The Explosion of African Studies in the Soviet Union

Extract

Russia's interest in Africa can be traced back to the fifteenth century. Not until the eighteenth century, however, does Russian interest become significant and important, especially through the writings of M. G. Kokovtsev on Tunisia and Algeria. Although these works seemed to be based largely on Kokovtsev's personal experiences in these areas, more formal academic efforts emerged also during this era. In 1790-1791, the Russian Academy of Sciences published The Comparative Dictionary of World Languages. This publication contained information mostly on the North African languages of Arabic, Coptic, Berber, and Fulbe, and some others of the western Sudan. Under the Czarist regime, in the nineteenth century, works by Russian travelers and ethnological and biological studies by scientists appeared. Likewise linguistic studies continued apace through scholarly interest in the ancient Ethiopian language, Geez. Thus, the thrust of systematic scholarship on Africa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries centered on linguistics.

The triumph of the Bolsheviks, in 1917 and subsequently, greatly altered the thrust of scholarship about and interest in Africa. It is the purpose of this paper, therefore, to examine the institutional and disciplinary efforts of the Soviets to understand and interpret Africa in the context of their established ideology. Emphasis has been placed on the institutions of higher education involved in African studies and the types of concern each has for the continent, especially after World War II.