Centre for History and Cultural Anthropology

Head of the Centre

GRIBANOVA V.V. Ph.D. (Hist.)
RSCI AuthorID: 303133
SPIN (РИНЦ ID): 4841-0622

    • New and recent history of South Africa
    • Place of education in the South African culture

The main fields of the Centre's Studies:

• The history of African peoples from antiquity to the present day; the history of colonial conquests and anti-colonial movements in Africa.
• The evolution of relations between Russia and other leading world powers and African countries in modern and contemporary times.
• Ethnocultural and sociocultural processes in Africa in the past and present; cultural identity, culture and traditions in African countries; cross-cultural dialogue.
• Non-Western cultures in the modern world: anthropological aspects; cultural anthropology of an African city; media in non-Western societies; the image of Africa and Africans in the media and popular culture.
• Migration: non-African diasporas in African countries and African diasporas in the world; communities of migrants from Africa in different countries of the world, including Russia; ethnoracial and confessional tolerance and xenophobia.
• Religions and interfaith interaction in modern Africa and in the world; the dynamics of the propagation and interrelation of traditional religions, Christianity and Islam.

The Centre employs 12 researchers, including the head of the Centre and the curator of the Centre from the administration of the Institute. Three members of the Centre are D.Sc. Degree holders, one of whom are a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and two of whom are Full Professors; six researchers have Ph.D.'s. The Centre also trains graduate students and applicants of an academic degree. In addition, most of the Centre's members combine research work with teaching at various universities in Moscow, including Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian State University for the Humanities, National Research University Higher School of Economics, the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.

The Centre's Research Fellows:

    Vladimir SHUBIN D.Sc. (History), Professor, Ph.D. (Honoris Causa), University of the Western Cape (South Africa); Principal Research Fellow
    RSCI AuthorID: 484042
    SPIN (РИНЦ ID): 2456-7153
    Scopus ID: 57191093546
    Researcher ID: T-2509-2017
      • The recent history of Southern African countries;
      • Relations of the USSR/Russia and other leading world nations with African states;
      • Politics and practice of the international social democracy

    Natalia ZHERLITSYNA Deputy Director, Ph.D. (Hist.), Researcher Fellow
    RSCI AuthorID: 626004
    SPIN (РИНЦ ID): 7742-5520
    Scopus ID: 572 027 86 350
    Researcher ID: A-5835-2017
      • History of Tunisia;
      • Russian-Tunisian relations in the 18th-20th centuries.

    Anastasia BANSHCHIKOVA Ph.D. (History); Senior Research Fellow
    RSCI AuthorID: 554293
    SPIN (РИНЦ ID): 8072-6914
    Scopus ID: 57216357452
    Researcher ID: E-6671-2018
      • Cultural anthropology of Ancient Egypt;
      • Perception of Ancient Egypt in medieval Arab sources;
      • Historical memory of the slave trade and colonialism in modern Tanzania;
      • German colonial legacy in modern Tanzania;
      • History of Bagamoyo.

    Irina TATAROVSKAYA D.Sc. (Philosophy), Ph.D. (Philology); Senior Research Fellow
    RSCI AuthorID: 755636
    SPIN (РИНЦ ID): 6037-8310
      • Folklore and mythology of Tropical and South Africa;
      • Culture and traditions in African countries;
      • African philosophy.

    Veronika USACHEVA Ph.D. (Political Science); Senior Research Fellow
    RSCI AuthorID: 458088
    SPIN (РИНЦ ID): 6401-8079
    Researcher ID: AGN-8698-2022
      • Global information processes, development of the media sphere, information and communication technologies in Africa;
      • Various aspects of the concept of race in modern scientific, political and
      public discourses;
      • African Diaspora and migration.

    Nadezhda KHOKHOLKOVA Ph.D. (History); Senior Research Fellow
    RSCI AuthorID: 741118
    SPIN (РИНЦ ID): 2569-3655
    ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5165-1925
    Scopus ID: 57193257052
    Researcher ID: ABE-6953-2020
      • Intellectual history of Africa and African Diasporas;
      • History of Afrocentric movement;
      • Cultural identity and historical memory;
      • Decolonial and postcolonial studies.

    Evgenii MOROZOV Ph.D. (History); Senior Research Fellow
    RSCI AuthorID: 241945
    SPIN (РИНЦ ID): 5110-3100
    ORCID: 0000-0002-9513-4145
      • History of Ethiopia in 19th and 20th centuries
      • History of British and French colonial policy and decolonization
      • History of international relations in the late 19th–20th centuries
      • History of Africa in the colonial and postcolonial period

    Valentina BRYNDINA Junior Research Fellow
    RSCI AuthorID: 1009645
    SPIN (РИНЦ ID): 1866-3797
    Scopus ID: 57217164677
      • History of Christianity in Tanzania
      • Muslim-Christian relations in Zanzibar
      • Interconfessional relations in modern Tanzania
      • Historical memory of the slave trade in modern Tanzania

    Oxana IVANCHENKO Junior Research Fellow
    RSCI AuthorID: 751985
    SPIN (РИНЦ ID): 9233-8119
    Scopus ID: 57216353195
    Researcher ID: M-3016-2018
      • Sub-Saharan Africa;
      • urban anthropology;
      • mutual help groups;
      • informal settlements;
      • ethnic identity;
      • ethnocultural processes in Tanzania;
      • uswahilini;
      • slave trade;
      • historical memory.

    Anton KUPALOV-YAROPOLK, junior researcher
    RSCI AuthorID: 1227548
    SPIN-code: 5616-8778
    ORCID: 0009-0006-3771-1780
      • Interethnic conflicts
      • National construction
      • Military history of sub-Saharan Africa
      • History and social anthropology of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde

    Anastasia LAZUTINA, junior researcher
    RSCI AuthorID: 1102634
    SPIN-code: 6127-2154
      • French colonial policy in Algeria
      • Saint-Simonians in Algeria
      • French colonialism
      • Colonial ideology

    Arthur GRIGORYAN, junior research fellow



    Recent Monographic Publications of the Center and Its Researchers:

    2024
    • Banschikova A.A. Shauri, images of Arabs, and representation of colonial hierarchies in the visual sources of German East Africa // Journal of the Institute for African Studies RAS. 2024. Issue 1 (66). P. 110-126. (in Russ.)
    • Banschikova A.A., Bryndina V.N., Ivanchenko O.V. Between Chains and Books: Historical Memory of the 19th Century Arab-Swahili Slave Trade in Insular and Mainland Tanzania. Moscow: Institute for African Studies RAS. 2024. 300 p. (in Russ.)
    • Black Heritage: Africans and Their Descendants in Historical Memory of the USA, ed. by Dmitri M. Bondarenko. Moscow: Institute for African Studies Press, 2024 (in Russian with English summary, p. 238-241). 256 p.
    • Bryndina V.N. The Spread of Christianity and Christian-Muslim Relations in the Context of Muslim Majority in Zanzibar and Pemba (Tanzania): 2020-2024 Archival and Field Research Results // Christianity in the Middle East. 2024. Vol. 8, № 2. P. 161-193. (in Russ.)
    • Shubin V.G. South Africa and end of the Cold War // Cold War History. 2024. Volume 24. № 2. P. 335-338.
    • Shubin V.G. Water Crisis in South Africa // Asia and Africa Today. 2024. Issue 12. P. 58-64. (in Russ.)
    • Zherlitsina N.A. African Immigrants in France in the Context of the Growing Politicization of the Migration Problem // Journal of Frontier Studies. 2024. № 2. P. 172-178. (in Russ.)

    2023
    • Banschikova A.A. Askari, Arabs, and Africans of Tanganyika: Colonial Times through the Eyes of German Photographers and Illustrators // The Journal of Education and Science “ISTORIYA” (“History”). 2023. Vol. 14, Issue 12 (134) Part 1
    • Banschikova A.A. Julius Nyerere, Comprehension of Slavery, and Nation Building: Some Notes on Popular Consciousness in Modern Tanzania // Journal of the Institute for African Studies RAS. 2023. Issue 4 (65). P. 122-130.
    • Bondarenko D.M. Civil War memory, Anti-Racism, and the American Nation: late 2010s – early 2020s // Lomonosov History Journal. 2023. Vol. 78, № 1. P. 138-164. (in Russ.)
    • Bondarenko D.M. Historical memory, nation building and neotraditionalism in post-colonial Africa south of Sahara // Trudy otdeleniya istoriko filologicheskikh nauk RAN. 2022. Vol. 12 // Executive editor V.A. Tishkov. Moscow: RAN, 2023. P. 286-301. (in Russ.)
    • Bryndina V.N. Europeans and Tippu Tip: Accounts of African Encounters Based on European Memoirs and Swahili Autobiography // Vostok. Afro-Aziatskie obshchestva: istoriia i sovremennost. 2023. Issue 5. P. 129-140. (in Russ.)
    • Gribanova V.V. South Africa in the Descriptions of Russian Sailors of the 19th Century // Historical Reporter. 2023. Vol. 46. P. 2. P. 298–323. (in Russ)
    • Gribanova V.V., Usacheva V.V. Neocolonialism in the Sphere of Education and Mass Media in Africa: Transition from Cultural to Digital Imperialism // The Journal of Education and Science “ISTORIYA” (“History”). 2023. Vol. 14, special issue.
    • Khokholkova N.E. Towards the question of the genesis of pan-Africanism // Vestnik Yaroslavskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta im. P. G. Demidova. Seriya gumanitarnye nauki. Vol. 17, № 1 (63). P. 38-49. (in Russ.)
    • Khokholkova N.E., Belorussova S.Y. The Virtual and the Global: Indigenous Peoples of Russia and Africa in Digital Environment // Etnografia. 2023. № 4 (22). P. 160-180. (in Russ.)
    • Researching the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902: The Practice and the Future. Multi-author book. Moscow, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2023. 372 p. (Summary in English)
    • Shubin V.G. Emerging Powers and the Polycentric World // Mzala Nxumalo, Leftist Thought and Contemporary South Africa / Ed. by Robert J. Balfour. Johannesburg, Jacana Media, 2023. P. 287 – 300.
    • Shubin V.G. South Africa, a New Chair of the BRICS group // National Strategy Issues. 2023. № 3. P. 54-69.
    • Solidarity in the fight against Apartheid: Historical memory in Russia and South Africa. Collection of articles. Executive editor Shubin V.G. Institute for African Studies RAS. 2023. (in Russ.)
    • Tatarovskaya I.G. Contribution of D.A. Olderogge to the study of the epic tradition of West Africa // Journal of the Institute for African Studies RAS. 2023. Issue 4 (65). P. 144-151. (in Russ.)
    • Zherlitsina N.A. French and English Methods of Colonial Expansion in the Maghreb on the Example of the Franco-Moroccan Crisis of the Late 1840s — Early 1850s // The Journal of Education and Science “ISTORIYA” (“History”). 2023. Vol. 14, special issue.
    • Zherlitsina N.A., Melkonyan L.A. An Effective Model of Countering Terrorist Danger: Successful Experience of Mauritania // Asia and Africa Today. 2023. Issue 3. P. 46-54.
    • Zherlitsina N.A., Sidorova G.M. Cross-border migration in Africa during military and political conflicts // Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Issue 93, № 2. P. 149-157. (in Russ.)

    2022
    • Banschikova A.A. Visual Colonization: Social Hierarchies in Postcards, Photographs and Sketches of German East Africa // Social Evolution and History. 2022. Vol. 21 No. 2. P. 108–136.
    • Bondarenko D.M. Cultural Anthropology in the USA. Representations of the Civil War and the Abolition of Slavery in the North and the South. Anthropos. 2022. Vol. 117, № 2. P. 411–422.
    • Bondarenko D.M. Historical and Cultural Aspects of Nation-Building in Post-Colonial African States // Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 2022. Vol.92, № 1. P. 96-105.
    • Bondarenko D.M. Post-colonial Nations in the Historical and Cultural Context. Moscow: LRC Publishig House, 2022. 400 p. (in Russ.)
    • Gribanova V.V. On the Question of the Trends in the Development of Islam in South Africa // The Journal of Education and Science “ISTORIYA” (“History”). 2022. Vol. 13, Issue 3 (113) Problems of African History and Russian-African Relations.
    • Ivanchenko O.V. Arab contribution to the culture of Tanzania: Results of field studies // Asia and Africa today. 2022. № 6. Pp. 45-52. (In Russ.)
    • Khokholkova N.E. Decolonization of African studies: theoretical and practical dimensions // Journal of the Institute for African Studies. 2022. № 3. Pp. 32–43.
    • Shubin V.G. «Comandante Honorofico das FAPLA» Alexei Ivanovich Dubenko // The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, Volume 35, Issue 1 (2022), P. 143-149.
    • Shubin V.G. From Cairo to Cape Town. Africa through the Eyes of a Russian Person. Executive editor: Dr. A.U. Urnov. M.: Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2022. 284 p. (in Russ.)
    • Zherlitsina N.A. Radicalization of French and Spanish Colonial Methods during War with Rif Republic (1921—1926) // Nauchnyi dialog. 2022;11(2):419-436. (In Russ.)
    • Zherlitsyna N. A. Post-Islamism: From Islamism to Muslim Democracy? Transformation of Islamist Parties in Tunisia and Morocco // Asia and Africa today. 2022. Issue 8. P. 50-58

    2021
    • Banschikova A. A. Tanzania. Modern slavery, interethnic relations, and group perception of Arabs // Asia and Africa Today. 2021. No.5, P. 59-65. (in Russ.)
    • Bondarenko D.M. Nation-Building in Post-Colonial States: Historical Past and Present-Day Realities // Journal of Globalization Studies. 2021. Vol. 12, № 1. P. 18-37.
    • Bondarenko D.M., Banshchikova A.A. & Ivanchenko O.V.) Whose State? Whose Nation? Representations of the History of the Arab Slave Trade and Nation-Building in Tanzania. In: Arne S. Steinforth and Sabine Klocke-Daffa (eds.). Challenging Authorities: Ethnographies of Legitimacy and Power in Eastern and Southern Africa. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. P. 29-62.
    • Gribanova V.V., Grishina N.V. Specificity of gender roles in the urban black population of South Africa: history and modernity // Vostok (Oriens). 2021. № 2. P. 93-103. (in Russ.)
    • Ivanchenko O. Participation of Tanzanian tribes and tribal chiefs in the 19th century slave trade // Vostok. Afro-aziatskie obshchestva: istoriia i sovremennost. 2021. No.5, P. 168-179. (in Russ.)
    • Khokholkova N. African Digital Diaspora // Etnografia. 2021. No. 3 (13) P. 191–206. (In Russ.)
    • Shubin V.G. From Cairo to Cape Town. Africa through the Eyes of a Russian Person. M.: Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2021.
    • Zherlitsyna N. A. Ottoman and British factors in anti-french resistance of beylik Constantine in 1830-1837 // Nauchnyi Dialog. 2021. № 4. Р. 357-371. (in Russ.)

    2020
    • Africa: Postcolonial Discourse / Ed. T.M. Gavristova, N.E. Khokholkova. Moscow: Institute for African Studies, RAS, 2020. 248 p. (in Russ.)
    • Banshchikova A.A., Ivanchenko O.V. Memory about the Arab Slave Trade in Modern-Day Tanzania: Between Family Trauma and State-Planted Tolerance // Antropologicheskij forum [Anthropological Forum]. 2020. № 44. P. 83-113. (in Russ.)
    • Bondarenko D.M. Conversion to Orthodox Christianity in Uganda: A Hundred Years of Spiritual Encounter with Modernity, 1919–2019 // Religions. 2020. Vol. 11, № 5, 223. P. 1-18 (with A.V. Tutorskiy).
    • Dmitri M. Bondarenko, Stephen A. Kowalewski, and David B. Small (eds.). The Evolution of Social Institutions: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020. XVII, 661 p.
    • Tatarovskaya I.G. Inhibition – an attributive function of the nervous system: from Hippocrates to I.M. Sechenov // History of Medicine. М., 2019, V. 6, №4. P. 217-220. (with G. Kh. Shingarov).
    • Shubin V.V. “Moscow and Zimbabwe’s Liberation” // Jocelyn Alexander, JoAnn McGregor and Blessing Mills-Tendi (eds.). Transnational Histories of Southern Africa’s Liberation Movements, Abingdon: Rutledge, 2020, P. 225-233.
    • Subbotin V.A. From the Colonial Wars to the First World War. Excerptsfrom the History of the Overseas Troops and Their Command. Moscow: Institute for African Studies, RAS, 2020. 150 p. (in Russ.)

    2019
    • Banshchikova A.A., Ivanchenko O.V. Historical Memory of the 19th-Century Arab Slave Trade in Modern-Day Tanzania: Between Family Trauma and State-Planted Tolerance. In: D.M. Bondarenko and M.L. Butovskaya (eds.). The Omnipresent Past. Historical Anthropology of Africa and African Diaspora. Moscow: LRC Publishing House, 2019. P. 23-45.
    • Bondarenko D.M. African Americans and American Africans: Migration, Histories, Race and Identities. Canon Pyon: Sean Kingston Publishing, 2019. 160 p.
    • Bondarenko D.M. In Search of the True Faith: The Appearance of Orthodox Old Believers in Uganda and Spiritual Anti-globalism in Contemporary Africa. Exchange. Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context. 2019. Vol. 48, № 2. P. 127-155.
    • Khokholkova N.E. Afrocentrism in the USA: Theory and Practice of Sociocultural Transformation. Moscow: Institute for African Studies Press, 2019. 194 p. (in Russ.)
    • Shubin V.V. Zimbabwe: Isolation or Liberation? // South African Historical Journal. Published online: 16 Jul 2019.

    2018
    • Anthropology of Africa: New Objects of Research / Ed. O.I. Kavykin. Moscow: Institute for African Studies, RAS, 2018. 206 p. (in Russ.)
    • Bondarenko D.M. State Building, States, and State Transformation in Africa: Introduction // Social Evolution and History. 2018. Vol. 17, № 1 (Special Issue State Building, States, and State Transformation in Africa). P. 3-15 (with C.I. Njoku).
    • Gribanova V.V., Ponomarev I.V. School and politics. From the history of the creation and reform of the school system in the countries of Eastern and Southern Africa. Moscow: Institute for African Studies Press, 2018. 176 p. (in Russ.)
    • Ivanchenko O., Banshchikova A. Urbanization and Mutual Help Groups: Contribution to Nation-Building in Tanzania // Social Evolution and History. March 2018. Vol. 17. No 1. P. 34–59.
    • Shubin V.V. Africa аnd Russia: The Pursuit of Strengthened Relations in the Post-Cold War Era. // Africa and the World. Bilateral and Multilateral International Diplomacy. Ed. by D. Nagar and Ch. Mutasa. Cham Switzerland: The Palgrave Macmillan inprint is published by Springer Nature, 2018. P. 51-69. (with Rosaline Daniels).

    2017
    • Bondarenko D.M. African Migrants in Post-Soviet Moscow: Adaptation and Integration in a Time of Radical Socio-Political Transformations. Ìrìnkèrindò: a Journal of African Migration. Iss. 9. P. 35-75. http://africamigration.com/issue/dec2017/Full_Issue_9.pdf.
    • Ethnic Identity in Contemporary Africa. Moscow: Institute for African Studies Press, 2017. (in Russ.)
    • Gribanova Sub-Saharan Africa and the Millennium Development Goals // Asia and Africa Today. 2017. №. 2. Pp. 59-62. (in Russ.)

    2016
    • Bondarenko D.M. The Shades of Black: Cultural-Anthropological Aspects of Mutual Perceptions and Relations between African Americans and African Migrants in the U.S.A. Moscow: LRC, 2016. 216 p. (in Russ.)
    • Tatarovskaya I.G. Ontology and epistemology of the supernatural in African mythology. Moscow, 2016 (co-authored). (in Russ.)
    • Tatarovskaya I.G. Myths of Nations of Sub-Saharan and South Africa: The Frame of Social and Spiritual Life of African Society. Moscow, 2016. (in Russ.)