Африка. История и историки

HISTORICAL ISSUES IN THE WORKS BY J. E. CASELY HAYFORD

J. E. Casely Hayford is best known as a Gold Coast politician and journalist. His merits as a writer relates primarily to popularizing the ideas of Wilmot Blyden, the father of cultural nationalism in West Africa. Revealing Casely Hayford views on the African past and the role of Africans in the World History, the author argues that he deserves the right to be a distinctive thinker with his own vision of fundamental problems of the world.

N. G. Scherbakov

A HARD TREK: FROM THE HISTORY OF NEGROES TO THE HISTORY OF AFRICAN PEOPLES

Four centuries of trans-atlantic slave trade and more than one hundred years of the migration of Africans to the former metropolitan and other western countries formed a unique community – a large diaspora of the peoples of African origin. Among those who influenced the historical studies of African peoples most of all is the personality of William Edward B. Du Bois (1868–1963).We try to clarify in which way and when his understanding of Black History transferred from the history of Negroes to the history of African Peoples. The 15 years after the Manchester Pan-African congress show the best promise as Dr. Du Bois attached much importance and influenced greatly the development of African studies in the USSR. Through better understanding of newly independent states of Africa more and more historians realized the new character of Black History which became separated and from the late 50-s and on was developing as the history of Africans and Negroes, i.e. African-Americans.

A. V. Voevodsky

THE HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA AS SEEN BY AFRICAN INTELLECTUALS (1870s-1930s): SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE FORMATION OF IDEAS ABOUT HISTORY

Historical views are the most important factor in the development of the ethnic self-consciousness. They have an impact not only on the methods of representation of the past, but also on the perception of the modern world. African intellectuals played an important role in the formation of the collective historical memory of Africans and in the understanding of their own past. Literature (historical prose) had a big influence on this process. African intellectuals saw their main mission in the restoring the historical justice and showing that African people of Southern Africa have not been deprived of greatness, that they were the creators of their history. However their writings were full of fiction and biased assessments in the interpretation of historical events. The first African historians became the authors of new historical myths, many of which are alive to the present time.

S. V. Mazov

«AFRICAN HERCULES» AND «COLONIAL HYDRA». COLONIAL PROBLEM IN THE KWAME NKRUMAH'S WORKS

The article covers Kwame Nkrumah's views on colonialism and its impact on Africa. His works are often read as though they were all written at the same time, and an abstract and dogmatic system called «Nkrumaism» is extracted from them. The author traced the evolution of Nkrumah's assessments of colonialism caused by the changes in his status and political career.

V. I. Yevseyenko

HISTORICAL STUDIES IN GUINEA: STAGES OF MAKING AND PROBLEMS

The roots of historical studies in Guinea are to find in traditional society, beginning with the Griots of the Mandingo people. In the colonial times there were some amateur historians among the local intelligentsia. The foundation in 1944 of the Guinean branch of the French Institute of Black Africa (IFAN) marks the beginning of the new period in studying local culture and history. In 1958 it was reorganized into the National Center of research and documentation under the leadership of the prominent French scholar J. Suret-Canale. In this center the first generation of professional Guinean historians was formed. Some of them were persecuted by the repressive regime of president Seku Toure, some emigrated like J. T. Niane. Others cooperated with the ruling regime writing books which glorified its leaders and the ruling party. In the emigration some Guinean historians like Alpha Diawara tried to write the objective history of the country. A great role in the historiography was played by Guineans naturalized in France, such as Kamara Silvin. After the fall of the Secu Toure regime some books trying to give its real assessment were written.

I. V. Krivoushin