Alexander Stepanovich Balezin, a charming, cheerful man and a wonderful scientist, is turning 60. Alexander Stepanovich's professional career has been inextricably linked to Africa and African studies, which he has served faithfully for more than four decades-since entering the Institute of Oriental Languages, now the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University.

At his alma mater, A. S. Balezin over the years rose to the official title of professor and unofficial-one of the favorite teachers of several generations of students who appreciated his ability to give knowledge so that it was not boring, but on the contrary, interesting to receive it. A. S. Balezin made a significant contribution to the teaching of African studies as the author and co-author of several original textbooks and manuals on the new and modern history of the continent, on the source study of the history of East Africa. For many years, Alexander Stepanovich taught not only historical subjects, but also the Swahili language.

Nevertheless, a special role in the professional life of A. S. Balezin was undoubtedly played by the Center for African Studies of the Institute of Universal History, which Alexander Stepanovich joined in 1975 and has now passed all the stages from post-graduate student to chief researcher, Doctor of Historical Sciences. Here he was also lucky enough to meet his main teacher, the African historian Apollo Borisovich Davidson. It was working under his guidance that A. S. Balezin defended his PhD thesis in 1978 and eventually became one of the leading Russian historians of African studies. As a specialist, he embodies the best qualities necessary for a historian. This is a reliance on sources and a high level of culture of working with them when conducting scientific historical research.

It is impossible not to mention one more circumstance that determined the professional success of L. S. Balezin. Of course, the work of a historian is as specific as that of a scientist of any other specialty. However, there are also general, basic principles of scientific work as such, and what is even more important, universal for the world of science are the desire for truth, the inspiration of creative search, the cult of knowledge, and the understanding of the importance of science for society. And here it should be noted that Alexander Stepanovich, as they say, " from a professorial family." His parents-both his father and mother-were not humanists, but well-known scientists - "natural scientists", but, undoubtedly, the very atmosphere of scientific creativity that reigned in the Balezin house could not but affect his choice of life path.

A congratulatory note is not a review of a monograph. In this case, we will not retell the scientific works of the hero of the day, especially since each of his numerous books was awarded friendly reviews of colleagues in the shop soon after its release. We note only one circumstance that does not appear when considering the works of A. S. Balezin separately: their thematic diversity is rare for modern science. United by the fundamental problem of interaction between African and European cultures that runs through all his scientific work, A. S. Balezin's works are devoted to Uganda and Namibia, the theory of colonial society, the transformation of autochthonous political institutions and the formation of communities of immigrants from Europe, the role of the individual in the history of Africa and the specifics of the source base for its study.

What can I wish Alexander Stepanovich on his anniversary? Of course, health. And also • - a sense of fullness of life, which is unthinkable for a scientist outside of scientific search - the path of knowledge as an approximation to the truth, passing through painful doubts about the correctness of the answers found to the questions posed by the whole course of the development of science.

FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES

MAIN SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF A. S. BALEZIN

Transformation of land relations in Uganda (1900-1939) / / Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1978. No. 4. pp. 143-154.

Ranneklassovye gosudarstva Vostochnoafrikanskogo Mezhozerya i formirovanie protektorata Uganda (vtoraya polovina XIX-nachalo XX v) [Early class states of the East African Inter - Lake region and the formation of the Uganda protectorate (the second half of the XIX-beginning of the XX century)]. Problemy novoi i sovremennoi istorii, Moscow: Nauka, 1979, pp. 133-149.

Formation of historical science in East Africa // Istoricheskaya nauka v stranakh Afrika [Historical Science in the countries of Africa], Moscow: Nauka, GRVL. 1979, pp. 155-207 (together with I. I. Filatova and V. E. Ovchinnikov).

The first Ugandan Enlighteners / / Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1981. No. 4. pp. 129-138.

Ed. transl., comp. decree. / Istoriya germanskogo kolonializma v Afrika [History of German colonialism in Africa]. 1983.412 p.

African Rulers and Chieftains in Uganda (The evolution of traditional authorities under colonialism. 1862-1962). Moscow: "Nauka", GRVL. 1986.276 p.

Traditional authorities and colonial leaders in East Africa (on the issue of terminology and typology) / / Soviet Ethnography. 1987. No. 3. pp. 35-44.

Translated from German, comp. decree. // X. Drexler. South-West Africa under German colonial rule. 1884-1915. Moscow: Nauka, GRVL. 1987.293 p.

Uganda // History of Tropical and Southern Africa. 1918-1988. (Textbook). Moscow: "Nauka", GRVL. 1989. pp. 228-242.

At the Great African Lakes (monarchs and presidents of Uganda). Moscow: Nauka, GRVL. 1989. 208 p.

Africa in the world-historical process / / Vostok (Oriens). 1991. No. 1. pp. 163-167.

The German community in Namibia: the main stages of formation // East (Oriens). 1992. No. 5. pp. 28-43.

The German community in Namibia: on the question of the formation of a subethnos (based on field research) / / Ethnographic Review. 1992. No. 5. pp. 64-75.

Namibian farm / / Around the world. 1993. No. 1. pp. 10-13.

An exquisite giraffe in the crosshairs of Russia and Africa (About the book by A. B. Davidson "The Muse of Nikolai Gumilev's Travels") / / Vostok (Oriens). 1993. No. 4. pp. 198-200.

Istoriya Namibii v novoe i sovremennoe vremya [History of Namibia in the New and modern times]. 1993. 255 p. (sovm. with A. V. Pritvorov and S. A. Slipchenko.) Introduction, chapters 1 and 2 (pp. 5-102).

The formation of a colonial society in Uganda. Features of the colonial synthesis / / Colonial Society of Tropical Africa: interaction of civilizations? Moscow: "Vostochnaya literatura". 1993. pp. 80-130.

Civilizers in the land of savages? Formation and evolution of the German settlement community in SWA / Namibia. 1814-1990. Moscow: IVIRAN, 1996.282 p.

Dom po-afrikanski / / Salon. 1996. № 2 (7). pp. 84-87.

On the past and present of the German community in South Africa. 1996. No. 4. pp. 28-39.

The Namibian National Archives: documents and materials // Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta [Bulletin of the Moscow University]. Ser. 13. Vostokovedenie [Oriental Studies]. 1996. No. 3. pp. 47-53.

Her Highness the Rain Queen / / Around the World. 1997. No. 3. pp. 18-22.

"The Rain Queen" and the Christian God / / Ethnographic Review. 1997. No. 3. pp. 82-85.

25 years of the Center for African Studies of the Institute of Universal History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 1997. No. 3. pp. 161-163.

Africa and the East in the context of problems of the Culture of peace and democracy. Culture of peace. Uchebnoe posobie [Textbook], Moscow: Mezhdunar. Institute for the Culture of Peace and Democracy and UNESCO. 1997. pp. 220-229.

In the National Archives of Tanzania / / New and recent history. 1998. No. 2. pp. 215-217.

First Conference on Teaching African History // Bulletin of the Moscow State University. Ser. 13. Oriental studies. 1999. No. 1. pp. 101-103.

Istoriya Afrika - didakticheskii materialy po uzlovym problemov mirovoi istorii [The History of Africa-didactic material on key problems of world history]. Scientific works of the MAEP. Issue 4. Moscow: Moscow Academy of Economics and Law. 2000. pp. 106-114.

"Afronemtsy" v Germanii: sudby v usloviyakh radicaliziruyushchego evrokentrizma (po archivnymi materialam) ["Afronemtsy" in Germany: destinies in the conditions of radicalizing Eurocentrism (based on archival materials)]. Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism on the eve of the XXI century: African studies in the world context. Proceedings of the international scientific conference dedicated to the 70th anniversary of A. B. Davidson. Edited by A. S. Balezin, Moscow: IVI RAS, 2000, pp. 121-133.

Archive of the Berlin Missionary Society: a unique collection of documents on the history of colonial transformation of traditional African societies / / Africa and the Past Century, Moscow, 2000, pp. 24-32.

For 30 years the Centre of African studies, Institute of world history RAS // modern and contemporary history. 2001. No. 4. pp. 211-215.

EuropÄische Missionare in Ost-und SÜdafrika: Kulturbegegnung oder Gewalt (Anhand Archivquellen) // Asian and African Studies. Bratislava. 2001. Vol. 10. № 2. S. 174-184.

Archival sources on the new and recent history of Africa in Swahili. Khrestomatiya, Moscow: ISAA pri MSU. 2002. 69 p.

Archivnye materialy po Afrika v Rossii i za rubezhom i otechestvennye afrikanisty [Archival materials on Africa in Russia and abroad and domestic Africanists]. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference. Edited by A. S. Balezin, Moscow, 2002, pp. 42-48.

Tropical and Southern Africa / / XX century. Brief Historical Encyclopedia, vol. 2, Moscow, 2002, pp. 109-149.

Namibian Germans about themselves and their future // Ethnographic review. 2002. No. 4. pp. 121-126.

Materials on the new and recent history of Africa in the Archive of the Overseas Territories of France (Aix-en-Provence) / / New and Recent History. 2002. No. 6. pp. 105-113.

In: Stanovlenie otechestvennoi afrikanistiki [Formation of National African Studies]. 1920s-early 1960s Moscow, 2003. - Author: Critique of foreign African studies in the works of Soviet scientists of the 20s-50s. pp. 349-367; Development of the theory of the non-capitalist path of development for African countries in the USSR: origins and first steps. pp. 368-379; Creator of the first course of African literature (G. I. Potekhina), pp. 263-265.

From the life of the African hinterland in the first half of the XX century: Equatorial Africa // Under the sky of my Africa. History, languages, and culture of the peoples of Africa. Issue 2. Moscow, 2003, pp. 69-74.

Across Africa in search of Russia. Travel notes of a historian, Moscow: IVI RAS, 2004, 116 p.

On the typology of archives containing a corpus of sources on the history of Africa of the XX century and the experience of working in some of them / / Archives-the key to the history of Africa of the XX century. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference dedicated to the 75th anniversary of Professor A. B. Davidson, Moscow, 2005, pp. 33-48.

Translated from English, German, French. and swahili, comment. to documents №№ 63-85, 87-88, 92, 94-97, 104, 109-111, 197 207 // The history of Africa in documents. 1870 2000. Vol. 1. 1870 1918. Moscow, 2005. P. 117-142, 143-145, 154, 160-164, 180, 187-190, 384 387.

How Uganda almost became Israel and what was written about it in Russia a hundred years ago // Under the sky of my Africa. History, languages, and culture of the peoples of Africa. Issue 3. Moscow, 2005, pp. 21-27.

European missionaries and the meeting of cultures in Africa / / New and Recent History. 2006. No. 3. pp. 222-229.

Translated from English, German, French. and swahili, comment, to documents №№ 26, 27, 29, 31, 39, 67, 75, 101, 108, 118 //The history of Africa in documents. 1870 2000. Vol. 2. 1918-1960. Moscow, 2007. p. 118-119, 119-120, 127-128, 132-137, 281 283, 314-317, 406-407, 431-432, 469-471.

Translated from English and commented on. to documents No. 64, 95 / / History of Africa in documents. 1870-2000. Vol. 3. 1961-2000. Moscow, 2007. pp. 162-165, 242-244.

Tropical and Southern Africa in Modern and Contemporary times: people, problems, events. Uchebnoe posobie [Textbook], Moscow: Knizhny Dom Universitet. 2008. 272 p.

Zanzibar princess from Russia, resident of Germany. Through the harem scandal to the battle of European powers / / Under the sky of my Africa. History, languages, and culture of the peoples of Africa. Issue No. 4. Moscow, 2009, pp. 84-93.

Historian and source. From the work experience of a Russian Afrikanist historian at the end of the Soviet era (1970-1980), Istorik i obshchestvo: nauchnaya laboratoriya issledovatelya. Publishing series "Akademklub: istoricheskie nauki", Moscow: IVI RAS, 2009, pp. 53-74.

Meeting of cultures in Tropical Africa in the colonial era (to the problem statement) / / Pax Africana: continent and Diaspora in search of themselves. House of the Higher School of Economics, 2009, pp. 375-432.

Archival materials on the problem of meeting cultures in Tropical and Southern Africa in the colonial period / / Afrikans and Russians at the crossroads of history. To the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sergey Rufovich Smirnov, Moscow, 2010, pp. 75-83.

Izuchenie Afrika v Rossii i za rubezhom: etapy, tendentsii, perspektivy [Studying Africa in Russia and abroad: stages, trends, Prospects]. Moscow: IVI RAS, 2012, pp. 9-24.

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