When we contemplate a painting by the most outstanding artist in a museum, we voluntarily or involuntarily look around not only the entire canvas, but also approach the canvas, trying to see the details - those paint strokes that, in the end, formed a work of art. Similarly, to truly understand a city, country, or continent, it is not enough to get acquainted with volumes of reference books or detailed guidebooks - you need to get impressions from those who live in these places, learn about their traditions and customs, just about the daily life of the people inhabiting this area.

Collections of articles "Under the Sky of Africa", published periodically by the publishing house "Klyuch - S", have become a significant addition to the major works on modern Africa - on its nature, history, and culture. History, culture, and languages of the peoples of Africa". At the end of 2012, the 6th issue of such an almanac was published (the first one was published in 2000).

Its authors are the Department of African Studies at the Institute of Asian and African Studies (ISAA). Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Center for African Studies of the Institute of World History (IVI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The editorial team was headed by Doctor of Historical Sciences, Chief Researcher of IVI, Professor A. S. Balezin.

Unlike the previous five collections, each of which published materials about almost all regions of the Black Continent, the sixth issue is devoted to a territory that is huge and extremely diverse in all "parameters" - from natural to demographic, namely, Tropical and Southern Africa. The authors of most of the published materials are teachers, graduates and students of the Department of African Studies of ISAA, as well as their Russian and African colleagues. The almanac-this is stated in the brief annotation that precedes it - is intended for both specialists and anyone interested in African issues.

The first thing that distinguishes this unique book in many respects is its thematic and authorial diversity: placement in a relatively small "space" - only on 304 pages - of 31 materials. Plus sections dedicated to the anniversaries of African scientists (9 "anniversary" notes), as well as scientists who have left in recent years (8 articles), several materials about the current scientific life in African studies and brief biographical information (34 references) about the authors.

All the main materials are written in different genres - these are reports, articles, memoirs and even personal letters that were once sent to relatives by our compatriots who worked in Africa. With this diversity, the book produces a fairly complete work - after all, we perceive the same" whole " pattern that we see in a kaleidoscope, although we know that it was formed from randomly assembled pieces of glass and pebbles of different sizes and colors.

The Pages of History section of the almanac opens with the most valuable "Letters" to the wife and daughter of the famous African scholar S. R. Smirnov (1909-1969), who in 1958, during a period of severe scientific isolationism, was one of the few colleagues who managed to go on a research trip to Egypt and Sudan. Touching descriptions of the flight of birds over the Blue Nile, boys with fishing rods on the bank of a huge river... Each such detail is full of deep meaning: after all, there was not a single chance to visit these countries, even close scientists - so dense was the "iron curtain" that separated the USSR from the rest of the world. The scientist was painfully worried about this, and in 1959 he sent a letter to N. S. Khrushchev (it is also reproduced in the book), in which he raised the question not only of expanding the scale of studying the continent, but also of creating the Institute of Africa, which, by the way, was subsequently done.

I must say that the study of Africa, unfortunately, was underestimated even in post-Khrushchev times-he writes about this in his essay "How was it? About the "defense" of the dissertation and after... " First Deputy Editor-in-chief of our journal, Candidate of Historical Sciences O. I. Teterin. Having collected unique material about "terra incognita" in African studies - Zanzibar, he-already in the early 1970s - not without difficulty defended his dissertation, and the importance of this work for understanding the political situation on the "Black Continent" is still not appreciated.

The section "Languages, literature, culture" is the most "special" in the almanac. For example, articles on proper names in the Samara language (authored by E. S. Lvova, PhD, Professor of the ISAA) and on Zulu borrowings from Afrikaans (PhD, Associate Professor of the ISAA, M. R. Urb) are probably of interest only to linguists (which, however, is also important). But in the same section there are articles that are sure to attract the attention of the widest circles of readers. These are "Theatre Palette of Modern Ethiopia" (PhD, Senior Researcher of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences G. A. Balashova) and "History of Film Art of Tanzania" (Ambassador of the United Republic of Tanzania to the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus Jaka Mgwabi Mwambi). The article "Islam and Christianity in Swahili Literature" by Dr. M. D. Gromov, who worked in Kenya, is extremely interesting, and shows how closely the themes and moral imperatives of the two greatest religions are intertwined in novels, novellas, and poems by writers from Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda.

The articles in this topic group seem to complement the small section "Student Translations", and these are really translations of four samples of African literature made by Russian students studying African studies. The section is only 13 pages long, but given that the works of African writers are almost never published in our country, these translations will certainly be of interest to those who would like to get to know the culture of the continent more closely. By the way, different works of different authors have one thing in common - the main role in them is played by dialogues, or rather, conversations between the main characters. Therefore, all four translations are accessible in terms of content and are easy to read.

The section " Travel. Travel notes " I started reading with the essay of the journalist N. N. Nepomnyashchy "How I was looking for a quagga in Kruger Park" - I couldn't wait to find out what kind of creature it is - a quagga. It turned out to be a subspecies of zebra of unusual color, which was completely destroyed by boers in South Africa many years ago. Now attempts are being made to restore at least a small population of animals using genetic engineering.

Among the shortcomings of the section is that four of the six essays are devoted to traveling in one country - Uganda, the other two-but South Africa and Madagascar.

Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of such editorial carelessness in a generally informative and interesting book.

Not without some bravado, its authors inform readers that articles are published "mainly in the author's editorial office." But there are still some things that need to be edited.

For example, suggest that students A. Sineshchekova and A. Filippova at least add something specific to their too concise micro-essay (less than one page!), which clearly falls out of the general context of the book. And another student, E. Chmeleva, reports that she managed to "feel" (?!) Africa thanks to the invitation of a certain Karen Armenovich, but who he is - we can only guess. And in terms of their content, which can be judged by the title - " How we were almost arrested in Africa...", these very superficial notes got into the book due to a misunderstanding, because they deserved to be published, at best, in the institute's large-circulation, but not in a publication that claims to be solid.

The list of authors of the publication is carelessly compiled - for example, for some reason, the author of one of the most interesting essays "The first students of the ISAA in Madagascar", L. A. Kartashov, is absent from it.

I would like to wish the compilers of the next - seventh-almanac "Under the sky of my Africa" - to carefully select materials, as well as double - check the reference apparatus-this is the first requirement for publications that claim to be scientifically rigorous and reliable.

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