At the Origin of African Studies in Ural: Valentina Grak and Her Role in Deepening and Spreading Knowledge about Africa in Sverdlovsk, 1960s — 1980s

Abstract

The article is devoted to the popularization of knowledge about Africa in Sverdlovsk in 1960—1980s. The author focuses on the role of Valentina Grak – Associate Professor of the Faculty of History of the Ural State University named after A. M. Gorky – in deepening and spreading knowledge about Africa in Ural. This article is based on the interviews conducted by the author with Valentina Grak and Vadim Kuzmin — former department chair at the Sverdlovsk Higher Party School. The author also uses some local media materials. This article proves that the “Year of Africa” and the formation of independent states in the continent failed to attract much attention of the people in Ural in 1960s. Formation of Africa’s image among Ural students began in 1970s, when the phenomenon of African states of “socialist orientation” emerged and these states began to cooperate with the Soviet Union. This interest to Africa was rather high until the middle of 1980s. In the following years the Soviet people were mainly interested in domestic problems of their country.