Certified lecture course by an American expert Adrian Karmazyn at the Faculty of History, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Oleh Mashevskyi

Dr. habil. (history), Professor

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

ORCID logo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5251-2089

Olga Sukhobokova

Ph. D. (History), Associate Professor,

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

ORCID logo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4140-3231

Abstract. On November 9-30, 2021, a certified lecture course on “US Elections 2020 – challenges for democracy and the media” was held at the Department of Modern and Contemporary History of Foreign Countries of the Faculty of History, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv within the framework of the development of EP “American and European Studies (with in-depth study of foreign languages)”. The author of the course and lecturer is a well-known American expert on media and socio-political processes in the United States, director of the Ukrainian Voice of America in 2005-2015, expert of the Ukrainian Association of American Studies Adrian Karmazin (Washington, USA). This is an exclusive course of lectures by Adrian Karmazin adapted for historians, which he specially prepared for teaching within the framework of the J. Fulbright Academic Exchange Program, for which he came to Ukraine for the first semester of 2021/22 academic year.

The organizers and moderators of Adrian Karmazin’s lecture course were the head of the Department of Modern and Contemporary History of Foreign Countries, Professor Oleh Mashevskyi and Associate Professor Olga Sukhobokova. Information and organizational assistance was provided by the Ukrainian Association of American Studies, headed by Associate Professor Makar Taran.

Each lecture on the course was devoted to a specific topic related to the historic election in the United States in 2020: media coverage of the election campaign, statistics and their interpretation, the interaction of President Donald Trump and presidential candidate Joe Biden with society and the role of the media, the Ukrainian factor and the impact of the 2020 US elections on US-Ukrainian relations. One third of the time was devoted to discussions in which all interested listeners took part, asking questions to the lecturer and expressing their views on the issues raised.

The first lecture of the course analyzed the historical background and current state of the American electoral system in general and the features, benefits and problems of the presidential election in particular. The second lecture of the course reveals  the main stages of the election campaign of the future President Joseph Biden and his team with all its surprises, political upheavals, domestic and international challenges.The third lecture of the certified course focused on the development of the modern American economy in the context of the 2020 presidential election, fierce economic debates between Democratic and Republican teams in general, and Joseph Biden and Donald Trump in particular. The fourth, final lecture by A. Karmazin was devoted to the purely Ukrainian issue in the presidential election campaign in the United States in 2020.

Key words: Adrian Karmazin, US presidential election 2020, American democracy, US-Ukrainian relations, History of International Relations, Ukrainian diaspora.

Submitted 03.12.2021

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References:

  1. Department of Modern and Contemporary History of Foreign Countries of Taras Kyiv National University. (2021, November, 10). The US election in 2020 is a challenge for democracy and the media. Adrian Karmazin. The first lecture. History faculty of the KNU. American Studies, European Studies and Oriental Studies. [Vіdeo]. YouTube. https://goo.su/9jh5. [In Ukrainian].
  2. Mashevskyi, O. & Sukhobokova, O. (2020). Sharing America’s story with Ukraine: the Voice of America’s Ukrainian Service, 1949–2019: collection of scientific articles and materials on the history of the Ukrainian service «Voice of America». American History and Politics, 9, 154-163. [In Ukrainian].
  3. Mashevskyi, O. & Sukhobokova, O. (2019). «American Meetings» – educational and research project of the «Ukrainian Association of American Studies» and the Faculty of History of Taras Shevchenko National University. American History and Politics, 8, 88-97. [In Ukrainian].
  4. Department of Modern and Contemporary History of Foreign Countries of Taras Kyiv National University. (2021, November, 10). Modern American democracy. Discussion. Adrian Karmazin is an American student. Historical f-t KNU. American Studies, European Studies and Oriental Studies. [Vіdeo]. YouTube. https://goo.su/qK5. [In Ukrainian].
  5. Karmazyn, A. (2021). Reporting for VOA in newly independent Ukraine: when voices from Ukraine become essential to Holos Ameryky radio broadcasts. American History and Politics, 11, 96-110. [In English].