Tatyana V. Voronchenko
Zabaikalsky State University
In spring 1999 when I was a Fullbright Fellow at the
University of California/San Diego I received a suggestion from professor Francisco
Lomely, Chairman of Literature Department from UC/Santa Barbara to write the article
Chicano Literature in the USA: A Russian Audience’s First Contact. It was
published in 2000 in US Latino Literatures and Cultures: Transnational Perspectives
in Heibelberg, Germany. In introduction editors write "Russian scholar Tatyana
Voronchenko, a specialist in American Studies at Zabaikalsky State Pedagogical University
in Chita, Trans-Baikal Siberia offers one of the most thought-provoking portray because of
the region’s remoteness and unexpected interest in Chicanos. She introduces us to
some of the major systematic studies of Chicana/o Literature and Culture and furthermore
illustrates how one attempts to establish some literary and sociological parallelism
between Siberia and the American Southwest."
The main idea of my issue is to present East Siberia and American
SouthWest as multi-ethnic regions. In March 2001 we are to held a Conference "Siberia-America:
Establishing Bridges. Horizons of Complex Subject". We are going to establish
American Studies Center in Trans-Baikal as well. My Fulbright experience gives me an
opportunity to be an initiator and organizer of it. Fulbright fellowship will contribute
to better understanding among Russia and USA.