Cold War Anthropology From Both Sides of the Iron Curtain

This paper seeks to widen the understanding of Cold War anthropology by considering the history of contacts and dialogue between Soviet and American anthropologists from 1945 to 1964. Focusing mainly on the Soviet side, it argues that the isolation of Soviet ethnography was never complete, although...

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Main Author: Sergei Alymov
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Éditions de la Sorbonne 2022-06-01
Series:Revue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/6853
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author Sergei Alymov
author_facet Sergei Alymov
author_sort Sergei Alymov
collection DOAJ
description This paper seeks to widen the understanding of Cold War anthropology by considering the history of contacts and dialogue between Soviet and American anthropologists from 1945 to 1964. Focusing mainly on the Soviet side, it argues that the isolation of Soviet ethnography was never complete, although it reached a highpoint during late Stalinism. The paper considers the resuming of contacts between US and USSR scholars in the second half of the 1950s; Soviet participation in international anthropological congresses and its effects on theoretical developments in Soviet anthropology; and the preparation, proceedings and consequences of the 7th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (ICAES) and the Expert Meeting on the Biological Aspects of Race, held in Moscow in 1964. The paper argues that these events were instrumental in widening the confines of Soviet Marxism and introducing new research areas (such as psychological anthropology) into Soviet academia. This enabled ethnography in the USSR to present itself as an alternative centre of consolidation for both Western left-leaning anthropologists and scholars from postcolonial countries.
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spelling doaj-art-69dd23d9e3164abda8e977dfddb15cd82025-08-20T03:18:02ZengÉditions de la SorbonneRevue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines1963-10222022-06-01408510910.4000/rhsh.6853Cold War Anthropology From Both Sides of the Iron CurtainSergei AlymovThis paper seeks to widen the understanding of Cold War anthropology by considering the history of contacts and dialogue between Soviet and American anthropologists from 1945 to 1964. Focusing mainly on the Soviet side, it argues that the isolation of Soviet ethnography was never complete, although it reached a highpoint during late Stalinism. The paper considers the resuming of contacts between US and USSR scholars in the second half of the 1950s; Soviet participation in international anthropological congresses and its effects on theoretical developments in Soviet anthropology; and the preparation, proceedings and consequences of the 7th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (ICAES) and the Expert Meeting on the Biological Aspects of Race, held in Moscow in 1964. The paper argues that these events were instrumental in widening the confines of Soviet Marxism and introducing new research areas (such as psychological anthropology) into Soviet academia. This enabled ethnography in the USSR to present itself as an alternative centre of consolidation for both Western left-leaning anthropologists and scholars from postcolonial countries.http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/6853anthropological theoryCold Warhistory of anthropologyMarxismSoviet science
spellingShingle Sergei Alymov
Cold War Anthropology From Both Sides of the Iron Curtain
Revue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines
anthropological theory
Cold War
history of anthropology
Marxism
Soviet science
title Cold War Anthropology From Both Sides of the Iron Curtain
title_full Cold War Anthropology From Both Sides of the Iron Curtain
title_fullStr Cold War Anthropology From Both Sides of the Iron Curtain
title_full_unstemmed Cold War Anthropology From Both Sides of the Iron Curtain
title_short Cold War Anthropology From Both Sides of the Iron Curtain
title_sort cold war anthropology from both sides of the iron curtain
topic anthropological theory
Cold War
history of anthropology
Marxism
Soviet science
url http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/6853
work_keys_str_mv AT sergeialymov coldwaranthropologyfrombothsidesoftheironcurtain