Date of Award
5-22-2016
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department
American Studies
First Advisor
Cotten Seiler
Language
English
Abstract
This paper explores the cultural construction – or “imagination” – of Russian character in the United States through an investigation of popular American literature, films, TV shows, photographs, magazine articles, speeches, editorial cartoons, and Internet memes. The author identifies three key eras of imagination: 1946-1990, 1990-2001, and 2007-present, and examines the popular (re)construction of Russia and Russians in each period through the lens of the predominant US foreign policy text. The paper finds that throughout all three eras, American imagination has balanced conflicting representations of Russia and Russians as inherently threatening and inferior.
The author also highlights how this contradictory imagination of Russia encourages Americans to self-identify as benevolent and superior, which has historically caused them to perceive Russia as the enemy of the US. The paper concludes that imagination of Russia and Russians has been and continues to be essential to the formulation of American identity and US foreign policy objectives.
Recommended Citation
Denaburg, Jason William, "A Gun to Our Head? American Imagination of the Russian Character Since 1946" (2016). Dickinson College Honors Theses. Paper 248.
https://scholar.dickinson.edu/student_honors/248
Included in
American Popular Culture Commons, Political History Commons, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies Commons