ИСТИНА

From December 1 to December 4, 2021 Journalism Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University hosted the 47th International Conference of the Russian Society for the American Culture Studies "Overcoming: Cultivating Ideals through Overcoming Barriers in American Culture". Participants' attention was focused on exploring different ways to overcome barriers in realizing the ideals of democracy, both in the history of the United States and today. In six sections more than 50 papers by both experienced Americanists and newcomers to the field from ten cities in Russia, as well as from Belarus, Republic of Georgia, North Macedonia, and the United States. Besides the speakers, many listeners were also attracted by the traditional round table Imprints on the mutual influence of the images of Russia and the United States, dedicated to the memory of Professor Yassen Zassoursky - the founder of the annual conferences of Americanists at Journalism Department since 1975. For the first time, the conference was held without his participation, but as a tribute to his role as an initiator and patron of the study of American culture. The plenary speaker was Nikolay P. Popov, a well-known public opinion researcher who recently published the book "Russia-America: a direct connection" (Moscow, KnigIzdat, 2020. in Russian). The story of how, in the 1980s, schoolchildren from the USSR and the USA managed to establish direct contact with each other and jointly demand a search for a way of cooperation with the leadership of their countries, Dr. Popov highlighted as an eyewitness to the whole process. Citizen diplomacy today should regain its essential importance, as evidenced by the appeal to the conference participants by documentary filmmaker Cynthia Lazaroff (Hawaii, USA), head of the NGO Women for Nuclear Disarmament. The theme of the 48th RSACS conference is determined as: “American Family in Flux Reflected in Literature, Art and Media”, dates are November 30 – December 3, 2022. Deadline for applications September 10, 2022.