Russian Society of American Culture Studies XLI International Сonference
“Imagining and Building Peace in American Culture”
Lomonosov Moscow State University Journalism Department
December 4-11, 2015
PROGRAM
December 4. Opening session 5 pm, room 233
Keynote speaker
Andrew Wiget.
'Make Love Not War'": Imagining and Building
Peace in American Culture
Professor Emeritus,
New Mexico State University, Albuquerque, USA
Adjunct Professor,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Section 1. Journalism
Coordinator: Professor Irina Arkhangelskaya (Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod,
Russia aib@sandy.ru)
1. Bouchev Alexander
Tver State University, Russia
American Mass Media on Interreligious Communication across the Globe
The report illustrates the global media discourse on religious issues after event in Paris in the early
2015. Of interest is the approach of critical discourse analysis which is connected with
interpretation of stereotyped and axiological elements in the discourse under scrutiny. The author
discusses the problem of interreligious communication in the multicultural society. The analyzed
example considers characteristics of global mass media political discourse describing Egyptian
politics in 2013. Special attention is paid to the need of elaborating cognitive techniques of
comprehension of global mass media discourse, and the peculiarities of political discourse
shedding light upon nominations and assessments are being analyzed. The author shows
stereotyped expressions, axiological connotations of terms and as generic features of political
discourse. The paradigm approaches to discourse interpretation in politics are also studied. Of
interest are the conclusions about the rhetoric and linguistics characteristics of analyzed discourse.
The report suggests changes in the sphere of cultural education.
2. Nikolai Zykov
Journalism Department
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Adaptation of immigrants into American society in the covering of the Voice of America
1
One of the main tasks of the international broadcaster Voice of America is to inform the foreign
audience about the social processes in the United States. Interethnic conflicts recently caused
serious tensions in society. They were covered openly and frankly. But in in other areas, such as
the adaption of immigrants, including the Russian-speaking, things were peaceful. There has been
interesting trend.
3. Zagvozdkina Ekaterina
Journalism Department
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
The Times They Are A'Changing:
Collision of values in American society on the representation of
The Beat Generation in the US mainstream media of the 1950s – 1960s
In the 1960s the American society underwent serious changes and became more liberal in its
morals and values. The aim is to examine those changes through the representation of the Beat
Generation subculture in the media: what Time and Life magazines wrote on the beats, including
the most famous of them: poet Allen Ginsberg, writers Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, at
the end of the 50s, when the movement became famous (after the release of Kerouac’s On the
Road in 1957 and the birth of the term «beatnik». We have chosen Time and Life as our empirical
basis as in that period they had the largest and widest audience in the USA. That is why, we
suppose, these magazines expressed the opinion of the average American reader – therefore
through the changes in Time and Life we can trace not only changes in journalists’ opinions, but
in America itself throughout the decade. Texts are analyzed both directly through the epithets and
comparisons, and via context, stories concerning them and attitude towards their works.
4. Ksenia Omelchenko
Saint-Petersburg State University, Russia
American Propaganda During the War in Iraq
During military conflicts media becomes a traditional way to implement the foreign policy of any
state. This announcement leads to the term «propaganda», and includes spread of views, news,
arguments, facts, and ‘fakes’ to form public opinion or idea.
We reviewed the techniques of American propaganda during the war in Iraq in the early years of
the war.
During the first week of the war, American networks and British BBC or Canadian CBS showed
two different wars. The United States news ignored the Arab victims, anti-war and anti-American
protests, the discontent of citizens and the negative aspects of the war, while these topics were
covered in Canada and the UK, and in the Arab countries the conflict was broadcast as the invasion
in Iraq and the coup attempt.
In 2003, the brutality of the Iraqi people against the Pentagon was shown in the documentary
drama "Saving Private Lynch" on NBS with the main character – Jessica Lynch – was tortured as
one of the first prisoners of the war.
Direct propaganda has been broadcast on the television station «Al-Hurra», «Radio Sawa» in the
magazine «Hai», which were created in 2004 by producer of «Voice of America» in opposition to
«Al Jazeera».
The role of mass media in boosting as well as solving the conflict is under consideration.
5. Tarasevich Sophia
Publishing House «Kommersant», Moscow, Russia
Conciliatory Rhetoric: Hide-and-seek or Search for a Compromise?
2
Nowadays attention of American and Russian politicians is attracted to three main world conflicts:
Syria, Ukraine and Iran. Talking about the military operation against ISIS in Syria, the process of
arrangement in Ukraine and searching for a compromise on Iranian nuclear program, they often
use conciliatory rhetoric and encourage solving contradictions peacefully. We are interested in
analysis of not just contemporary American and Russian politicians’ rhetoric, but also in the forms
of communication with public they use. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs started to use actively
the form of briefing, previously commonly used by the US State Department. Politicians,
ambassadors, and diplomats in Moscow and Washington also do not forget about a powerful tool
for promulgating their rhetoric in public – social networks, .Twitter being one of them.
Conciliatory mood often recedes when politicians give a speech in front of the inner audience as
candidates during election debates. The presentation is based on empirical data collected during
April-October 2015: news messages from news agencies Reuters, AP, AFP, TASS, RIA Novosti,
Interfax and other media. It also includes the results of social media monitoring (Facebook and
Twitter) and official data of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US State Department.
6. Galina Bestolkova
Journalism Department
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
The Features of US. Latino Media
U.S. Latino media are print, broadcast and digital ones produced by, for or about people within the
Latino communities they are covering. The main feature of U.S. Latino media is language. The
thing is that U.S. Anglo media use only one language: English whereas U.S. Latino media can
come in more than one language, for example, in Spanish, English or bilingual formats using both
Spanish and English. The switch in languages is the first step in understanding differences among
Anglo and Latino media within USA and their different ways of covering news to their audiences.
The different approaches can be explained with the distinct roles of Anglo and Latino media and
are close to the historical roles of Latino media in the USA.
Section 2. American Culture of the 17th-19th Centuries
Galina Lapshina
Journalism Department
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Imagining and Building Peace in American Culture in Museums of Virginia
Virginia, according to many Americans, is the birthplace of the Nation. In 1619 there was created
the General Assembly, the first legislative body both in the North American continent and in the
Western hemisphere. Virginia is called the "mother of presidents", because from 1801 to 1825 as
the President of the United States three Virginians were elected consecutively - Thomas Jefferson,
James Madison and James Monroe. The President of the United States of America George
Washington was also a Virginian, as were William Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and
Woodrow Wilson.
Virginia is one of the most historically significant States of the US. On May 29, 1861 Richmond
became the capital of Confederacy, and remained the one almost until the end of the Civil War.
Events that took place in this region and their complicated historical truth are widely represented
in Virginia’s museums. Exposition in Jamestown can be mentioned separately: the museum
vividly presents challenges of emerging in the United States culture as a conglomeration of and
consensus within its composing elements: cultures of British, Powhatan Indians and Africans.
3
Round Table: Herman Melville’s Literary Legacy
Coodinator: Louisa P. Bashmakova, Prof. Emerita, KubSU, Krasnodar, Russia
(888lpb@gmail.com)
1. Anna Dulina
Journalism Department,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
The Image of Conflict in Herman Melville's Works: Aspects of Ontological Poetics.
During the development of Melville's work, he more than once reinterpreted the causes of
various conflicts and the ways of resolving them. These included both social conflicts
characteristic of America in the XIX century and universal ones. The way the problem was
represented in the texts also changed several times. For example, in "White-Jacket'' ''Evil is
presented as the form of human conflicts" and Melville introduced many motions to settle it,
criticizing the navy regulations of that time and the hierarchy. In “Moby Dick” artistic and
philosophical understanding of the conflict and the power issues replace the reform pathos of
“White-Jacket”. No direct advice is given in "Moby Dick" and resolving the conflict goes to the
level of ontological poetics. In "Billy Budd" the conflict between the characters will be a key
situation for both the plot development and the reflection on the divine will and human nature.
Finding some common features in the ways Melville describes the conflict situation seems
possible only on the level of ontological poetics. The conflict is connected with the concept of
"solidity" and can be described by Melville’s words: "To grow up with and solidify with the very
bones". We suggest illustrating this by the examples from "White-Jacket" (1850),"Moby-Dick"
(1851) and the novel "Billy Budd, Sailor" (1891).
Key words: American novel, Melville, сoncept, сonceptual-philological approach, conflict, Moby
Dick, White-Jacket, Billy Budd.
2. Alexandra Urakova
M. Gorki Institute of World Literature RAS, Moscow, Russia
“Bartleby the Scrivener” and Antebellum Benevolence: Charity Practices in Melville’s
Story
Melville’s famous story will be juxtaposed to charity practices and rhetoric of the antebellum
US. I will claim that the narrator, or the lawyer, represents a type of a sentimental philanthropist:
on the one hand, he is led by sympathy and compassion to Bartleby, on the other – he acts in
accordance with his time’s moral conventions and prejudices. Bartleby, in his turn, belongs to
the type of “unworthy poor,” a dependent unwilling to earn his living. Antebellum charity
practices reenacted in the story include a visit of the poor though in grotesque and inverted form.
The paper will argue that Melville reproduces stereotypes of contemporary benevolence in order
to pose complex ethical questions and suggest an alternative model of a relationship between a
philanthropist and his dependent.
Key words: Melville, “Bartleby the Scrivener,” benevolence, philanthropist, sentimental,
unworthy poor, visit to the poor, ethics.
4
3. Louisa P. Bashmakova
Krasnodar, Russia
Counterpoint of Motifs in Poetic Structure of H. Melville’s Israel Potter
In the mid-1850s, that is the decade between the end of the American-Mexican War of 1846–
1848 and the beginning of the Civil War of the 1861–1865, Herman Melville wrote Israel Potter.
His Fifty Years of Exile (1855) – the novel’s major idea being a poetic reconsideration of the
outcomes of the War of Independence (or the Revolutionary War, 1775–1783). Dramatic
pictures of the post-revolutionary revival of the country framed the book’s war episodes.
The multi-layer motif system of the novel holds fast owing to the central figure of a “defeated
hero” of the victorious American Revolution, Israel Potter.
The two motifs deserve to have been analyzed in details – both are rooted in the world literary
tradition and the mythology of the Old and New Testament. The first is “donquixotism/sanchopanzism” of the American “knights of justice,” while the second concerns the
biblical story of the “wrestler’s” conversion into the Man of Perseverance.
Key Words: counterpoint, motif, high/low, don-quixotism/sanchopanzism, Jacob/Israel.
4. Andrew Wiget
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
New Mexico State University, USA
Melville, Masculinity and Sendak's Illustrations for Pierre
While Melville's Moby-Dick (1851) has been frequently illustrated and in various styles, his
subsequent novel, Pierre, or The Ambiguities (1852), was never successfully illustrated until
Maurice Sendak's work appeared in the Kraken Edition of 1995. This paper argues that Sendak's
work not only successfully illustrates but also effectively complements the argument of text by
exposing the protagonist's ( and Melville's) conflicted understanding of masculinity and gender,
a prominent topic in mid-nineteenth century America but one which continued to press the limits
of American bourgeois propriety until the 1980s.
Keywords: Melville, gender, masculinity.
Section 3. American Literature and Culture of the 20th and 21st Centuries.
Coordinator – Professor Natalia Vysotska (Kiev National Linguistic University, Ukraine
literatavysotska@gmail.com)
1. Olga Antsyferova
Ivanovo State University, Russia
World Literature and Peace Literature: Problematic Correlation
5
Two concepts, rendered paronymically in Russian, are foregrounded in today’s American
Humanities — World Literature and Peace Literature. Courses in World Literature appeared in
American universities in 1990s and soon became an institution. Its main premise is to study texts
not from within its cultural tradition, but from the point of view of the cultural Other (D. Damrosch
et al.). Peace Literature as a special field of research is a comparatively recent invention, its
academic status is still problematic. The study of Peace Literature is an overtly interdisciplinary
project and includes research from political and social sciences, biology, psychology, economics,
law, cultural and peace studies, and literary studies. Though courses in Peace Literature include
mainly non-fictional texts, attempts are made to study Peace Literature in the framework of
Literary Scholarship, e.g. within the concept of Genre (A. Adolf).
Quite obviously, Peace Literature correlates with such notions as pacifism, non-violence and
counter-violence. Peace literature is not defined by the writer’s identity, nor by specific formal and
structural traits, its study places “function above the form” (A. Adolf). Studies in Peace Literature
imply research in readers response and cultural work performed by a text, its literary ethics and its
effect upon the reader. It considers a text in contexts of its production and consumption, i.e. can
be viewed as a variety of sociological approach.
World Literature and Peace Literature as academic disciplines manifest attempts at finding some
new synthesis — they share such quality as universality integrated with diversity, which is
symptomatic for the post-postmodern cultural situation.
2. Tatiana Belova
Department of Philology
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Artifact as a Mode of Resolving Conflicts
in the Unfinished Nabokov's Novel The Original of Laura
Nabokov's unfinished novel The Original of Laura develops the theme of hedonistic decay.
Its main hero Philip Wild, neurologist, discovered the way to erase his itching in the legs sinking
into nirvana and he wished to do the same with his unfaithful wife «when nothing was left but a
grotesque bust with staring eyes». Her Russian beloved wrote a best-seller «My Laura» praising
her beauty, but he also destroys her in his novel. But in reality Flora is still alive. Thus the conflict
is solved only in the system of Buddhist practice and artifacts (the novel and the portrait of Flora.)
3. A.K. Nikulina
M. Akmullah Bashkir State Pedagogical University, Ufa, Russia
A House Divided Against Itself: Some Thoughts on the Poetic World of R. Pirsig’s
Novel Lila
Robert M. Pirsig is the author of two philosophical novels, Zen and the Art of the Motorcycle
Maintenance (1974) and Lila (1991). While the former turned out to be a bestseller, the latter,
though considered by the writer more important in regard to its ideas, got a cool welcome. One of
the reasons that led to its failure may be attributed to the basic discrepancy in the structure of its
poetic world. The aim of the book is to present in full detail the Metaphysics of Quality – Pirsig’s
theoretical system aimed at overcoming the dualism of the Western philosophical thought that
opposes subject to object, materialism to idealism, science to religion, determinism to free will.
However, while setting the eternal philosophical disputes and looking for the way to reconcile the
confronting forces on the universal scale dominate the level of ideas, other levels of the poetic
world, i.e. those of characters, spatio-temporal relations and material objects, appear to be
dominated by the opposite tendency, to emphasize perpetual discord and practical impossibility to
resolve existing conflicts. As a result, the contrasting tendencies operating within the poetic world
of the novel baffle the readers and hinder true appreciation.
6
4.Sophia Kharlamova
Tyumen State University, Russia
Rock culture in a struggle for "inner" and "outer" peace
It is an indisputable fact that the rock-culture being a complex multi-level phenomenon manifested
itself in various art forms and in other human activities as well. This study examines the works
and activities of the rock musicians. Some of them were actively involved in anti-war actions,
while others tried to maintain “inner” peace that is, the harmony within oneself, achieving it by
overcoming internal conflict and personal contradictions. The purpose of this report is to analyze
the anti-war and military themes in the works by rock- musicians. It is particularly interesting to
compare war codes in rock movements of the United States during the Vietnam War and ones of
the USSR during the Afghan war. The tendency to overcome conflicts and build peace developed
in various ways. Reflection of war in the works, anti-war motives, musicians participating in social
movements are characteristic features of American rock music during the period of the Vietnam
War. Escape from everyday reality and the philosophy of contemplation on the one hand and war
as the natural state of a rock musician in a struggle against reality characterizes Soviet rock music
during the period of the Afghan war.
5. Lyudmyla Kazakova
Southwest State University, Kursk, Russia
Peace by Touch and by Color: micro and macro loci in the semantics of
A. Doerr’s novel All the Light We Cannot See (2014)
Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, All the Light We Cannot See follows the lives of
two children on the opposite ends of the battlefield – a blind French girl and an orphaned
German boy. The author projects the external conflict between their two countries on
the consciousness of his young characters. Marie-Laure, an inquisitive girl from Paris who
lost sight in the age of eight, and Werner, an orphan from a German mining town whose skills with
mathematics and machines takes him far away from the sister he loves, are almost children, who
are making their first efforts to know the reality, true life as it is. Narrative is dechronologized,
two characters’ stories are set first in peace, then at war, in prewar 1934, during war events of 1941
– 1944, and by the end in postwar period.
As the plot unfolds, their stories are interwoven in a way that sheds new light on both
seen and unseen, on their inner fears, and on humanity amidst one of the world’s most
catastrophic of historic events.
The montage principle enables the author to push the plot forward and back in time and place;
sometimes bringing these characters tantalizingly close, sometimes separating them by hundreds
of miles or by decades. A reader can see the events through the eyes of Werner, then with the blind
girl he perceives the world by touch, almost feeling the subtle and tender line between honesty and
hypocrisy, betray and loyalty, cowardice and heroism. A. Doerr’s novel reflecting the cruelty of
war that destroys consciousness of a young man, who is trying to achieve balance between outer
reality and his inner world, evokes some associations with 20th century war novels, such as
J. Heller’s Catch-22 (1961) and K. Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse №5 (1969). A. Doerr develops in
the American Literature of the 21st century a new version of antiwar novel warning about the value
and fragility of peace.
6. Olga Listopadova
Ivanovo State University, Russia
The Image of Istanbul in the Period of 1970s Political Conflicts (based on Maureen Freely’s
novel Enlightenment, 2008)
7
The image of Istanbul is presented in the works of many writers. Each of them depicted the city in
his/her own way due to different reasons (personal, social, political etc.) Works of Maureen Freely
are of special interest for the analysis since she is quite a sample of a multicultural person: born in
America, Freely moved to Turkey at the age of 8. Influenced by various factors, the writer created
her own image of Istanbul, which became the setting for many of her novels. The paper focuses
on the image of Istanbul presented in the novel Enlightenment, 2008 in the framework of “city as
text” theory. The novel takes place in the period of political conflicts in 1970s, when a group of
radical young students, children of American diplomats, is accused of murdering a university tutor.
7. Pavel Silaev
Smolensk State University, Russia
Resolution of Conflicts in Three Extracts from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L.F. Baum,
excluded from The Wizard of the Emerald City by A.M. Volkov
The report is devoted to the analysis of the extracts from the book 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'
by L.F. Baum which were not used in the re-narration by A.M. Volkov: 'The Winged Monkeys',
'Attacked by the Fighting Trees' and 'The Dainty China County'. After the first publication of
Volkov's re-narration in 1939 (the closest to the original work by Baum) there were two
considerable revisions which enlarged and deepened many story lines of the American fairy tale.
Despite this fact the above-mentioned extracts were never used by Volkov and there were several
reasons and suggestions for it. The given cultural stylistic analysis of the discussed extracts in
terms of traditional concepts of American culture enables to consider them as significant though
minor parts of Baum's fairy tale. They support the general idea of the characters' moral and spiritual
improvement and illustrate the presence of features typical of American 'road narrative' in this
fairy tale. The reflection of American people's way of life and their customs in these extracts
displays American mentality which reveals itself in solving interpersonal conflicts the characters
face on the way to their major aims.
8. Irina Kudriavtseva,
Minsk State Linguistic University, Belarus
Generational Conflict in Peter Taylor’s Novel
A Summons to Memphis
In his Pulitzer-winning novel A Summons to Memphis (1986) the American author Peter Taylor
turned to the theme of family relations and family conflicts. The novel’s narrator Phillip Carver
finds himself involved in the struggle between his sisters and his father, a wealthy and influential
old widower George Carver, who has decided to remarry. This struggle illuminates the personal
qualities of each family member, their fears and psychological wounds rooted in the past, and for
Phillip it initiates the process of self-awareness. The novel is filled with reunions and partings,
quarrels and reconciliations, the most important of which is the reconciliation between Phillip and
his father. The theme of family conflicts is interwoven in the novel with the motifs of moral
responsibility for one’s actions, of emotional and psychological dependence of family members
upon each other, and of human ability to empathize and to forgive.
9. Marina Pereverzeva
Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory (university), Russia
The world as frictionless coexistence of cultures in music of the USA
American composers of the 19–20th centuries presented characteristic outlook as a system having
conflict-free coexistence of different national traditions in their works. There are genres and
styles which united musical features of European, African and the American continents and
8
became national contribution of the USA (spiritual, jazz, musical). However in such “neutral”
genres as a symphony, a concert, a suite, a vocal and instrumental cycle, a program music, the
New World composers used art traditions of the people living in the USA following to a concept
“unity of unlike”, “parallelism of different”, “simultaneity of opposite”. This concept was
brightly realized by vanguard creators of the second half of the 20th century.
10. Marina Knyazeva
Journalism Department,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Cultural Dialogue in a Disjointed World: Mistakes and Perspectives
Tendencies of the cultural dialogue as an immanent property of human civilizations are
considered with present features analyzed on the basis of Russian experience.
Section 4. American Drama.
Roundtable Discussion: Arthur Miller Centenary
Coordinator – Leading Researcher Maya Koreneva (Gorky World Literature Institute RAS,
Moscow, Russia)
1. Maxim Gudkov
St. Petersburg State University,
St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, Russia
Arthur Miller and the Group Theatre:
Stages of Collaboration
The formation of Arthur Miller’s creative outlook and dramaturgy method occurs during one of
the most striking and contradictory periods in the history of American theatre – 1930s, the so called
‘red decade’. One of the most influential phenomenons in artistic life of the United States during
these years was the Group Theatre.
Miller defined the uniqueness of this theatre and its significance for himself in the following way:
«It was not only the brilliance of ensemble acting, which in my opinion has never been equaled
since in America, but the air of union created between actors and the audience. Here was the
promise of prophetic theatre which suggested to my mind the Greek situation when religion and
belief were the heart of drama» ( Miller A. The Collected Plays. NY: Viking Press, 1957. P. 16.).
The social-charged activity of the Group, its rebellious spirit and unified idea about the high socialeducational mission of Theatre affected the playwright deeply: having his own civic position
subsequently became essential for A. Miller. It is no mere chance that the best directors who staged
Miller’s plays are former Group members, - Elia Kazan («All My Sons», 1947; «Death of a
Salesman», 1949; «After The Fall», 1964), Harold Clurman («Incident at Vichy», 1964) and
Robert Lewis («An Enemy of the People», 1950); performances on Miller’s plays were designed
by Group’s set designers Boris Aronson («The Crucible» 1953; «A View From the Bridge», 1955;
«A Memory of Two Mondays», 1955; «Incident at Vichy», 1964; «The Price», 1968; «The
Creation of the World and Other Business», 1972) and Mordecai Gorelik («All My Sons», 1947).
One of the most remarkable roles in the entire history of American acting, - Willy Loman from
«Death of a Salesman», - was created on stage by Lee J. Cobb, - an actor from the Group.
2. Natalia Vysotska
Kiev National Linguistic University, Ukraine
Dramatic Embodiments of the Other in Arthur Miller’s Later Plays
Arthur Miller’s dramatic paradigm with its philosophic and moral preoccupation with connections
and universal responsibility has always been extremely sensitive to an individual’s relationship
9
with “the Other”, whatever shape that latter might have assumed. In 1980s-1990s, however,
marked in American culture by a strong emphasis on plurality in terms of both ontological
foundations of existence and its socio-political dimensions, to say nothing of artistic diversity, this
issue has gained special prominence in Miller’s plays. It is my belief that the following features
characterizing the dramatist’s later work can be explored within the context of individual’s selfpositioning towards “the Other”:

Shift of dramatic focus towards female characters (since it was “woman” that began to
figure as the archetypal “Other” in Eurocentric cultural matrix). Traditionally, Miller has been
viewed as a predominantly “male” playwright due to much more significant roles played by male
protagonist in terms of the plays’ message. In 1980s-1990s Miller’s heroines become much more
self-sustainable sharing with “strong sex” the task of revealing the author’s intentions (Elegy for
a Lady, 1982; I Don’t Remember Anything, 1987; The Last Yankee, 1993; Broken Glass, 1993).

Incorporating national or ethnic alterity as a cultural construct with strong social
implications into a play’s core (Clara, 1987; The Last Yankee; Broken Glass). Dealing with this
issue, Miller, as before, rejects facile solutions and insists on his characters’ making their own
moral choices without concessions to “political correctness”.

“Otherness” is also identified and put forward for discussion on a personal and intimate
level – as a painful duality concerning one’s identity (Broken Glass).

On the plane of poetics the concern with aesthetic “Other” is realized through increasing
intertextuality achieved by replaying elements from past drama texts (by Chekhov, Ibsen or Rice,
for example), as well as drawing from some popular entertainments, like American vaudeville or
variety show (The American Clock, 1980; The Last Yankee; Mr.Peters’ Connections, 1998).
Remaining very much a social artist who believes that “art imitates life”, in 1980s – 1990s Miller,
nonetheless, could not escape being caught, albeit tangentially, in postmodernist cultural mesh. Its
impact manifests itself, in part, in his sharpened sense of polyvalent vectors affecting an individual
in modern society, and in his drive towards “recycling” cultural gains of the past. Relying upon
current theories of alterity, the paper aims at exploring some of these issues.
3. Galina Kovalenko
St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, Russia
Staging A. Miller’s The Cruсible in St.Petersburg
T.Chkeidze staged The Crucible in 1991, the epoch of the USSR breakdown. He left Georgia for
political reasons. His production was about people who had God in their souls, and their choiсe
was dictated by their faith. The subtext of the production was rhymed with Gospel: “If a house is
divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark, 3:25). The production of Polish director
A.Buben (2009) is staged about people who lost faith: God is dead. He remembers the heroes of
Solodarnost’ and knows that conscience dictates choice.
Section 5. Ethnic Aspects of American Culture
Coordinators – Associate Professor Oksana Danchevskaya (Moscow State Pedagogical
University, Russia odanchevskaya@gmail.com) and Dr. Andrew Wiget (MSU, USA/Russia)
(Andrew.Wiget@gmail.com)
1. Oksana Danchevskaya
Moscow State Pedagogical University, Russia
10
Duality in North American Indian Mythology
The law of unity and the struggle of opposites not only covers all areas of our lives, but also sounds
particularly relevant in today’s world. However, the origins of this idea are to be found in the
mythologies of different peoples. Entire series of North American Indian myths are based on
oppositions – of good and evil, creation and destruction, masculine and feminine, light and
darkness, life and death-- like, for example, in well-known Twin cycles. Duality explains the very
world outlook of American Indians, according to which the harmony of the universe is possible
only in the balance of these opposites, counterpoising the impact of each other on the world and
people.
2. Julia Ovchinnikova (Barkova)
Department of Foreign Languages and Region Studies
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Special Artistic Dimensions of Peacemaking in the Worldview of Native Americans
On the base of musical culture, folklore, painting and ethnic literature, the author brings to light
some special artistic aspects of peacemaking in the worldview of Native Americans: the feeling of
kinship with all nature living; nature as source of ethical and spiritual values; guarding and
preserving the maternal source of life as guarantee of future; ethnohistorical memory as a means
of mankind’s and humanity’s survival; maintenance of spiritual line of life as the base of justice;
the Laws of Great Peace as the model of peacemaking world view.
3. Gleb Aleksandrov
Department of History
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Toponymy, Independence and Cultural Subjugation: Naming Practices in Early XVIIth
Century Virginia and New England
Establishing colonial dominance is a complex process. The legitimization of colonial rule requires
not only military, political and economic suppression of any possible native resistance, but also
the eradication of native cultural identity. One of the most important tools for this eradication is
the practice of naming. The act of naming begins the process of cultural subordination. The
colonizing culture wipes the history of the colonized clean and starts it anew. Naming also allows
the ideologues of the colony to indirectly demonstrate their vision of the colony’s future and its
relationship with the mother country. And finally, naming and “legally” establishing new names –
through colonial charters and other documents, or through map-making – starts the formation of
the colony’s self-image.
Comparing naming practices of Virginia and New England allows us to stress the aspects of
colonial ideology that allowed the New England colonies to maintain a relatively peaceful
coexistence with Native Americans far longer than in Virginia. The same naming practice
illustrates the ideological differences between the two regions which led to the gradual separation
of New England from the mother country – and, simultaneously, to the consolidation of New
England colonies into a relatively cohesive group, which ultimately became the foundation of the
US.
4. Irina Udler
Chelyabinsk State University, Russia
South Ural State University, Russia
African American Journalism of the Nineteenth Century about the Overcoming the Race
Conflict
11
Race is the focus of one of the most considerable and long conflicts in the USA. It began in the
17th century, led to the Civil War, with painful consequences to this day.
The nineteenth century African-American press advocated for the abolition of slavery, for the
integration of the black population into the American nation, and opposed to racism. The idea and
plans for African-American colonization which were hotly debated in the American society and
were bitterly attacked in the African-American press (Freedom’s Journal, The Colored American,
North Star, The Frederick Douglass Paper, Douglass’ Monthly) were rejected as racist. AfricanAmerican periodicals criticized racist ideology and practice and supported providing the equal
political, social and economic rights, along those lines declared in the program of the first AfricanAmerican newspaper Freedom’s Journal on March 16, 1827, devoted “to the moral, religious,
civil and literary improvement of our race". Journalists assigned an important role to the Christian
religion and morals designed to promote the integration of the blacks into the American society.
These questions of migration and co-existence of different races and ethnic groups, racial and
national identification, assimilation, and integration remain real problems in the 21st century.
5. Olga Panova
Department of Philology,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Race War and the Quest for Peaceful Coexistance
in American literature of the 1870-1900-ies
The unprecedented increase of immigration, quick social changes, modernization and deterioration
of the traditional lifestyle in the Progressive Era resulted in the rise of conservative views and
defense reaction in the American society: the claims for assimilation of non Anglo-Saxon elements
are strengthened with the new phenomena, such as eugenic practices and institutions, control over
the racial and ethnic composition of immigrants. The most drastic forms the conflict acquires in
the postwar South. After Emancipation Proclamation and the Reconstruction the United States
enter in the period of the first race war of the 1880-1900-ies. “The white ressentiment” embodied
in the legal (Black codes) and extra-legal (lynchings, burnings and other acts of violence) practice,
race riots, extremist groups and organizations, both white and Black, and other typical Southern
race war realia make part of the nationwide current in defense of racial / ethnic identity – either
that of the titular dominant Anglo-Saxon race and its “authentic American heritage”, or that of
minority racial / ethnic groups. The excesses of the race war and the quest for peace became the
main problem in the works of both Black / colored (Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois,
Charles W. Chesnutt, Sutton Griggs, Pauline Hopkins, Paul Dunbar, James Weldon Johnson) and
southern white (Thomas Dixon, Joel Chandler Harris, Thomas Nelson Page) authors with very
different and often polar attitudes to the “Negro problem” – revenge-seeking, separatism, militancy
or trying to reach compromise. The possibility of a compromise is widely debated in the American
literature and journalism of the period. Traditional recipes are being revised – paternalism,
assimilation, colonization of the Blacks, and the new models are offered – integrationism,
segregation, separatism (imperium in imperio), miscegenation, that provoke much discussion and
very different evaluation.
6. Tatiana Voronchenko, Nina Vinogradova,
Transbaikal State University, Chita, Russia
The Psychological Basis of Ethnic-Social Conflict in J. Updike’s Terrorist (2006)
In Terrorist (2006) John Updike tries to comprehend multicultural reality of the United States and
the psychology of a young man becoming involved in Muslim terroristic organization forms. The
subject of this paper is the examination of how the consciousness of this young man is manipulated
with the aim of creating a false vision of reality, which produces those kinds of psychological
changes that lead to ethno-social conflict.
12
7. Firdes Dimitrova
Stary Oskol Branch of Voronezh State University, Russia
Conflict Resolution in Leslie Silko’s Novel Gardens in the Dunes
The “Indian Renaissance” of the 1960s -1970s stimulated worldwide interest in American ethnic
literatures and the problems of its ethnic minorities. Leslie Silko (b. 1948), one of the most talented
and well-known American Indian authors, in her works fully devoted herself to saving her dying
ethnos by trying to revive Indian culture and traditions and show Native American’s mentality and
identity through means of literature. Together with questions of national identity and specific
mythology, she speculates over the nature and reasons of global conflicts between peoples and
looks for the means of their elimination. According to Silko, the nature of any conflict is in the
establishing all kinds of borders dividing people into different groups such as strong and weak,
white and colored, friend or a stranger, etc. Creating Opposition and contrasting people, ethnic
groups and cultures is the foundation for contradictions leading to conflict. Correspondingly,
elimination of any imaginary or visual borders can lead to the resolution of the conflict itself. Such
cultural reconciliation takes place through the gardens of Silko’s novel Gardens in the Dunes.
8. Tatiana Voronchenko, Ekaterina Fyodorova,
Transbaikal State University, Chita, Russia
Ethno-Social Conflict and Its Resolution in Alejandro Morales’s River of Angels (2014)
Contemporary Mexican-American (Chicano) writer Alejandro Morales explores the search of
identity and the process of self-identification in borderland culture. He is greatly concerned about
ethnic-social issues and conflicts caused by inter-ethnic and intercultural contradictions. The latest
novel of Morales, River of Angels (2014), uses the story of two families to relate the entire history
of peace and conflict and in the multicultural environment of Southern California. Examining the
system of characters, motifs, images and symbols helps to reveal some of the causes for ethnicsocial conflicts, the ways in which they develop and mechanisms for their resolution.
9. Andrey Davydov
Department of History
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
"The Modern Peloponnesian War": Ethnicity and World War I in American Racial
Theories, 1914-1924
Two high-profile racial theorists, Madison Grant and Lothrop Stoddard, published their major
works as World War I neared its end. These right-wing intellectuals struggled to reconcile their
sympathies to Anglophile jingoism with their rejection of an "internecine" war within the "white
world", which they saw as a portent of forthcoming decline. The paper considers two contrary
approaches used to find this balance, both deploying politicized anthropology. Grant and Stoddard
tried to diminish the status of Germans in their racial hierarchies by altering anthropological data
in consecutive editions of their books. At the same time, they attempted to offer race as a
replacement for ethnicity in an effort to counter nationalist enmity.
Section 6. Gender Aspects of American Culture
Coordinators - Senior Researcher Larisa Mikhaylova (Journalism Department, Lomonosov
Moscow State University, Russia, larmih@gmail.com) and Doctor of Politology Nadezhda
13
Shvedova (Institute of the
n.shvedova2015@yandex.ru)
USA
and
Canada
Studies,
Moscow,
Russia,
1. Galina Lapshina
Journalism Department,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
B. F. Brandt’s Study on Women in Western Europe and America
Prominent Russian economist Boris F. Brandt (1860-1907) for many years served in the Ministry
of Finance, invited there on the initiative of the Minister, Count Sergei Witte, and where he was a
member of the Academic Committee of the Ministry. Brandt was the author of many scientific
works, in particular the work of "Foreign capital and its impact on the economic development of
the country" (SPb. 1898-1901). He wrote an interesting sociological study "Modern Woman, Her
Position in Europe and America" which was published in the magazine Russkoye Bogatstvo
throughout 1894, and in 1896 in a book form.
2. Larissa V. Baibakova
Department of History,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
“World Without War”: Anti-war Writings and Public Activities of American Peace
Movement Leader J. Addams (1914-1919)
This presentation is planned to consider the conditions of shaping Addams’ anti-war stance which
was strongly influenced by the world pacifist thought, especially critically rethought Leo Tolstoy's
ideas on nonviolent resistance. The author highlights some of her major provisions on the ways of
ending the war and achieving peace, pays special attention to the preparatory work concerning the
implementation of the International Congress of Women in Hague in 1915 and the establishment
of women’s anti-war organizations – Woman’s Peace Party and Women’s International League
for Peace and Freedom in 1915.
3. Tatyana Kamarovskaya
Maksim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogic University, Minsk, Belarus
White Colour…Is the Absence of Any Colour (Margaret .Atwood’s Novel The Robberbride)
In many novels- M. Atwood is dealing with aspects of Feminism: The Handmaid’s Tale, The
Robberbride, A Cat’s EYE. In The Robberbride three heroines of the novel oppose one devilish
heroine, Zenia, the embodiment of Evil, who destroyed their lives by tempting and taking away
their husbands or a beloved. All three heroines were kind to her and helped her in her assumedly
desperate situation. All three proved armless against her and hated her, but at the end of the novel
are proud of her. Zenia showed them the limitations of their own lives which they spent hiding
from reality, and they come to the understanding that she alone realized her life potential in spite
of amorality of her ways and goals. The end of the novel expresses the expectation of the
appearance of a new woman who will be equal to Man in life struggle.
4. Nadezhda Shvedova
Institute of the USA and Canada Studies, Moscow, Russia
Women in the United States: A Portrait in Broad Strokes
14
In the early XX1 century the role and status of women in the United States becomes a major
phenomenon, the political and social significance is recognized by the entire society. Expressions
"with confidence, you will overcome everything," or "I can do it" attune with a sense of hope and
a keen sense of human dignity, important for Americans, and helps women to reach the level of
material wealth. This is the key to understanding the "American character" in general. The world
is very small, all the processes in it are interconnected, and the United States play an important
role in this world. E pluribus Unum - «United in diversity" is written on the US national emblem
- represents a consensus view of the American community in the country. Understanding of this
diversity became the most important trend in American culture today.
American women were able to achieve much in the observance of gender equality, while
at the same time - there is still much to do. They face the problem of unfair pay, violence, lack of
representation at the decision-making level and other issues.
Analysis of the women status in the United States allows comparing historical paths and
understanding the lessons useful for the Russian women's movement to some extent. Gender
balance as any balance should be continuously maintained. The way to maintain it is through
educational work to help women find themselves and the path to a civilized and comfortable
society.
5. Darya Shvedova
Institute of USA and Canada Studies, Moscow, Russia
Gender Roles in Modern American Family: Partnership Or Confrontation
The dominance of traditional nuclear family in the 1950s has contributed to the contemporary
women's movement, which strongly resisted the long domination of men, as well as the elimination
of women from the labor market. The women's movement in the United States considered the
traditional nuclear family in negative colors, not without reason, considering this type of family
relations discriminative against women.
Today, most researchers share the views of the women's movement in favor of an equitable form
of the family and the real economic independence for women. From this perspective, a departure
from the traditional nuclear family is regarded as progress and is not seen as a negative
phenomenon.
Family increasingly resembles a business partnership between two adults: the number of joint bank
accounts decreases, the number of marriage contracts is increasing.
6. Larisa Mikhaylova
Journalism Department,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Building Family Peace in the 21st Century:
American TV Series Modern Family and The Fosters
Top lines of the American TV 2014/15 charts among family series were constantly occupied by a
comedy Modern Family (2009-, created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd) and a drama
The Fosters (2013-, created by Brad Bredeweg and Peter Paige). In both children of the spouses
from different marriages are brought up along with adopted and fostered children.
In comedic and in serious mode as well the focus is on diversity of the gender spectrum in
American families today, which adds to the usual spectrum of conflicts at work, and between
parents and children, but it also provides extra opportunities to take those differences into account
and find solutions. Obligatory condition – mutual respect of all the family members and honesty
towards themselves.
Wider diversity in marriages and partnerships is one way to cope with instability of usual nuclear
family too often shattered by family violence and alcoholism because of stress. Another reason is
15
search for a kindred soul in a progressively atomized society. In the analyzed series, we observe
relations on the level of adults and children on the various stages adoption. Adoption as a concept
of care and conflict solution can be considered a prevailing positive model, attracting viewers
attention.
7.
Polina Molchanova
Journalism Department,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
American Musical Culture Fighting for Peace:
Charity single as a way to draw attention to the problem of domestic violence
“Music can change the world because it can change people” – Bono.
A charity record is a song released for a specific charitable cause. All proceeds from the sale go
to help someone. We see how spiritual intersects with social - boundless faith in the ability to
change the world is a typical American trait, involving responsibility of an artist or musician.
The emotional reaction to injustice inspires a song about the problem, symbolizing the cry of the
soul. The way to restoring harmony should lie through solving the problem of domestic violence.
As an example was used the song "Release" by Canadian rock band The Tea Party (1998, Label
- EMI Music Canada), released to assist the White Ribbon Campaign - a global movement of
men and boys working to end male violence against women and girls.
Section 7. Fantastic in the Arts.
Coordinator - Senior Researcher Larisa Mikhaylova (Journalism Department, Lomonosov
Moscow State University, Russia, larmih@gmail.com)
1. Boris Maximov
Journalism Department
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Opposition of Puritanism and the «Enlightened Perspective» in N.Hawthorne`s Tales
Hawthorne famously rejected both the excesses of Puritanism (such as intolerance toward human
sin, the Calvinist obsession with fighting evil, the religious fanaticism) and the downside of
Enlightment (first and foremost, a pragmatic immoralism). My study aims to explore the
borderline between the Puritan ideology and the Enlightened perspective in ethics as far as in
natural philosophy (including the idea of the “marvelous”) in Hawthorne`s most noteworthy
tales. Besides, it is important to me to consider reasons provoking a direct, violent confrontation
between the two convictions.
2. Lea Berger
University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, France
American Imperialist Foreign Policy in American Science Fiction Movies during the 1950s:
Paranoïa, Invasion and Coexistence
This paper will argue the representation of peace in two American science fiction movies during
the 1950s: The War of the Worlds (1953) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). These two
movies translate the ambivalent mood in America during the Cold War with on one hand, a fear
of communism, and on the other hand, the will to prevent a nuclear war. The War of the Worlds,
directed by Byron Haskin, uses the image of the Alien as a malevolent and hostile creature whom
the aim is to destroy humanity. The movie is often seen as propaganda for American Imperialism
faced to the dangerous communist Soviet Union. It is what Susan Sontag calls the imagination of
16
disaster. On the other hand, The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert Wise, shows a strong
opposition between the pacific alien Klaatu- who comes to earth to establish peace- and the
belligerent US government. This anti-nuclear war movie was released the same year as the opening
of the United Nations official headquarters. While The War of the Worlds clearly belongs to what
Jean-Michel Valentin calls « the cinema of national security », The Day the Earth Stood Still is
less Manichaean by presenting the US government as willing to demand world peace when it
becomes aware of its technological inferiority.
These two movies- read in the shadow of the Red Scare- definitely illustrate the difficulty for the
United States to establish peace at the beginning of the Cold War. While the Soviet Union proposed
Peaceful Coexistence, the United States kept maintaining Imperialism around the world. Above
all, while promoting capitalism, democracy and moral values among oriental and occidental
countries, the United States experienced the beginning of the civil rights movements with the
protest of the Vietnam War and the criticism of racial inequalities within the country.
3. Larisa Mikhaylova
Journalism Department
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Contact with Extraterrestrials: Theme Transformation in the 21st Century
A theme of Contact developed in science fiction throughout 1930-80s, having substituted War of
the Worlds theme. It was the way to overcome discrimination here on Earth in the imagination of
readers and viewers, to learn discerning common features and cherish diversity. It might have
seemed that in science fiction the Other and the Alien ceased to mean necessarily Evil. But at
present extraterrestrials are again depicted as far from friendly and Skies are Falling in most major
SF films and TV series. It certainly reflects international tensions, but is there a way out from this
backward trend in sight?
Anne Leckie’s Ancillary Justice (2013) garnered all major SF awards in 2014. On the surface level
it is a space opera about conquering the worlds by an expansionist Radch Empire, thus following
the dominant trend. But in the tradition of many adventure novels, the ignored in the blast of a
mighty ship ancillary, carrying besides the mind of the ship’s AI an acute sense of injustice, finds
a way to overcome the Lord of the Radch, Anaander Mianaai who uses multiple synchronized
bodies to govern her Empire, through associatinge with her more pacific aspect. Embodiment of
contemporary contradictions, the novel still shows a way to Contact through a neutral zone.
In the paper the discussion of this novel in the Russian fandom will be analyzed
4. Richard Finn
Whitireia, Wellington, New Zealand
Science Fiction Theatre versus Science Fiction Cinema : Staging Imaginings of Peace’
Science fiction on stage is not a new concept by any means, but the genre certainly hasn’t amassed
the presence in theatre that sci-fi has attained in television and film. Playwrights who choose to
stray into sci-fi territory often do so almost apologetically – creating plausible near-futures,
recognisable worlds that differ from ours only in minor details.
Science fiction has been a testing ground for, and often an origin of, imagined theories, devices,
and technologies that are now found in contemporary society. It has the ability to influence readers’
reality and shape their way of thinking through engagement with social, political, and religious
issues they can identify with. Futuristic science fiction often borrows from history, drawing on
rich analogies from earlier cultures, landscapes, empires, battles, explorations, and colonisation.
Yet Theatre itself was born out of the Fantastic. It began as a religious ceremony filled with
metaphysical concepts and mythological beings, and it went on with fairy tales (especially as
children’s theatre) and fantasy (see Shakespeare’s ‘A Midnight Summer’s Dream’ the works of,
Faust, and many more), never denouncing its mystical roots. Still one cannot help but notice that
17
though its performance has undergone major changes in the digital era, thematically theatre seems
hesitant to take the next big step and follow cinema and literature to the science-fictional future.
This paper and presentation reflects on the few examples that have gone before and makes the case
for what is potentially…..the future of theatre.
5. Anna Ruzina
Journalism Department
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Is Our Reality Real, and If It Is Unreal, Whether Is It Evil?
The problem of Fake Reality in the essays by Philip.K. Dick
For Philip K. Dick the main question always was “What is reality?”, in his novels and essays as
well. It caused the internal conflict: a feeling that everything around us is a huge fake appears
and persists to bother us despite the generally accepted truth about our reality as being an
objective one.
He wrote: “Fake realities will create fake humans. Or, fake humans will generate fake realities
and then sell them to other humans, turning them, eventually, into forgeries of themselves. So we
wind up with fake humans inventing fake realities and them peddling them to other fake
humans” (How To Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later, 1978). That
generates another question: “Is fake reality evil?”.
According to the essays How To Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later
(1978), Cosmogony and Cosmology (1978) and to the interview with Charles Platt (1980), Philip
K. Dick came to the conclusion, which helped him to eliminate his internal conflict: the objective
reality doesn't exist, everyone lives in a subjective world, and the subjective world of a strong
personality can invade the world of the weaker personality. Often such invasions happen
indirectly and imperceptibly. According to Philip Dick, this is the source of all problems and a
big drama.
6. Natalia Serzhant
BPSU, Minsk, Belarus
The Post-industrial World Conflicts Solution in Cyberpunk Literature
Modern technologies dictate new philosophical paradigms, and form a new imagery in
culture and literature. Best of all it is illustrated in the trends of the cyberpunk literature (novels
of William Gibson Neuromancer (1984), Bruce Sterling Schismatrix (1985), by Neal Stephenson
The Diamond Age (1995) and others). The article is devoted to the various technological models
of the universe and images of cyberspace, presented in the works of cyberpunk literature that
symbolically reflect and predict trends in the development of technogenic culture, embody the
fears and expectations of modern nanotechnology.
Section 8. Canadian Dimension of American Culture
Coordinators – Dr. Elena Ovcharenko (RSCS, Moscow, Russia felicella@mail.ru) and Dr.
Konstantin Romanov (MSU, Russia kromanov@rocketmail.com )
1.
Artur Demchuk
Department of Political Science
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Opening Address: the Results of Federal Elections in Canada
18
2.
Yury Akimov
School of International Relations, Saint-Petersburg State University, Russia
Quebec’s Activity in Promoting of French Canadian Culture in the World
The Paper deals with the cultural aspects of Quebec provincial paradiplomacy (diplomacy of
non-sovereign territorial actor).
It shows the role of cultural issues i.e. promotion of French Canadian / Québécois culture and the
French language in the provincial international activity since mid-1960s to the present. It
analyses the main trends of Quebec cultural paradiplomacy as well as its content. Special
attention is given to the Quebec relations with the United States (with the federal government
and with States’ governments). It also shows the opposite effect of cultural paradiplomacy to the
provincial politics.
3.
Konstantin Romanov
Department of Foreign Languages and Area Studies
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
On the Way to Sovereignty: Militarism and Peacekeeping in Canada
Military involvements have played a significant role in forming Canadian state and society.
Peaceable Kingdom and Warrior Nation were the two concepts that dominated Canadian public
conscience at different times. Shifts in public spirit were caused by changing political and social
environment as well as by international factors. This study analyses the development of militarist
and peacekeeping ideologies amid the major events of Canada’s history.
4.
Natalia Karelina
Department of Foreign Languages and Area Studies
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
New directions of Immigrant Adaptation in Canada
The paper presents main aspects of immigrant adaptation in Canadian society based on all types
of immigration programs and including all issues concerning the arrival of immigrants, finding a
job and accommodation, education and communication.
5.
Irina Sedunova
Freelance Journalist, Russia
To Understand and to Forgive: Restorative Justice in Canada
The Restorative Justice movement appeared in the end of XX century in order to change the
traditional approach to crime and punishment. However, some forms of restorative justice, such
as circles, originated from the Native American culture of Canada and the northern United States
and nowadays these forms are still in use, especially when the traditional justice is powerless.
The author and her colleague from Canada, prof. Frank Tester, will speak about the practice of
restorative justice that was applied to the victims and perpetrators of the Vancouver hockey riots
of June 2011.
6.
Olga Kolesnichenko
Security Analysis Bulletin, Moscow, Russia
Halifax International Security Forum as Canadian Stage in Global Policy
19
Halifax International Security Forum was founded in Nova Scotia, Canada in 2009 with a
support of German Marshall Fund of the United States. The presentation will analyze opinions of
North American politicians, presented at Halifax International Security Forum-2015.
7.
Tatyana Kamarovskaya
Maxim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogical University, Minsk, Belarus
White and Black: M. Atwood’s Novel The Robberbride
In The Robberbride, a novel of M. Atwood, three heroines of the novel oppose one devilish
heroine, Zenia, the embodiment of Evil, who destroyed their lives by tempting and taking away
their husbands or a beloved. The end of the novel expresses the expectation of the appearance of
a new woman who will be equal to Man in life struggle, thus demolishing the opposition of
Black and White.
8.
Elena Ovcharenko
Russian Association of Canadian Studies, Moscow, Russia
“New Iceland” versus New Iceland: building peace
Halldór Laxness’ realistic story “New Iceland” (1927) became the reason of the profound
conflict between the author and the colonists of New Iceland, Manitoba, Canada. However in the
1960s the first researches on the history of New Iceland confirmed Laxness’ conclusions.
9.
Yulia Sushkova
Ogarev Mordovia State University, Saransk, Russia
Leo Tolstoy as Protector of the Religious Rights
Wide preaching activity of Lev Tolstoy led to his excommunication from the Orthodox Church
in 1901. Although the "wickedness" of count Tolstoy had long been criticized in Church circles,
it became intolerable only after the publication in of his "blasphemous" novel "Resurrection" in
1899. The income from the publication the author granted to the Dukhobors, pursued by the
Imperial government. At that time, the Dukhobors were emigrating from Russia to Canada,
accompanied by the writer’s son S. L. Tolstoy. "The Doukhobors, will probably well settle in
America... in 500 years those beliefs that pushed the Doukhobors to move to America, will
become dominant among the majority of Christian nations."
10.
Irina Chudova
School №315, Center of extra-curricular activities, Moscow, Russia
Canadian Province through Family Conflict by Alice Munro: accuser or guilty?
Munro’s narrative voice is omniscient, but it speaks with the accent of its particular geography
and epoch: Anglo-Saxon, conservative, small-town Canada, periodically sliding toward values
that loosened slightly at the end of 1950-s. The chronotop has important effects on family
conflicts in modern society like day-to-day discourse. The paper is devoted to a complex and
multifaceted conflict in a typical Canadian family on the example of the short story by Alice
Munro Post and Beam from the collection Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
published by The Penguin Group Canada in 2008.
Round Table Discussion
Imprints: Image of Russia and Image of America
20
Coordinator – Professor Yassen Zassoursky (Journalism Department, Lomonosov Moscow
State University, Russia)
Irwin Weil
Northwestern University, Evanston, USA
Image of Russia and America through an Autobiography
Elena Makarova
Vladimir State University, Russia
Turgenev and Sh. Anderson in search of the new genre form (case-study: Sportsman’s
Sketches and Winesburg, Ohio)
To analyze the genre specificity of the book of short stories Winesburg, Ohio by Sh. Anderson we
have revealed the prototypes of this genre form. Apart from the American literary tradition of short
stories I. Turgenev’s Sportsman’s Sketches could be considered another version of the cyclical
unity of the text, too. Turgenev was the first Russian author so well-known is the United States in
the 1860–70s. In W.D. Howells’s memoirs we read that in that time everyone in American
Midwest red novels by Turgenev. The book of short stories Sportsman’s Sketches was translated
into English later. This book had been inscribed into the American literary context by the early
20th centuries. Probably, the full text of the Sportsman’s Sketches appeared in Turgenev’s complete
set of works which was published in New York in 1906. Sh. Anderson once said that he hadn’t
learnt anything from the Russians. But it would be wrong to deny the influence of such authors as
I. Turgenev and A. Chekhov on his writing style. In these two books of short stories we see
common traits in the composition. Anderson inherited some Turgenev’s writing methods and
enhanced them. The process of maturing of the young writer George Willard became the basis of
the plot. Turgenev’s attention to his characters’ oddities was transformed by Anderson into
grotesque inhabitants Winesburg.
N. Kubanev, L. Nabilkina
N. Novgorod State University (Arzamas branch),
Arzamas, Russia
The Relations between Russia and the USA during the World War I:
collaboration and confrontation
The presentation touches upon the relations between Russia and the USA at the beginning of the
20-th century, their common points. The reasons of their cooperation, collaboration and further
confrontation are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the position of the USA on the world’s
political arena and to the events connected with signing of peace treaty with Germany and the
participation of the USA in them.
Svetlana Kuskova
Journalism Department,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
The USSR and the United States in 1946-1947:
from the image of friends to the image of enemies
21
After the Second World War, the Soviet and American newspapers began to create an image of
the Enemy. This process is going on in modern media as well. Before the war, England was
proclaimed the main enemy of the Soviet Union, but in 1946, the ideological emphasis changed
in the direction of the United States.
Less than in a year two countries from allies became rivals. A number of reasons influenced this
process. One of the main reasons was the death of the President F.D. Roosevelt in April 12,
1945. New President Truman has never hidden his enmity for communism. As a result, the
relationships between USA and USSR began to deteriorate. Military and ideological views have
changed as well. The Fulton speech in 1946 opened the direct confrontation and arms race
between the two countries.
In my research, I have analyzed the main Communist Party newspaper Pravda and the American
newspaper The New York Times during the period from 1939 to 1947. As a methodological basis,
I selected the works of Russian and American researchers, historians and journalists Y.N.
Zassoursky, V.M. Falin, A.V. Fateev, E.E. Dennis, G. Gerbner.
Irina Arkhangelskaya,
Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Russia and Russians in online-versions of USA Today, New York Times in the period of
military conflict in Ukraine (2014 – 2015)
The interrelation and interdependency of different peoples and cultures are actual and topical
trends. At the same time media images, stereotypes, and myths often disrupt or prevent
communication.
The report presents the results of the research of images of Russia and Russians in USA Today,
New York Times during the period of Sochi Olympiad and the conflict in Ukraine (2014 – 2015).
The qualitative and quantitative analyses of media content have been conducted. The main themes,
persons, contexts, stereotypes and myths connected with images of Russia and Russians in USA
Today and New York Times in 2014 – 2015 are under scrutiny to broaden our understanding of
how our country, its leaders, and common people are perceived in the USA.
Ada Baskina
Journalism Department,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
No Conflicts: Communication Skill in American School
Almost each American school has in its curriculum a subject COMMUNICATION SKILL.
Irving Bettinghousen, dean of the Community College, Michigan State University, says: “Each
person has to use communication skill. Spouses – for creating their relations avoiding conflicts.
Parents – to better understand kids, and kids – to understand parents. Boss should effectively
interact with subordinates and vice versa. The main condition is positive emotional climate. It
means any individual has a feeling that he is respectful and any contradiction could be solved
without conflict”.
American school system in the whole concentrates on creating positive emotional atmosphere .
In my talk, I describe one lesson of Communication skill (Persuasive Communication) at a
middle school in a small town Haslett, Michigan.
22
Svetlana Owens
NGO “Alliance Educational Solutions”, Monterey, USA
Grassroots Diplomacy as an Ongoing Mission for Peace
The first imprint of the image of Russia in 2015 will be for some of the participants through taking
part for a Round Table Discussion where they, average Americans, decided to fly across the
continents. They are live, active participants of the experiment that is the United States of America,
with “E Pluribus Unum” as the credo, and “Melting Pot” as the motto, with the businesslike
language. I am going to share the experience of our NGO in maintaining contacts between our
countries on the level of educational exchanges, which is a form of grassroots diplomacy.
23