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

Soviet Science Diplomacy: How Central Asia was Instrumentalised in Soviet Foreign Policy

“…It serves the needs of science alongside political, economic, and personal interests and generates synergies between science and foreign policy (Young et al, 2020). In the post-Stalin years, the Soviet government, along with strengthening its approach to the Third World, stepped up its soft diplomacy outside of ideological blocs in international organisations (Jansen, 2019).…”

“…The conference members agreed that the development of Eastern civilisation is not widely known in comparison to the Western one. Most consider Western approaches to be biased, while the East-West project could contribute to the recognition of the contribution of the East to world history (Jansen, 2019). Therefore, UNESCO’s new project, called the ‘Major Project for Mutual Appreciation of Cultural Values of East and West’ (1957–1966), was intended to research East-West relations in order to increase mutual understanding of cultural and civilisational developments and disseminate the results to the general public (Havet, 1958).…”

“…The Central Asians attracted the sympathy of the peoples of the East, which granted them access to the scientific and diplomatic connections with them. A number of Central Asians achieved significant visibility, power, and influence in the highest echelons of Soviet power due to their contribution to Soviet Eastern policy (Jansen, 2019; Kalinovsky, 2013). Central Asians were used to provide knowledge about the East, to prove and show the Soviet commitment to preserving the inheritance of its former colonial areas, and to strengthen the long-term connections of the Soviet East with the broader East (Kalinovsky, 2020).…”

“…6.The importance of Tashkent in the internationalisation of Soviet policy was extensively studied by Stronski (2010); Eby (2021); Tashkent in the context of the Soviet Third World policy was covered by Kalinovsky, 2013, 2020; Kirasirova, 2011; Cucciolla, 2020; Jansen, 2019.…”

Decolonising the History of Internationalism: Transnational Activism across the South

“…51 As with so many of the Afro-Asian projects of this period, both organisations grew from conferences: the AAJA from Bandung, and the AAWB from the Afro-Asian Writers' Conference in Tashkent, which not only served as a bridge between the Soviet Union and the Afro-Asian world, but between Asian and African writers seeking to radically transform the realm of literature into a truly global project. 52 Conferences, as Stephen Legg and others remind us, served as one of the key locations where internationalism emerged in the post-war world, 'buzzing with life, potential futures, hope, and despair'. 53 In place of London, Geneva and New York, the new sites of Third World internationalism emerged in Bandung, Delhi, Beijing, Rangoon, Cairo, Tashkent and Havana.…”