No 5 (2024)

Abstract. India, despite having no access to the Arctic Ocean, during the 20th century showed increasing interest in the Arctic and sent its scientists to the region. In 1928, Indian scientist Bibhuti Bhushan Banerjee was invited on an expedition to Wrangel Island in the Arctic, where he spent about 3 years and collected a lot of data on the local flora and fauna. Today, India is actively involved in international scientific research projects in the Arctic on climate and biodiversity. India is also interested in developing trade and economic ties with Arctic nations. It has changed its approach towards the Arctic and is trying to find opportunities to take the place of countries that have suspended cooperation with the Russian Federation in the Arctic region. India is also interested in exploring and exploiting Arctic resources such as oil and gas due to technological advancements in Arctic exploration. India’s growing interest in the Arctic could lead to a change in the composition of players in the region and a realignment of economic, scientific, and technological ties between India and Russia.

The article raises the problem of public appeal to fortune-telling practices, such as astrology, numerology and special protective rituals (yadaya) by current military leaders of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. It is noteworthy to say that such practices are inextricably linked with traditional Buddhist concept of kammic kingship. Such model draws on the so-called kammic path: improving kamma through merit-making activities as well as building or renovating stupas or Buddhist monasteries. Esoteric practices (astrology and numerology) provide donors with precise information on favorable time and date for carrying out merit-making ceremonies according to private horoscope of a particular donor. As the yadaya ritual carries out a protective function it could be linked to the so-called apotropaic Buddhism, according to M.Spiro classification. In public life the appeal to such practices make possible to reduce bad forces impact on future events. The evidence of various divinatory practices and protective rituals usage are mentioned in written sources on precolonial history of Myanmar. In that case the public appeal to such practices today could be seen as a logical transformation of popular historical tradition.

The article is devoted to the allied relations between Tanganyika and Zanzibar and the creation of a union state – Tanzania. 2024 is the 60th anniversary of the union between the two formerly sovereign states. The author dwells on the key events in the history of Tanganyika, Zanzibar, and Tanzania in the 60s of the 20th century: the Zanzibar Revolution of January 1964 – an anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, anti-Sultan, anti-Arab armed uprising; the fall of the Zanzibar Sultanate, ruled by Britain; elections in Zanzibar, in which the Afro-Shirazi Party and the Nationalist Zanzibar Party competed; independence of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The TANU (Tanganyika African National Union) became the leading and only party in Tanganyika; the ASP (AfroShirazi Party) became the leading and only party in Zanzibar. In 1977, the parties united into the Revolutionary Party, or CCM (Chama Cha Mpinduzi), which has dominated the political arena in Tanzania even after the introduction of multiparty system in the 1990s The article examines the model of African socialism – the Tanzanian ujamaa and its fate in subsequent years in already liberal, multiparty, capitalist Tanzania, under all presidents: Nyerere, Mwinyi, Mkapa, Kikwete, Magufuli, Suluhu. Reminders of Tanzanian socialism and ujamaa in the text of the Union Constitution remain unchanged for the time being

The article offers an attempt to classify opposition and pro-government armed groups in northern Mali with a stress on their ethno-component. This factor is considered combined with two others – illegal business and jihadism. Such three factor analysis in a complex and situational milieu gives way to show that the formation of armed groups, their strategic alliances and competition are dependent on traditional status among the different ethno-fractions of the Tuaregs and Saharan Arabs. In the situation of racial stand-off the armed groups of the Songhai and Fulani play a minor role. Corruption, drug trafficking and clan ties come across such Eurocentric analytical stereotypes as government – insurgents, army – separatists, jihadists – nationalists. Recent escalation of conflict in northern Mali that pushed unexpectedly to unite opposition and former pro-government armed groups, calls into question the policy aimed to weaken the armed opposition by manipulations with ethnic factor.

In November 2023, the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted the AllRussian scientific conference with international participation “Gender-based violence in Africa: origins, motives, types. Methods and ways of struggle”. The attendees discussed such topical issues as the specifics of the formation and development of gender relations in traditional African societies as some of the causes of gender inequality and violence; prohibition systems and aggression in mythology and folklore; domestic violence; belittling of social status based on gender and age in the ethno-linguistic environment. A separate block of issues were female aggression in war and peace; gender discrimination among the population of refugee camps and victims of the slave trade; the gender aspect of violence and terrorism in the Sahel countries. Some reports were devoted to religion and discrimination of adherents on gender, ethnic and racial grounds; sexual violence and combating it in modern African states as well as gender violence and inequality in Muslim societies; civil and professional destinies of foreign women in Africa. The reports noted that states and society should create the conditions for the protection and self-realization of this part of the continent’s population, its active inclusion in socio-political processes.

The turn of the 20th–21st centuries was marked by the flourishing of African and especially Nigerian literature. Among those who became famous in the 21st century are Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, Chigozie Obioma, etc. Noo Saro-Wiwa, a British writer of Nigerian origin, author of the best-selling books “Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria” (2012) and “Black Ghosts: A Journey into the Lives of Africans in China” (2023), can be considered the Queen of contemporary travel writing. The special appeal of her works lies in the masterly combination of travel literature and memoirs. A detailed description of events’ chronicle, travel impressions, air and nature, people and conversations with them turns her books into a real testimony of the era and tends to be documentary prose. She gives preference to it due to the fact that “truth is more important than fiction”. The daughter of the famous Nigerian poet and publicist, political activist and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941–1995), the writer focused the readers’ attention on many of the most pressing political, economic, social, environmental, and demographic problems. These include colonialism and decolonization, racism and gender inequality, emigration and the history of Diaspora. The writer is of particular interest in the amazing mobility of the Chinese, internal and external migration, their activities in Africa. She admires the nature, ancient and medieval culture of China and at the same time records manifestations of racial hostility of the Chinese towards Africans, considering them unacceptable. She compares Chinese and Africans, identifying similarities and differences. And if addressing Nigeria’s past and present is her Mission, China is an option, one of many. Currently, she is one of the most engaged authors and most famous African women, winner of a number of prestigious literary awards.