AMERICAN STUDIES AND CULTURAL PERCEPTION OF THE USA IN BELARUS

Abstract

Purpose of Article. The purposes of the article are to define features of cultural perception of the USA and analyse general tendencies in the development of American studies in modern Belarus. Methodology. The research methodology is based on using descriptive method and the method of system analysis, which allow us to describe and analyse necessary training programs, the contest of materials, publications in mass media, and interviews, conducted by the author. Structural and functional, historical, anthropological, and axiological scientific methods provide a comparison of the American and Belarusian cultural spaces in their integrity. Deduction and induction, abstraction, generalization were also used. Scientific novelty. This article is devoted to the cultural perception of the USA and American Studies development in the contemporary Belarus. Conclusions. In Belarus, the most part of people knows about the USA too little. Negative and positive cultural perceptions of the USA exist among Belarusian citizens in parallel. After intensive development in 1990-s, American Studies in Belarus have been falling since 2000-s. Nowadays, American Studies are only a part of several predominantly culturalogical, historical and literature university courses. There are no any special courses or training programs on American Studies, neither any statistic nor analyses on the issues. To develop constructive BelarusianAmerican cultural dialogue it is hence necessary to provide more objective information about the U.S.. New American Studies courses and training modules for universities (including regional) can become the serious step in that direction.