A. S. BALEZIN

Doctor of Historical Sciences

IVI RAS

Keywords: history of Africa, African studies in Russia

The Center for African Studies of the Institute of World History (IVI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, together with the Department of African Studies of the ISAA of Moscow State University, held an international scientific conference "Studying the History of Africa in Russia and abroad: Stages, Trends, Prospects"in November 2011 in Moscow.

The conference was timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Center for African Studies, established in IWI on December 1, 1971 as the African History Branch. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the main issues of studying the history of Africa and identify current trends in the development of this discipline.

The conference was held in two days. Director of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician A. O. Chubaryan spoke at the opening of the conference, which was mainly dedicated to the anniversary of the Center's creation. He stressed that the Center for African Studies, despite its small size, is one of the most productive divisions of the Institute, and is well-known in the professional community in our country and abroad.

With the report " Historical thought in Africa. Problems of Study " was delivered by the permanent head of the Center for African Studies, Professor A. B. Davidson*. He noted that the so-called Afrocentric approach to the study of African history emerged in the 1980s on the basis of the long-established ideas of pan-Africanism and Negritude. Today, this approach is clearly formed, based on the criticism of Eurocentrism and the absolutization of"African values".

Afrocentrism has a great influence on the formation of historical views on school and university education in Africa. Such approaches are also common among the African-American population in North America and the Caribbean. The most complete (to date) expression of the views of Afrocentrism on the place of Africa in world history was manifested in numerous works of the African-American Molefi Kete Asante, who is considered the head of this direction, and, in particular, in his book " The History of Africa. Search for Eternal Harmony "(2007).

Russian historians and Russian readers in general may find the views of Afrocentrists not only unusual, but also strange. But such views exist, their influence is growing, they need to be known, analyzed, and given a sober assessment.

Then Professor A. S. Balezin (IVI RAS, ISAA MSU) spoke about "Studying the history of Africa at the Center for African Studies in 1971-2011". He noted that the first collective works of the then Sector of African History - "Source Studies of African History" and "Historical Science in African countries" - have not lost their scientific significance to this day. He described how the sector was disbanded in 1979 and how it was re-established in 1984. He noted the main achievements in recent decades , in particular, described the difficulties and achievements in working on the eight volumes of documents on the history of Africa that have already been published, and outlined plans for the future.

The second part of the conference was devoted to the actual scientific reports. Marina Tolmacheva, a professor at the University of Washington (USA), spoke on the topic: "The Year of Africa and African Studies in the light of the end of World War II".

* In December 2011, A. B. Davidson was elected an Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

research Institute of the Cold war". She noted that the 2011 annual conference of the Association of American Africanists was entirely dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of African independence. In the wake of the liberation of African countries, African studies began to develop in the world as an interdisciplinary field. The development of African studies in the USSR and the United States was greatly influenced by the Cold War. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, new trends have emerged in the study of Africa, both in academic circles and in practice and politics. The speaker, as an observer and researcher of Africa on both sides of the Cold War front (she spent these years partly in the USSR and partly in the United States), elaborated on the change in academic research priorities that occurred with the end of the cold War. She systematized new features in African studies in the United States and the USSR and emphasized that the scientific heritage of African studies in both countries during the Cold War era represents a special chapter in global intellectual history.

Dr. Steffi Marung, a researcher at the Center for Regional Studies at the University of Leipzig, dedicated her report to regional studies in the era of globalization. She noted that with the end of the cold war, interest in global history has grown, and regional studies are increasingly developing in the context of identifying their place in global processes. Studies of African history are also increasingly revealing its role in global history. The speaker highlighted the following features in modern German African studies:: 1) critical rethinking of the methodology and categorical apparatus; 2) integration into the global context and study of the impact of Africa on globalization; 3) attention to interregional links-Africa with Asia, Europe and North America; 4) rethinking of political realities; 5) research of new spatial categories; 6) development of interdisciplinary and international cooperation, including: including with Africa.

Karin Hiemaa, Associate Professor at the University of Tartu (Estonia), in her report "The History of African Studies in Estonia", noted that the history of studies of African peoples and languages in Estonia can be traced back to the beginning of the XIX century. Estonian missionaries who worked in different regions of the continent can be considered the founders of Estonian African studies. Of these, more important contributions were made by Gustav Reinhold Nielender (c. 1776-1825), Hans Tiysmann (1829-1886), Oskar Thal (1858-1896), Ewald Ovijr (1873-1896), and Leonhard Bloomer (1878-1938).

Speaking about Estonian African studies, we should mention the development of Ethiopian studies. Interest in Ethiopian studies began at the University of Tartu as early as the beginning of the 19th century, when Professor of Semitic languages V. G. Getzel began to give lectures on the Ethiopian language. A serious scientific approach to the study of Ethiopian languages was formed at the University of Tartu in the second half of the 19th century.

Interest in African studies as an academic subject began at the University of Tartu in the early 1960s. In 1962, the Africa Circle, initiated by linguist P. Nurmekund, began to operate. Teaching of African history began at the University of Tartu in 1966.

Dr. Guido Mulemann (University of Zurich, Switzerland) made a presentation on: "The evolution of Sino-African relations". He stressed that this problem has only recently been actively investigated in the world of science. The history of China's contacts with Africa began in the XV century with the travels of Zheng He. The speaker showed what knowledge about Africa and the peoples inhabiting it the Chinese received in subsequent periods.

In his report "The History of South Africa through the eyes of African intellectuals of the first third of the XX century: Features of the formation of historical ideas", PhD A.V. Voevodsky (RSUH, IVI RAS) analyzed the works of three famous African researchers and public figures from South Africa-

Early 20th century: T. Mofolo, J. Dube, and S. Plaaki. Their works became classics of South African literature and, at the same time, had a huge impact on the whole range of ideas of Africans about their past. The historical prose of Mofolo, Dube and Plaaki clearly shows the influence of European culture, but their main goal was to restore historical justice - to show that the African peoples of South Africa were the creators of their own history. These authors sought to preserve for posterity the traditions and traditions of their peoples, but at the same time they gave rise to new historical myths, many of which are still alive today.

Professor A. L. Yemelyanov (MGIMO) devoted his speech to a general theoretical topic that goes far beyond the history of Africa, but is extremely relevant for the Black continent- " Transition from a traditional society to a modern one. Theoretical aspects". He noted that the transition from a traditional society to a modern one in historical science is both one of the most developed issues (revolutions, reforms, political, economic, spiritual changes, etc.) and at the same time one of the least studied. In the presence of a huge amount of factual material, there is not only no unified theory, but even more or less clear criteria that allow us to determine which society can be considered traditional and which can be considered modern. The transition from a traditional society to a modern one is a natural historical process that takes place regardless of the conscious activity of people. They can only speed it up or slow it down. The transition from traditional to modern society in one area of life leads to disorganization of the human collective and chaos in public life. A successful transition requires simultaneous, gradual, and balanced changes.

Doctor of Historical Sciences G. V. Tsypkin (IVI RAS) presented a report on the topic: "A view from Ethiopia on world history".

He retaliated that referring to many periods of Ethiopian history shows that the interpretation of world history by Ethiopian authors falls out of the research tradition of the rest of Africa. The peculiarity of the historical development of this state, the period of self-isolation in the Middle Ages, the perception of itself as a "Christian island" in the sea of Islam led to the fact that everything that happened outside of Ethiopia itself was of little interest to Ethiopians, both ordinary citizens and intellectuals. Despite all the changes in the current state of the country, not a single work has been published by Ethiopian historians that is not related to the history of Ethiopia. During the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, only the study of Ethiopia itself was encouraged, and the uniqueness and originality of its historical development was emphasized. As a result, there are practically no works that allow us to present the views of local historians on the events of world history. Some studies can be found among the works of historians who were forced to leave Ethiopia in different years.

Doctor of Historical Sciences S. V. Mazov (IVI RAS) made a report "The USSR and the Congolese crisis, 1960-1964. Based on materials from Russian and foreign archives".

The author has identified in Russian archives documents about confidential contacts between the Soviet leadership and the leaders of friendly African states in connection with the events in the Congo during an extremely important period in the history of this country. A letter from Prime Minister Harold Macmillan to Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah about the situation in the Congo has been found in the British archives, which has not yet been mentioned in any research. The archival materials give grounds to argue against the common view in Western historiography that there was no" real " cold War in the Congo, and that the USSR simulated a confrontation with the West for propaganda dividends. The choice of Soviet strategy in the Cold War crises was determined by two main factors. First, the geopolitical value of a particular territory mattered. The Congo is not one of the Soviet geopolitical priorities.

it was included, and Khrushchev initially did not intend to go there to the end in confrontation with the West. That didn't stop him from trying to score propaganda points on the crisis. The second factor is the quality of local allies. The example of Nkrumah shows that one can speak only of the situational solidarity behavior of the USSR, but not of a strategic alliance.

Candidate of Historical Sciences N. G. Shcherbakov (IVI RAS) made a report, which he called "Pan-Africanism and world History: calculation or dilettantism". He stressed that the Pan-African Congress movement's views on world history have never been fully explored. The classical historical research tradition of the 19th and early 20th centuries comprehensively defined the approaches of African-American researchers who were the predecessors of pan-Africanists in the interpretation of world history. At the same time, many of the conclusions of non - professional African-American historians at the end of the XIX century. the foundations of the Afrocentric view of world history have already begun to be laid, becoming a kind of reaction to the prevailing Eurocentric understanding of the laws of the development of the historical process.

After the First World War, members of the Pan-African Congress movement were forced to turn to the study of the history of the African continent to substantiate the claims of new socio-political forces in Africa to participate in the fate of their peoples. Very few people were able to do this professionally, and the lack of educational training of Africans and African-Americans affected them. It was during this period that the main approaches to understanding history were further developed, which later gave birth to Afrocentrism, black racism and other radical views on world history and the role of African peoples in the development of the historical process.

Candidate of Historical Sciences L. V. Ivanova (IVI RAS) made a presentation "Pre-colonial and colonial past of Somalia as interpreted by Somali intellectuals". She noted that the number of Somali historians is small, most of them were educated in European and American countries, as a result of which their view of the country's history is significantly influenced by Eurocentrism.

Historical studies in the Somali language have not been widely disseminated within the country due to the low literacy rate of the population: traditionally, history was transmitted orally and interpreted "on the spot". During certain periods, the clan leaders and their role in strengthening the state in general and the clan in particular were sung. The role of local religious leaders in strengthening statehood has been variously interpreted, and foreign interference in Somalia's affairs has sometimes been and continues to be interpreted from a polar perspective. During a very important period of its existence, the country's leader, S. Barre, was initially praised, and later accused of state collapse and totalitarianism, etc.

At present, despite the notorious costs of nation-building, we can observe mixed trends in the study of Somali history. Universities are being opened within the country, and professional Somali historians, traditionalists, and modernists are emerging, drawing on a wide range of historical sources, including the tradition of "oral" study of Somalia's past.

PhD student M. S. Kurbak (IVI RAS) in her report "Africa and the world through the eyes of Nobel laureates J. M. Coetzee and N. Gordimer" emphasized that among the famous South African writers of the XX century. Particularly popular and internationally recognized are John Maxwell Coetzee and Nadine Gordimer, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Their works are translated and published all over the world. That is why the views of Coetzee and Gordimer on the development of their own country and Africa as a whole are of particular interest.

Despite significant differences in literary style and views on many issues (in particular, the role that a writer should play in the political and social life of society), both writers in their novels and interviews are increasingly critical of the current situation in South Africa and the whole of Africa. Special attention is paid to the problems of increasing crime, corruption and racism in its various manifestations. It is interesting that the current problems of African countries are becoming an illustration of the global ones. One of the main themes of both Coetzee and Gordimer's work was the migration process and the associated difficulties in mutual perception and understanding of people of different races and nationalities (for example, N. Gordimer's novel "Pickup Truck", Coetzee's books "Waiting for Barbarians", "Slow Man", "Diary of a Bad Year", etc.)..

The conference ended with a round table discussion on "Current problems of studying the history of Africa". It was chaired by A. B. Davidson and Marina Tolmacheva (USA). D. M. Bondarenko (IAfr RAS), Dr. Steffi Marung (Germany), Dr. Guido Mulemann (Switzerland), Doctor of Historical Sciences V. I. Yurtaev (RUDN University), Karin Hiemaa, Doctor of Historical Sciences V. G. Shubin (IAfr RAS), Doctor of Historical SciencesProfessor I. V. Krivushin (National Research University-Higher School of Economics), Doctor of Historical Sciences S. V. Mazov, Candidate of Historical Sciences N. G. Shcherbakov and others.

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