Principal Investigator of Primus of PRIMUS programme (project „African and Middle Eastern Elites Educated in former Socialist Countries: Studies, Trajectories, and Mindsets“, 2021-2023)
Contact
+420 221 619 339
Room 302 A
Research Interests
Global history
Africa and the Middle East
Soviet Union and the state socialist world
Cold War
History of education, development, and differentiated modernities
Academic Posts:
2021 – present: Senior Researcher – PRIMUS Fellow, Institute of Global History, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
2019 – 2021 (January): Postdoctoral Researcher, German Orient Institute of Beirut, Lebanon
2020 (Summer Semester): Visiting Professor of African History, University of Bayreuth, Germany
2017 – 2018: Postdoctoral Researcher at the Collaborative Research Center 1199 and lecturer (Dozent) at the Global and European Studies Institute, University of Leipzig
2015 – 2019: Postdoctoral researcher and Lecturer (Dozent), Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies and Chair of African History, University of Bayreuth
2012 – 2015: Research Associate in the Project ELITAF (Elites africaines formées dans les anciens pays socialistes), Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris
2010 – 2011: Teaching assistant, University of Athens, Faculty of History
Education:
2007 – 2015: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, PhD
2002 – 2003: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, Master
1999 – 2002: University of Athens, Faculty of History and Archeology, Bachelor
1995 – 1999: University of Athens, Faculty of French Literature, Bachelor
Fellowships
2018: Institut für Ost und Sud-Osteuropa (IOS), Regensburg
2017: Eastern Europe – Global Area /Leipzig Center for Area Studies
2016: French-Russian Center for social sciences and humanities Moscow, Grant for research in Ukraine
2015: Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Fellowship for research in Russia
2011: Potsdam Historical Institute – Fellowship
2010: DAAD Fellowship, Humboldt University, Berlin
2009: Centre Marc Bloch Berlin, research grant
2007: French-Russian Center for social sciences and humanities Moscow, Research grant
2006 – 2007: Onassis Foundation, Scholarship
International Conferences and Invited Lectures
“Africa and the Socialist Countries through the Prism of Cultural Transfers,” conference, Intercultural Transfers – 35 Years after the First Attempts to Establish a New Paradigm, (December 12-14, 2019), University of Leipzig.
“The Socialist Countries, North Africa, and the Middle East: The Educational Connection,” invited talk, (November 27, 2019), Institute of Asian and African Studies, University of Pilsen.
“Algerian Students in the Eastern Bloc in the Cold War,” conference, Relations in the Ideoscape: Middle Eastern Students in the Eastern Bloc, (May 19-20, 2019), German Orient Institute in Lebanon, Beirut.
“Students from Portuguese Africa in the Soviet Union, 1960-1974,” African History Research Seminar (May 6, 2019), University of Bayreuth.
“Algeria and the Eastern Bloc: The Educational Connection,” workshop of the Beirut Orient Institute, Wissen und Wissensbeziehungen im ideologischen Raum: Mobilität und Migration von Studierenden aus Westasien und Nordafrika in die Staaten des Ostblocks, (November 13, 2018), Frankfurt.
“Educational Cooperation in the Cold War: The Socialist Countries, the Third World and the Educational Revolution,” lecture, (November 6, 2018), University of Konstanz.
“The Federation of African Students in the Soviet Union,” German African Studies Association Conference, (June 30, 2018), University of Leipzig.
“Training the Postcolonial Elites: The Socialist Countries, the Third World and the Educational Revolution,” Institut für Ost und Sud-Osteuropa (IOS), lecture, (June 26, 2018), IOS Regensburg.
“Nigerian Students in the Eastern Bloc from the 1950s to the Biafran War,” Nationalism, workshop in honor of Achim von Oppen, (June 20-21, 2018), University of Bayreuth.
“The COMECON Countries, North Africa and the Middle East: Educational Cooperation during the Cold War,” Transnational Relations between Eastern Europe/USSR and the Middle East, workshop, (February 22-23, 2018), University of Geneva.
“The Soviet Union and Africa: The Forgotten Chapter of Educational Aid, 1950s-1991” Saving Bruce Lee: African and Arab Cinema in the Era of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy, workshop, (January 19-21, 2018), Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.
“Return from the USSR: Soviet-educated Africans, Work and Politics,” After Socialism: Forgotten Legacies, Possible Futures in Africa and Beyond, workshop, (October 13-14, 2017), Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies.
“Black Intellectuals and the Relevance of Marxism and Leninism, 1955-1965,” workshop, Communism beyond Eurocentrism, (September 14-16, 2017), Center for Area Studies, Leipzig.
“The Educational Revolution: The Socialist Countries and the Third World, 1955-1991,” Eastern Europe – Global, workshop, (June 7, 2017), Geisteswissenschaftliche Zentrum Geschichte und Kultur Ostmitteleuropas,
“Une superpuissance éducative: L’Union soviétique et la formation des élites du tiers monde, 1955-1991,” Guest Lecture (April 28, 2017), University of Fribourg.
“The Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University: Higher Education for a Soviet-Third World Alliance,” Guest Lecture (April 21, 2017), Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia, New York University.
“The Soviet Federal-Multinational Polity through the Prism of the Third World,” workshop, Journée d’études sur le fédéralisme soviétique (March 30, 2017), Sciences Politiques, Paris.
“Creating a Socialist Intelligentsia: Soviet Educational Aid to Africa in the Cold War,” workshop, Development, Solidarity and Mutual Interest (December 2-3, 2016), Zentrum für Internationale Entwiklung, University of Vienna.
“At Stake is the Future of the Third World: The Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow,” conference, Future Africa and Beyond (June 15-17, 2016), Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies, University of Bayreuth.
“The ‘Soviet bloc’ and Africa: The Focus on the Educational Cooperation,” workshop “Future Africa” und “Africa Future-making” im Gespräch (June 2-3, 2016), University of Bonn.
“Third World Students and Internationalism in the Soviet Union,” workshop, Racism in the Land of “Peoples’ Friendship” (January 28, 2016), University of Södertörn.
“The Cold War of Festivals: Africans in the Soviet Union, Soviets in Dakar,” workshop, Celebrating Whose Independence? Visions of Post-Colonial Nation in Africa (January 16, 2016), Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies.
“Étudiants africains en URSS: Décolonisation, cadres nationaux et médiation soviétique,” (December 14, 2015), EHESS, Centre d’études des mondes russe, caucasien et centre-européen, Paris.
“The Political Activity of African Students in the Soviet Union,” (December 3, 2015), Iwalewahaus, University of Bayreuth.
“Educational Aid during the Cold War,” (November 16, 2015), Weber World Café, Forum Transregionale Studien, University of Leipzig.
“African Travelers in the Soviet Union in the Era of Decolonization,” (October 10, 2015), Arbeitsgemeinschaft Außereuropäische Geschichte, Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands, University of Bayreuth.
“Les diplômés des écoles soviétiques. Intégration professionnelle et associations des nouveaux cadres,” (September 4, 2015), Russian Institute of Africa, Moscow.
“African Intellectuals and the Communist Countries after 1945,” (July 10, 2015), 6th European Conference of African Studies, Paris.
“Étudiants du tiers monde à l’Est, 1960-1990. Décolonisation, cadres nationaux et médiation soviétique,” (April 27, 2015), University of Geneva.
“Étudiants africains et arabes en URSS et en Europe de l’Est : formations, expériences, retours,” (March 16, 2015), Institut de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les enjeux sociaux, EHESS, Paris.
“Intellectuels africains, communisme et transferts culturels. Le chantier complexe,” (February 5, 2015), Université Sorbonne-Paris I.
“La formation des cadres/quadros africains en URSS: le cas des étudiants des colonies portugaises,” (February 3, 2015), EHESS, Paris.
“Étudiants africains en URSS: action politique et idéologie pendant les années soixante,” conference, Étudiants africains en URSS et dans les autres pays du monde communiste (November 20-21, 2014), Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris.
“L’Université Patrice Lumumba: Discrimination positive ou discrimination tout court ?,” conference, Élites maghrébines et subsahariennes formées en URSS/Russie et dans les pays d’Europe de l’Est (October 25-26, 2013), University of Mohammedia, Morocco.
Main Publications:
Special issues edited in peer-reviewed journals
Constantin Katsakioris and Alexander Stroh, “Africa and the Crisis of Socialism,” Canadian Journal of African Studies 55, 1 (2021).
“L’Union soviétique, les pays de l’Est et le Sud: Éducation, arts, et sciences,” edited and introduced by Constantin Katsakioris. Forthcoming in the Cahiers du Monde russe 62, 4 (2021).
Studies in peer-reviewed journals
“L’Algérie et les pays de l’Est : Coopération éducative et formation de cadres, histoire et héritages,” forthcoming in 2021, in Cahiers du Monde russe.
“Au cœur des réseaux africano-soviétiques avec Sembène Ousmane : Exposé et correspondances,” with Françoise Blum and Gabrielle Chomentowski, forthcoming in 2021, in Revue interdisciplinaire sur les matériaux et leurs usages dans les études africaines.
“The Socialist Countries, North Africa, and the Middle East: The Educational Connection,” forthcoming in 2021 in Contemporary European History.
“Students from Portuguese Africa in the Soviet Union, 1960-1974: Anti-colonialism, Education, and the Socialist Alliance,” Journal of Contemporary History, 56, 1 (2021): 42-65. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009419893739.
“Des cadres pour une Afrique socialiste : L’Université Patrice Lumumba et la formation des étudiants africains (1960-1991),” Revue d’histoire contemporaine de l’Afrique., 1, 1 (2021), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.51185/journals/rhca.2021.e297.
“Return from the USSR: Soviet-Educated Africans, Politics, and Work, 1960s-2000s,” forthcoming in spring 2021 in the Canadian Journal of African Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/00083968.2020.1841012.
“Nkrumah’s Elite: Ghanaian Students in the Soviet Union during the Cold War,” Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education, online first, May 2020, 1-18, https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2020.1785516.
“Socialist Federalism as an Alternative to Nationalism: The Leninist Solution to the National Question in Africa and its Diaspora,” in Humanities 2019, 8 (3), 152, special issue “Future Africa – Beyond the Nation?.” https://doi.org/10.3390/h8030152.
“Nationalismes dans la patrie du socialisme: Mobilisations nationales des étudiants du Tiers-monde en Union soviétique,” Diasporas: Circulations, Migrations, Histoire 34, 2 (2019): 91-108. https://journals.openedition.org/diasporas/4387.
“Burden or Allies? Third World Students and Internationalist Duty through Soviet Eyes,” Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 18, no. 3 (Summer 2017): 539-67. https://doi.org/10.1353/kri.2017.0035.
“Creating a Socialist Intelligentsia: Soviet Educational Aid and Its Impact on Africa, 1960-1991,” Cahiers d’Études africaines 226, no. 2 (Spring 2017): 259-86. https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.20664
“Les étudiants de pays arabes formés en Union soviétique pendant la guerre froide, 1956-1991,” Revue européenne des migrations internationales 32, 2 (2016): 13-38. https://journals.openedition.org/remi/7758#text.
“L’URSS et les intellectuels africains. Internationalisme, panafricanisme et négritude pendant les années de décolonisation 1954-1964,” Cahiers du Monde russe 44, 1 (2006): 15-32. https://journals.openedition.org/monderusse/9589#text.
Book chapters
“Effective Solidarity with the Postcolonial World: The Educational Assistance of the Socialist Countries in the Cold War,” in Magda Lipdka and Monika Talarczyk (eds.), Hope is of a Different Color: Students from the Global South in the Lodz Film School (Warsaw: Museum of Modern Art, 2021), forthcoming.
“The Leninist Solution to the National Question in Africa: A Forgotten Cultural Transfer,” in Michel Espagne and Matthias Middell (ed.), Intercultural Transfers: 35 Years after the Establishment of a Paradigm, Leipzig: Leipzig University Press, 2021, forthcoming.
“Study Away: Arab Students in the USSR,” in Eileen Kane, Masha Kirashirova and Margaret Litvin. (eds.), Russian-Arab Worlds: A Documentary History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021, forthcoming.
“Decolonization and Education: Eastern Bloc Educational Aid to Africa in the Cold War, 1950s-1991,” Themata Istorias tis Ekpaideusis 19, 1 (2020): 16-42.
“Der Leninismus und die nationale Frage in Afrika: Kulturtransfer in der kolonialen und postkolonialen Welt,” in Matthias Middell (ed.), “Kommunismus jenseits des Eurozentrismus,” Jahrbuch für Historische Kommunismusforschung 14, (2019): 209-22.
“Glimmers of Hope from Moscow: Greek Female Activists, Political Prisoners, and the Committee of Soviet Women, 1960-64,” with Vaggelis Karamanolakis, Archeiotaxio 20, (2018): 227-43 (in Greek).
“Die Sowjetunion und Afrika: Ein vergessenes Kapitel der Entwicklungshilfe in der Bildung, 1950–1991,” in Rasha Salti and Gabrielle Chomentowski, Saving Bruce Lee: African and Arab Cinema in the Era of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy (Berlin: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 2018), 27-33.
“Engagements politiques et mobilisations des étudiants africains en URSS (1960-1974),” in Françoise Blum, Pierre Guidi and Ophélie Rillon eds., Étudiants africains en mouvements. Contribution à une histoire des « années 68 », (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2016), 301-15.
“Les promotions de la décolonisation. Étudiants africains en URSS, 1960-1970,” in Monique de Saint-Martin, Grazia Scarfó-Ghellab and Kamal Mellah eds., Étudier à l’Est. Trajectoires d’étudiants africains et arabes en URSS et dans les pays d’Europe de l’Est (Paris: Karthala, 2015): 79-94.
“The Soviet-South Encounter: Tensions in the Friendship with the Afro-Asian Partners, 1945-1965,” in Patryk Babiracki and Kenyon Zimmer eds., Cold War Crossings: International Travel and Exchange across the Soviet Bloc, 1940s-1960s (Arlington: Texas University Press, 2014): 134-65.
“L’Université de l’Amitié des Peuples à Moscou : Discrimination positive ou discrimination tout court ?,” in Elites maghrébines et subsahariennes formées en URSS/Russie et dans les pays d’Europe de l’Est (Proceedings of the Conference of Mohammedia: ELITAF Research Group, 2013), http://riae.hypotheses.org/183.
“Sowjetische Bildungsförderung für afrikanische und asiatische Länder,” in Bernd Greiner, Tim Müller and Claudia Weber eds., Macht und Geist im Kalten Krieg (Hamburg: Hamburger Editions, 2011): 396-415.
“The Soviet Union and the Greek Civil War: The Archival Documents of Vyacheslav Molotov,” with Nikolas Pissis, Archeiotaxio 10, (2009): 123-35, (in Greek).
“Afrikanskie studenty v SSSR. Utcheba i politika vo vremia dekolonizatsii,” Ezhegodnik sotsial’noi istorii (2008): 209-28.
