In recent years, "Russian abroad" has attracted more and more public attention, and serious works about its history have appeared. Russian diasporas in Africa are less well known than in Europe and America, although there are already articles and books about diasporas in Tunisia, Algeria, Congo, and Ethiopia. They are very different-numerous and small, dating back almost a century and quite recent. V. I. Ryabova's book "The Russian Diaspora in Mozambique: Past and Present" (Moscow, Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2011, 60 p.) is about one of the most "young"people.

Mozambique, like another former Portuguese colony, Angola, gained independence only in 1975. Since that time, the formation of the Russian diaspora in this country begins (previously there were only isolated cases of resettlement). After the liberation from colonialism, Mozambique was almost completely abandoned by Portuguese specialists. At the request of the government, which declared its commitment to socialist ideas, doctors, physicists, chemists, teachers, geologists, etc. from Eastern Europe and the USSR arrived in their place. They were the first in the future diaspora. The second group consists of the wives of Mozambican students who studied in different cities of the Soviet Union. And now there are also entrepreneurs.

V. I. Ryabova has already addressed this issue and published her work "Russian Emigration in Africa in 1920-1945" (2004). The new book, though small in volume, is very informative, written with love for people who have found themselves so far from their homeland by the will of fate; it contains stories about some of them.

In four chapters of the new book, different aspects of the problem are considered: civil and social; the place and role of the diaspora in the development of culture and education in Mozambique; the difficult situation with institutionalization; and finally, the confessional aspect.

The author notes that the situation of immigrants from the USSR became more complicated after its collapse, as previously concluded agreements ceased to apply. They were offered new ones on unfavorable terms, and specialists from the West, China, and Southeast Asia competed heavily. Even the adoption of Mozambican citizenship does not guarantee full rights, since it does not allow you to vote and be elected to government bodies.

In the second chapter, the author demonstrates the great contribution of Russians to the economic and cultural development of Mozambique. Until the 1990s, it was very significant both in the military-technical field, as well as in the economic, scientific, cultural, educational and health sectors. Even now, members of the diaspora work as teachers in universities and schools, doctors, engineers at enterprises of various industries, and train athletes.

After the Russian government adopted a number of resolutions on working with compatriots abroad, the Coordinating Council of Compatriots was established. The Mozambique-Russia Friendship Committee plays an important role. Celebrations, concerts, and Russian language courses are organized with the help of the Russian Embassy in Maputo.

If most aspects of the life of the Russian diaspora in Mozambique, as in other African countries, existed during the Soviet Union, then the confessional one appeared not so long ago. Freedom of religion was proclaimed in Mozambique after the 1990s. There is a Greek church in Maputo, and here, as in Tanzania, for example (according to the author of the review), in the absence of Orthodox churches, it plays a unifying role for all immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia. Most of the members of the Russian diaspora are Orthodox, but the rest also visit it, communicate with parishioners, and maintain contacts with Orthodox priests in neighboring South Africa.

The book is written in a good, accessible language, with photos and illustrations of the vivid works of A. Askarkhodzhaev, a member of the Russian diaspora in Mozambique, a geophysicist, teacher, and mosaic artist. It will be interesting for everyone who is interested in the "Russian abroad".

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