Copyright by Tatiana Borisovna Segura 2008 - The University of ...

“Southern” friendliness of the United States was very unusual to me: I was not used to
greeting complete strangers or initiating small talk with other people standing in line or
sharing an elevator. I was born and raised in Moscow, a city with a population of more
than 11 million people, where most people hardly know their neighbors and avoid talking
to strangers like the plague. Because of my upbringing, I interpreted Southern
friendliness as a sign of exaggerated attention to me as a female.
As general and stereotypical as these first impressions were, they left an
unforgettable imprint on my view of the American culture and society. Many years later,
in 2003, when I started working with American college students going to Russia on a
short-term study abroad program, I learned that these students’ interpretations of issues
related to culture, ethnicity and gender in Russia were strikingly similar to my own
perception of culture, ethnicity and gender in the United States. And so when the time
came for me to research this topic for my dissertation, I decided to investigate the
sociocultural experiences of American college students in Russia in more depth.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
This is an interdisciplinary study drawing on the fields of sociolinguistics,
intercultural communication, gender studies and Russian studies. The goal of the study is
to research cultural, ethnic and gender experiences of American college students visiting
Russia on a short-term study abroad program. The research hypothesis of the study is that
American students will have different study abroad experiences in Russia, depending on
their level of cultural awareness, their gender and their ethnicity.
Qualitative interviews were the sole data collecting method used in the research.
The results of the study were interpreted through the lens of critical theory, i.e., with the
assumption that human society is essentially oppressive and that societal inequality is
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