Soviet "Afro-Asians" in UNESCO: Reorienting World History

Abstract

This article highlights the activities of Soviet Central Asian intellectuals within the Soviet Committee for Solidarity with African and Asian Countries (SKSSAA). It focuses on the activities of the SKSSAA directly related to UNESCO. The article's main argument is that the SKSSAA activated the UNESCO East-West Project (1956–1966) with the specific aim to advance a historical agenda that posited the Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity at its center. When looking at the UNESCO Peoples' History of Asia project, this article examines the intermediary role of Soviet Central Asian intellectuals, and it suggests that their approach to history resonated with lived experiences of complex solidarities that often transcended the boundaries of states. While there were political reasons for the disintegration of the UNESCO History of Asia project, such as the Indo-Chinese border war, the UNESCO regimes of professionalization seriously undermined the imaginary landscapes that the Peoples' History of Asia project sought to sustain.