American Reality Research Articles

"You [God] Gotta Go Through It With Me": Black Women Navigating Spirituality During the Breast Cancer Journey.

Black women generally report high levels of spirituality. Less is known about Black women's spiritual coping with a cancer diagnosis. Persisting health disparities between Black breast cancer survivors and other racial groups necessitate examining whether spirituality can be a contextual and personal resource for Black women with breast cancer. This qualitative study's goals were to: (1) characterize positive and negative dimensions of spirituality in a sample of Black women diagnosed with breast cancer; and (2) examine whether and how women used spirituality during their cancer experience. Three Gatherings (i.e., culturally curated focus groups) were conducted as part of Project SOAR (Speaking Our African American Realities), a community-academic partnership. In these all-Black women Gatherings, participants (N=37) discussed their breast cancer experience, including how spirituality played a role. Through reflexive thematic analysis, six themes were identified: (1) faith is central to my identity even through challenging times; (2) meaningful, ineffective, or non-existent support from my spiritual community; (3) grappling with spiritual discontent during breast cancer; (4) God is omnipotent; (5) spiritual anchors helped me persevere through the breast cancer journey; (6) breast cancer reflections enhanced my spiritual gratitude and growth. Participants' experiences highlight the complexities of spirituality when confronting breast cancer. Many Black women reflected on the centrality of spirituality to their lives and cited spirituality as a resource and effective coping process during their cancer experience. Findings have important implications for understanding how spirituality can be incorporated to support Black women with breast cancer.

Revision of Ethnic Immigrant Fiction Patterns in My New American Life by Francine Prose

The paper discusses the changing role of ethnicity in immigrant narratives with the example of Francine Prose's novel My New American Life (2011). It is a multidimensional work of fiction which presents ethnicity as a cultural and social asset. The novel brings into play and revisits a tradition of the novel of manners. It uses American cultural and social stereotypes to tailor the main character’s new identity of existential inbetweenness. and to represent the American realities of the Bush-Cheney era through the filter of the protagonist’s perspective as a semi-legal alien of a suspicious ethnic background. The paper problematizes the geopolitical challenges of immigration that the novel’s characters deal with in post-9/11 America. The article argues that in the novel, immigration is presented as a process with a distinct social dimension, prioritizing safety and welfare over the values of democracy and personal freedom.

Drug‐Use Safety Enhancement Model—Theory and Application

ABSTRACTHarm reduction strategies mitigate the adverse effects of problematic drug use through overdose prevention, disease transmission reduction, and improved access to treatment resources. However, educational resources for safe drug use remain sparse and are predominantly focused on abstinence‐based approaches. This manuscript introduces the Drug‐Use Safety Enhancement Model (DUSEM), a comprehensive framework designed to foster informed and healthy relationships with drugs. Grounded in interdisciplinary research, DUSEM encompasses eight domains: knowledge, motivation, set (mindset), setting, dose, administration, recovery, and evaluation. Each domain offers practical strategies for educators, professionals, and drug consumers to enhance drug‐use safety. For the purpose of this analysis, “drugs” include all psychoactive substances regardless of whether they are legal in the United States. Our approach is rooted in the ethical, legal, and cultural practices common in the United States, particularly those related to best practices for providing care to people who use substances. The American context shaped how we understand and talk about drug use, which reflects the American reality of clinical practice in the fields of mental health and addictions. From the perspective of evaluation of the traditional, American conceptualization of the issues around drug use, our model's development acknowledges the need for a shift from outdated abstinence‐focused paradigms toward empowering individuals with informed practices for safer drug use. While serving as an educational guidepost, the model underscores the necessity for further research to refine its application, efficacy, and curriculum development. Helping professionals, such as teachers, counselors, social workers, and psychologists, can use this model in various educational, clinical, or institutional settings to help their audiences explore their own relationships with drugs. Ultimately, DUSEM aims to destigmatize drug use, foster healthier relationships with drugs, and improve safety for consumers.

Le mythe de la Pennsylvanie, l’Histoire des deux Indes et les Recherches sur les États-Unis de Filippo Mazzei

The “Myth of Pennsylvania,” an overly idealized representation of Pennsylvania, its founder William Penn, and the Quakers, was embraced by many 18th-century French philosophes. It appears in Voltaire’s Philosophical Letters (1734), Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie (1751-65), and most prominently in Raynal’s influential History of the East and West Indies (1780). According to the myth, Penn’s colony offered an image of the Golden Age and a model of good government. William Penn was portrayed as a great legislator who established a popular representative government and gave laws that guaranteed civil liberties, maintained equality and ensured religious tolerance. As for the Quakers, their morals and customs were deemed to revive the virtues of early Christians. However, around the time of the American Revolution, many liberal intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic responded critically to such idealistic distortions of American reality, no matter how well intended. Filippo Mazzei, a naturalized American citizen from Italy who played an important role in the War of Independence, is a good case in point. In the third of his four-volume Researches on the United States (1788), Mazzei develops an extended refutation of Raynal’s version of the myth of Pennsylvania. Penn is now depicted as a greedy, sly opportunist who mostly looked after his own interests and those of his family. Similarly, the Quakers are criticized for having always deftly advanced their own political and commercial interests, and for not having clearly supported the Revolution. Mazzei—and his friends Jefferson and Condorcet, who collaborated with him on the Researches in Paris—could only feel irritated by the propagation of utopian myths or fanciful notions about America when the goal of the Revolution was to establish a large modern republic founded upon human rights and a complex legal and constitutional apparatus. Refuting the myth of Pennsylvania meant also discrediting the outdated ideals of the philosopher king and the primitive virtuous utopia.

On cultural appropriation and cultural transpropriation: a Latin American perspective

This article analyses the reception of debates on ‘cultural appropriation’ in Latin America, as the term landed in the region in the late 2010s straight from the US and Canada. Upon arrival, the Anglo-Saxon meaning of ‘cultural appropriation’ competed with the literal equivalent apropiación cultural (or apropriação cultural in Brazil), known in Latin America previously, although with a totally different sense. By examining such a clash of meanings and examples of resistance against the Anglo-Saxon version and inconsistencies in its local use, its applicability in Latin America is discussed. It is argued that, due to the specificities of the local ethnic-racial dynamics, some types of interethnic migration of cultural elements can indeed be analysed as variants of cultural appropriation, while others become incomprehensible when interpreted with conceptual frames developed for North American realities. For the latter, this article presents the term ‘cultural transpropriation’ as an alternative.

“America fractured?“ The present and future of democracy, ideology and party system in the United States

The politics of the United States, both internal and external, and the analysis of its historiosophic foundations, topical subjects, trends and prospects of development have occupied a special place in the Russian school of international relations. On the one hand, interest in this topic has always been determined by its applied nature: for most of the 20th century, the USA was the main adversary of the USSR, and today the relations between the two countries are in a state of systemic confrontation, albeit of a different kind. On the other hand, with its history, economics, culture, ideology and politics, the USA as an experimental state and laboratory society has always been a field of scientific research and an object of intellectual reflection for researchers of all socio-humanitarian disciplines. All these works reveal different facets of American reality, but for Russian Americanists among historians and political scientists, those that allow them to find a key to understanding the driving forces of American politics and to forecast its development are especially valuable. The interview with leading Russian Historian-Americanist Dr. V.O. Pechatnov is an attempt to understand these key issues.

America as a Metaphor for Suffering Consciousness in Dostoevskii's Fiction and Non-Fiction Works

Dostoevskii’s journalistic writings exhibit America as a dangerous place of deception and seduction, a response to the role of America in the political consciousness of his day. At the same time, America appears in nearly all his major novels, including characters who threaten to “flee to America” and, in the case of Shatov and Kirillov from Demons, actually do. For Dostoevskii, the idea of “running off to America” elicits a dual symbolism: America was far enough away from Russia to enact a complete severing of roots (and, by extension, to serve as a metaphor for suicide), while also being profoundly dangerous in the closeness of the kinds of comparisons that could be drawn between Russian and American realities. In his fiction, America is more than a geographical concept; it serves as a reliable testing ground for suffering consciousness – for the intense self-reflection and repeated process of cognitively collecting the self for which Dostoevskii’s novels are so widely appreciated. In this article we trace the role of America across Dostoevskii’s body of work and across levels of literary discourse, with a focus on America as an occasion for philosophical reflection in the Kirillov-Shatov plotline in Demons. We highlight how the theme of America can bring one of the most complex and enduring questions of Dostoevskii’s work – the relationship between his journalistic and literary voices – into fuller relief, while also elucidating the narrative significance of America for the suffering consciousness and self-reflection so vital to his literary worlds.

Promoting the Wasaṭī Doctrine to Balance between Conservatism and Pragmatism in Post-9/11 America: The Case of Yasir Qadhi

ABSTRACT Sheikh Dr Yasir Qadhi is one of America’s most famous intellectual senior clerics, and is a member of the generation of young American preachers that burst into Western public awareness during the post-9/11 era. During the 1990s, Qadhi was a hardcore Salafi, but the 9/11 attacks and his doctoral studies on Islamic theology at Yale University (2005–2013), influenced and reformed many of his world views, causing him to adapt a more moderate and pragmatic stance. This article’s main argument is that Qadhi represents a case study of the American Islamic reform mindset in the post-9/11 era, which attempted to reconcile the tension between conservative and pragmatic Islamic trends with contemporary American reality. These clerics try to pave the way for Islam’s essential principles to remain while bravely confronting contemporary issues with new consideration. The article explores Islam in America in the post-9/11 era and a variety of examples of his doctrine relevant to the American Muslim minority. Qadhi’s Islamic rulings manifest his affinity to wasaṭī scholars, such as Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, which shed light on one of Qadhi’s primary goals – preserving Islam in America and the West for future generations.

Character and Action in José Donoso’s Fiction

Abstract José Donoso’s fiction was often interpreted as an amazing example of literary technique, but also as an expression of its author’s capacity of creating incredible characters involved in numerous actions that permanently challenges the reader. In his well-known novel The Obscene Bird of Night (1970), his most famous writing, the Chilean author evaluates the relationship between imagination and reality in a human universe dominated by violence and death. In this context, Humberto Peñaloza’s attempt to compile the history of Azcoitía family represents not only the desperate attempt of an intellectual to emphasize the importance of the written word, but also a clear hint to the Latin American realities of the previous centuries.

Health Promoting Universities and the salutogenic theory: contemporary challenges in the Latin American reality.

The objective is to reflect on the existing articulation between Aaron Antonovsky's salutogenic theory and Health Promoting Universities, highlighting the challenges for the operationalization of health promotion actions in the Latin American university scenario in the contemporary world. The visible adherence of the ideas of the salutogenic theory to the guiding components of the Health Promoting Universities movement was identified, which has contributed to successful experiences around the world. Practices in the light of salutogenic theory can be considered effective strategies for improving the quality of life in the university setting; however, it is necessary for those involved to detach themselves so that the logic of acting based on a pathogenic process is broken. Furthermore, regional challenges in the Latin American reality must be understood and overcome with the support of public policies.

American Dream versus American Reality: How Information about Structural Racism Can Prompt Support for Race-Based Policies

American Dream versus American Reality: How Information about Structural Racism Can Prompt Support for Race-Based Policies

Search for Roots in Bharati Mukherjee's Tree Bride

"The Tree Bride" by Bharati Mukherjee is a novel that explores the complex interplay between tradition and modernity in the context of immigrant life. The protagonist, Tara Chatterjee, struggles to make sense of her Indian background and her newfound American reality, highlighting the difficulties of integration and the desire for a sense of identity. The story highlights the importance of striking a balance between one's cultural background and modern-day expectations, as well as the conflicts between the past and present. Mukherjee's use of symbolism and imagery enhances the story's depth of meaning, symbolizing the protagonist's quest for identification in a rapidly changing world. The tree symbolizes the lasting link to one's roots and cultural heritage, and the blossoms symbolize the resilience and beauty that may result from embracing one's ancestry. The novel challenges readers to seek out their own roots while negotiating the realities of modern life, forcing them to confront the intricacies of their own identities through Tara's experiences. In conclusion, "The Tree Bride" offers a moving examination of identity, history, and the intricate relationship between tradition and modernity. Through the integration of magical realism components with historical narratives, Mukherjee expertly navigates the challenges of forming an identity in a worldwide environment. The novel challenges readers to seek out their own roots while negotiating the realities of modern life, forcing them to confront the intricacies of their own identities through Tara's experiences.

A study on the Translation of Taglines of the Real Housewives of Atlanta under the Perspective of Ecological Translatology

With the acceleration of globalization, film and television subtitle translation, as a new form of translation, is developing rapidly. After translating the American reality show The Real Housewives of Atlanta, this paper focuses on the analysis of the tagline translation at the beginning of each episode to find the most suitable translation. Guided by the theory of ecological translation, this paper analyzes the case of original subtitle translation from the perspective of “three-dimensional transformation” of ecological translation to provide feasible translation strategies for future subtitle translation from the perspective of ecological translatology. As the tagline of each guest at the beginning of the show, it is very distinctive. How to translate it reasonably is a problem worth thinking about. Based on the ecological translation theory, the translator analyzes and summarizes the Declaration from three aspects: linguistic dimension, cultural dimension and communicative dimension.

The teaching of criminal procedural law from anti-formalist constructivism

Anti-formalist constructivism is a legal-educational approach that arises from the combination of different theoretical proposals developed in the global north and accepted in the Latin American reality. Through three fundamental premises for its application, it is expected that criminal procedural law can be taught linking the preconceptions of those who learn, so that from a validation process it is possible to build authentic interpretations with a sense of practical utility. For this, the implementation of performance tests that contain problems without exact answers is proposed, contributing to each student having the possibility of strengthening the development of competences from and for the professional reality of the practice of law.

The teaching of criminal procedural law from anti-formalist constructivism

Anti-formalist constructivism is a legal-educational approach that arises from the combination of different theoretical proposals developed in the global north and accepted in the Latin American reality. Through three fundamental premises for its application, it is expected that criminal procedural law can be taught linking the preconceptions of those who learn, so that from a validation process it is possible to build authentic interpretations with a sense of practical utility. For this, the implementation of performance tests that contain problems without exact answers is proposed, contributing to each student having the possibility of strengthening the development of competences from and for the professional reality of the practice of law.

AMERICA IN THE EYES OF DIPLOMATS AND PRIESTS OF TSAR RUSSIA: THE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

The article examines the perception of the United States by Russian diplomats and priests of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States in 1867–1917. The authors analyse the views of Russian diplomats and clergymen on various aspects of the American reality in the political, social, economic, scientific, technical, cultural and spiritual spheres. The research is based on a wide source base of domestic archives. Conclusions are drawn about the dual nature of perception of the United States by Russian diplomats and clergymen. On the one hand, they admired the level of economic, scientific and technological development of the United States, as well as the religiosity of Americans, on the other hand, they were critical of democracy and secularity of the American civilisation.

Beethoven, Springsteen and the Music of Despair

Using Ludwig van Beethoven and Bruce Springsteen as case studies, I argue that through a process of catharsis music can simultaneously express and transform severe psychosocial disability. Both musicians experienced an existential crisis around the age of 32, when already launched on successful musical careers. As well as providing written testaments to their distress, both expressed it in their contemporary musical compositions: La Malinconia and The Tempest; Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town and Dancing in the Dark. Both were experiencing fundamental problems of identity: Beethoven’s anguish was precipitated by his encroaching deafness and its effect on his future abilities; Springsteen’s by his growing sense of alienation from his cultural base. Both had strong factors predisposing them to depression, centred around longstanding difficult relationships with their fathers, rendering them angry at the world and themselves. But for both, music was a means of sublimation, of channelling their aggression and their despair, of finding purpose beyond the self. Beethoven’s belief in his mission to express the full range of his art to the world gave him the strength to continue, while for Springsteen the key was a growing awareness of his mission to map the distance between the American dream and American reality. Both experienced further periods of turbulence later in life, but were able to use their musical outputs – for example La Cavatina and Long Time Comin’ - as forms of maintenance therapy. For their audiences, their music continues to provide powerful antidotes to despair.

Nostalgia and Creative Urge as Double-Edged Swords in the (Auto)Biographical Writings of Rose Gollup-Cohen

Abstract While some Jewish immigrant autobiographies have received broad critical attention, a few important autobiographical endeavours have been underrepresented or almost forgotten. Autobiographies written by Jewish female writers who immigrated to America from Russia, Poland, or Galicia often draw a bifurcated picture of their struggles in callous New York sweatshops, or, on the contrary, they exalt the Jews’ notable success while blending in the American melting pot. Scarce studies, however, have been devoted to the dislocation and uprootedness of female immigrants and to the nostalgic feelings they have experienced during their absorption into American reality. This paper intends to resuscitate the forgotten voice of a Jewish immigrant female writer, Rose Gollup-Cohen. Moreover, using primarily psychoanalytical methodology and a feminist theory, the paper focuses on the nostalgic feelings that immigrants reverted to. Finally, it deals with both the therapeutic and the destructive powers of compulsive writing and shows how the writing process assists an immigrant writer when coping with distress experienced in her new homeland, but, on the other hand, it also demonstrates how compulsive writing may lead to obsessive behaviours, resulting in losing awareness of one’s surroundings, neglecting one’s family, and even to depression and suicide.

Factual basis of Colson Whitehead’s novels

Twice Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead bases the plot of his novels on various facts of American reality found in documents and newspaper publications. By juxtaposing fact and fiction, he transforms them to create a new reality, rooted in the events of real life but acquiring a universal or metaphorical character that could be seen even in his early works. In “John Henry Days” (2001) the writer makes use of the legend of the famous black laborer John Henry, its reflection in the folklore and everyday life of the American South and attempts to up-sell it in today’s USA with the help of social networks. In the novel “The Underground Railroad”, written after Whitehead’s archival research and his study of slave narratives of the mid-19th century, the document is woven into the artistic structure of the text by using authentic announcements about runaway slaves. The novel “The Nickel Boys” was written under the influence of the information about the horrible findings discovered on the grounds of the so-called Arthur Dozier School, established in early 20th century for juvenile delinquents, telling the story of two black boys who got there in the 1960s. The writer incessantly explores the impact of racism on American society and social injustice making use of a historical novel elements, of alternative history, neo-slave narratives and satire in his descriptions of the contemporary US media.

Hotel Minotauro : A Polyphonic Novel in a Digital Labyrinth

Abstract: In Hotel Minotauro (2013-2015), Doménico Chiappe combines creative fiction and non-fiction and makes use of digital media to rearticulate, reorient and deepen iconic narratives to make them resonate with contemporary Latin American cultural dilemmas: the actuality and legacy of authoritarianism and exploitation. Hotel Minotauro exemplifies the potential of digital media to reinvigorate and perpetuate classical discourses as expressions of Latin American reality.