Soviet Culture in the Global South

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel explores the transmission, circulation, and reception of different forms of culture and cultural products between the Soviet Union and Africa, Asia, and Latin America during the second half of the twentieth century. Rachel Applebaum investigates Soviet efforts to establish the teaching of Russian as a foreign language in Africa and Asia, which were modeled on western projects, such as the Alliance Française and the British Council. Jessica Bachman explores the USSR’s development of Indic typefaces and typesetting systems for export to India, including the Bhilai typeface for printing in Hindi, a project that ran in parallel to the construction of the Bhilai Metallurgical Plant. Alessandro Iandolo looks at the parallel intellectual trajectories of Soviet and Latin American economists who criticized European imperialism but remained enamored of European culture. All papers analyze the Soviet wish to establish novel forms of cultural communication with the Global South, often in dialogue with an idealized West.

Sub Unit

• History: 1945-1990

Chair

• Rossen Lilianov Djagalov, New York U

Papers

• War of Words: The USSR and Cold War Linguistic Competition in the Global South - Rachel Applebaum, Tufts U

• A Typeface Named ‘Bhilai’: Indo-Soviet Friendship through Fonts - Jessica Leigh Bachman, U of Washington

• The Cultural Cringe in Economic Theory: Backwardness, Dependency, and the Specter of Europe in the Soviet Union and Latin America - Alessandro Iandolo, U College London (UK)

Discussant

• Choi Chatterjee, California State U, Los Angeles