unique to media content intended for a young audience. In addition, censorship of statements against the new type of families in the United States was revealed. Moreover, the study of Twitch channels revealed the existence of a complex hypermedia genre, which, thanks to new technological capabilities, combines the properties of all classical media at once, as well as the modified interactive property of new media, and promotes the speech culture inherent in youth into the digital space. The American platform Twitch.tv is a platform with great potential for journalism, as this service is an example of a fundamentally new type of content distribution, as well as interaction with the audience. However, at the same time, there is censorship on the platform aimed at the creators and consumers of content.

 

Continue reading

Registration to XLVIII RSACS International Conference opens October 1, 2022

The theme of the conference is American Family in Flux as Reflected in Literature, Art and Media. 

Dates November 30- December 3, 2022

Planned sections:

  • Journalism,
  • American Culture of the 17-19th Centuries,
  • Contemporary Literature and Culture, with a Round Table Discussion on American Drama
  • Ethnic Aspects,
  • Gender Studies,
  • Fantastic in the Arts,
  • Canadian perspectives,

A traditional Round Table discussion: Imprints – Image of America and Image of Russia will also be held and dedicated to the memory of Professor Yasssen Zassoursky.

Registration starts October 1, 2022 at the portal Lomonosov 

Applications for additional sections or panel discussions are accepted until October 20 together with the names of at least three participants and should be sent to the address larmih@gmail.com

The deadline for abstracts is October 31. Letters of acceptance will be sent by November 15.

The conference will be held in a hybrid format, with a possibility for participants to present their papers online. Platform – Zoom.
Participants and registered listeners will be sent invitation links for conference sessions by November 29.

XLVII International RSACS Conference 2021 Schedule

DayTimeSection
December 1 Wednesday6.00 PM-8.00 PMOpening Plenary Session
December 2
Thursday
11.30 AM-2.30 PMSection 1. Journalism
2.30 PM- 3.00 MPLunch break
3.00 PM-7.00 PMSection 3. Contemporary American Culture of the 20th-21st Centuries
December 3
Friday
10.00 AM-12.30 PMSection 2. American Culture of the 17th-19th Centuries
1.00 PM-4.00 PMSection 4. Ethnic Aspects of American Culture
4.00 PM-4.30 PMCoffee break
4.30 PM-7.00 PMSection 6.
Fantastic in American Art and Culture
December 4
Saturday
11.00 AM-1.00 PMSection 5. Gender Aspects of American Culture
1.00 PM-2.00 PMLunch break
2.00 PM-4.00 PMSection 5. Gender Aspects of American Culture.
Continued
4.00 PM-5.00 PMCoffe break
5.00 PM-7.00 PMRound Table in Memoriam of Professor Yassen Zassoursky
«Imprints: Image of America and Image of Russia»
7.10 PM-8.00 PMClosing Plenary Session

XLVII RSACS International Conference Program «Преодоление: выработка идеалов и их отображение в культуре США — Overcoming: Cultivating Ideals through Overcoming Barriers in American Culture»

Plenary Opening Session  

December 1,  Wednesday 6.00 PM

  1. Dr. Larisa Mikhaylova

RSACS Academic Secretary

Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow State Universuty,Russia

Plenary Speakers Introduction

 

  1. Cynthia Lazaroff

 Cynthia Lazaroff is the founder of Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy and NuclearWakeUpCall.Earth. She is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and author of Dawn of a New Armageddon, a personal account of the Hawaii missile scare amidst escalating nuclear dangers, published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Hiroshima Day. Cynthia is engaged in Track II citizen diplomacy and mediation efforts with Russia and has founded groundbreaking U.S.-Russian exchange initiatives since the early 1980s. Cynthia is dedicated to catalyzing efforts in U.S.-Russia relations to reduce the nuclear risk and to working with people in Russia and all countries to move towards a world without nuclear weapons.

Cynthia Lazaroff Opening Words — American Studies Conference Moscow 12-1-21

 

  1. Professor Nikolai Popov

PhD in History, Leading Researcher

RAS Institute of the USA and Canada, Moscow, Russia

American and Russian High School Students –Direct Connection Against the War Threat

 

Section 1. Journalism

Coordinator Professor Yulia Balashova (St.-Petersburg State University, Russia)

December 2, Thursday  11.30 AM – 2.30 PM

 

  1. Yulia Balashova

St.Petersburg State University, Russia

Russian and American Almanacs Calendar Invariant

Comparative media researches are one of the most demanded areas, however, in fact, they have not actually been sufficiently developed in the historical aspect. The media comparative approach is based primarily on the socio-political, not the general cultural factor, which is not always adequate to the historical and journalistic realities. This type of publications as an almanac emphasizes the cultural code. Comparison of the Russian and American traditions of publishing almanacs is being undertaken for the first time. In these two diverging traditions, almanacs have historically functioned in the different cultural environments: elite – in the  Russian culture, and popular, mass –  in the American version. Nevertheless, almanacs  comparative typological invariant  reveals the unity associated with the mediatization of the calendar, the seasonal reading circle. As the main empirical material, the almanacs of the period of formation are considered, by the 18th  –  19th centuries.

 

  1. Linna Liberchuk

Independent Scholar, Moscow, Russia

The Ideals and “Pitfalls” of the Founding Fathers’ Actions: Interviews with Accomplished American Historians at the Library of Congress

Interaction and mutual influence of American history and culture presented through interviews in а book “American History. Conversations with Master Historians” (2019) by D. Rubenstein, a philanthropist, investor, founder of “patriotic philanthropy”. Using the chapters which discuss the Founding Fathers, the presentation shows (1) key points of interviews with historians in regard of unusual historical, cultural and social events in the country’s past: the Founding Era of the nation. The “Congressional Dialogues” program at the Library of Congress was designed for members of Congress, (2) the book includes a part of these “Dialogues”, which was presented to the general readers in Washington, DC at the popular bookstore “Politics and Prose” (2019) and at the National Press Club (2020) for national and international journalists, (3) inspiring moments of biographies of “giants” – George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin with focus on ideals which motivated them (e.g. independence, freedom, readiness to give up power, international relations, diplomacy), as well obstacles of the crisis we never knew: an unsupported military budget, hierarchy, dynasties and partisan biases, inconsistency of political processes and segregation, excessive trustfulness and personal mistakes. Conclusion: (1) The book is a powerful tool of studying interview techniques through international communication. A civilizational shift in 1776 affected the complicated, difficult and confusing world as our world does now. David Rubinstein’s exceptional professionalism in asking questions shows authors’ knowledge of history, enthusiasm and humor. (2) The collection of interviews presents different opinions about historical decisions which changed the course of the nation, the Founding Fathers’ destinies illuminating their values, respect for ordinary people, priority of revolutionary ideas in private lives. This book is an effective source for historians, political scientists, international journalists in a search for strategies for the international cooperation.

Continue reading

Registration for XLVII International RSACS “Overcoming: Cultivating Ideals through Overcoming Barriers in American culture” is open

The concept of Overcoming is suggested as a focus for interdisciplinary discussion of both contemporary period of American culture – such as implications of COVID-19 and its aftermath, crisis of trust in social life and overcoming Trumpism in politics, –  as well as in history with the persistent necessity to overcome various barriers in building and maintaining ideals – be it religious divides or the barriers spawned by immigration status, gender, race or class.


Planned sections:

  • Journalism,
  • American Culture of the 17-19th Centuries,
  • Contemporary Literature and Culture, with a Round Table Discussion on American Drama
  • Ethnic Aspects,
  • Gender Studies,
  • Fantastic in the Arts,
  • Canadian perspectives,

A traditional Round Table discussion: Imprints – Image of America and Image of Russia will also be held and dedicated to the memory of Professor Yassen Zassoursky.

The deadline for applications is November 10. Letters of acceptance will be sent by November 15.

Though the conference was planned to be held on-site, at MSU Journalism Department, 9 Mokhovaya ul., Moscow, Russia,  still, due to anti-COVID-19 measures protraction, the conference will be held online during the same dates – December 1-4, 2021. Platform – Zoom.
Participants and registered listeners will be sent invitation links for conference sessions by November 29.

Registration

https://lomonosov-msu.ru/eng/event/7011/