I dreamed of being a football player, studied to be an engineer for 4 years, and decided to research the history of international relations: Mohamed Abdel, RUDN University lecturer from Sudan

What were your first impressions when you arrived in Russia?

I did have a culture shock. I didn’t know the language and the cold weather scared me. I was also afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find friends, or wouldn’t understand Russian traditions and customs. The adaptation was difficult and I didn’t think I would cope. I wanted to give up everything and go home. But thanks to my fellow countrymen and my Russian language teacher, I managed to overcome this.

What Russian dish would you prepare for a holiday?

Vinaigrette (beetroot salad) is one of my favorite dishes. I learned to make it according to my own recipe, without carrots and pickles. I add more beets, potatoes, red onions, boiled eggs, a little garlic and hot pepper. Instead of peas, I put corn and season the dish with sour cream.

Name the placed in Russia where you would like to return and why?

I’ve been to the Russian Language Olympiad in Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod several times. I would love to visit again. In Yekaterinburg, I remember the Museum of the History of Stone-Cutting and Jewelry Art. Nizhny Novgorod struck me with its beauty, it is a city where two great rivers, the Volga and Oka meet. I went there again in 2018, for the FIFA World Cup.

Are you just a football fan or do you play?

As a child, I dreamed of being a professional football player. In Russia I root for Spartak and Rubin. Every Saturday we play football with friends and colleagues from the university.

Suggest a route in Moscow for a Sunday walk.

Sunday is a day of leisure, sports and meeting with friends. I like the route from Kitay-Gorod to the Tretyakov Gallery. I enjoy the beauty of ancient buildings, walk along the Moskvoretsky Bridge towards quiet and old streets, and sometimes go to the Tretyakov Gallery. The museum’s exhibitions are impressive in scale. Among my favorite artists are Ivan Shishkin, Vasily Surikov, Ilya Repin and Viktor Vasnetsov.

When did you realize that you wanted to become a historian?

It was when I studied at the preparatory faculty at Vyatka State University. I am grateful to my Russian language teacher Nadezhda Ivanovna Komarova, who taught us not only to speak correctly, but also gave us a lot of information on history. It was exciting! Since then I began to study science seriously.

How did you end up at RUDN University?

 

I studied engineering for 4 years, then graduated from a master’s program in management at Vyatka State University in Kirov, but I dreamed of entering RUDN University. In 2020, I entered postgraduate school at the Department of Russian History. Now I am writing a dissertation under the guidance of Professor Marina Moseikina.

What is your research about?

I am studying the historical experience of relations between the USSR and African countries and, in particular, the topic of Soviet-Sudanese political and economic relations, little studied in Russian historiography, but very challenging for me. This was an important period in the history of our countries when the Soviet Union was the first to establish diplomatic relations with Sudan in 1956, and extended a helping hand to the young independent state. I discovered many new documents in Russian archives.

What three historical eras are you particularly interested in?

European colonialism of the 16th — mid-20th centuries. I am also interested in military history, in particular the period of the First and Second World Wars and the last decade of the existence of the USSR.

You are participating in the Afroteka project. Tell me, what is its essence?

“Afroteka” (African Library in Russia) is an educational project of the Institute of Travel, which is about Africa and Africans. The organizers publish books, hold literary meetings, lectures and discussions at the Library of Foreign Literature and in the Moscow art space “Nowhere Except”.

What was your task?

 

I prepared two articles for the first volume of the Dictionary of the 21st Century Culture. The authors of the dictionary were 100 experts from 40 countries. I co-authored one article with Igor Sid, writer, anthropologist and dictionary compiler. It is about agnotology — a new and not yet very well-known humanitarian discipline that explores the phenomena of human ignorance and lack of knowledge, as well as the laws of their occurrence. The second article is devoted to the neologism “kandaka” — the title of the queens of the ancient East African Nubian kingdom of Kush. In recent years, it has been rethought in Sudanese society as a designation that is also close in meaning to the title for a modern woman — a social or political leader, and a generally successful woman.

 

I was interested in participating in the compilation of a dictionary that introduces new African lexemes. For example, the Swahili “akuna matata” (“no worries”) or the South African “ubuntu” (“humanity”).

Name 5 books that help understand Africa?

It’s difficult to single out just five books, there are a lot of them. Russia has its own school of African studies, which was created during the Soviet period. I would name the works of academicians A.B. Davidson and A.M. Vasiliev, historians S.V. Mazova, A.S. Balezina, T.L. Deitch, T.S. Denisova and A.L. Emelyanova.

• “Africa in the fate of Russia. Russia in the fate of Africa”, Sergey Mazov.
• “Africa. History and historians”, Apollo Davidson.
• “Tropical and Southern Africa in modern and recent times: people, problems, events”, Alexander Balezin.
• “Colonial history of sub-Saharan Africa”, Andrey Emelyanov.
• “Russia and Africa: a look into the future”, Tatyana Deich.

What is your professional dream?

 

I enjoy working in the education sector. I have always felt more confident in research and want to use my skills and experience to help students.