Our multiethnic community is one of the most mosaicked ethnic and cultural areas in the world. It is therefore natural for foreign ethnologists , anthropologists , folklorists , and culturologists to display a great interest for the facts , phenomena and trends of development and affirmation, endurance and intermingling of different cultures in our country. Among the foreign humanists who are studying our society and culture, one of the most prominent places is undoubtedly occupied by American ethnologist Joel M. Halpern, University Professor from Massachusetts (State University in Amherst), who has visited our country on several occasions (for longer or shorter stays) in the period stretching over three decades and wrote about that -- apart from his doctor ' s thesis -- a couple of books and studies along with numerous articles and scientific papers. We begin our conversation with Dr. Halpern right on the occasion of his current stay in our country: