From Nigeria to New Friendships in the Soviet Union: Educational Mobility during the Cold War (1960-1991)

Between 1960 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, more than 43,500 students from Sub-Saharan Africa graduated from Soviet universities, with Nigerians comprising approximately 12 percent. Their Soviet-sponsored studies constituted a crucial component of the educational "charm offensive," playing a pivotal role in Moscow’s cultural diplomacy. The overreaching goal was to establish a socialist and Soviet-friendly intelligentsia in postcolonial Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite three decades of educational mobility from the South to the East, the perspectives and agency of Nigerian students have received little attention. In particular, there exists a noticeable research gap regarding cultural encounters, such as friendships or experiences of racism. For the Workshop at the Institute of Contemporary History in Ljubljana, I will examine the developed friendships for Nigerians with Soviet and other international students. The daily lives of Nigerian students were intricately woven with interpersonal encounters, driven by housing arrangements and language barriers. Placement in student residences made contacts inevitable, and the deepening of Russian language skills was vital for living and learning behind the Iron Curtain. Consequently, international friendships have developed. To capture the personal experiences of former Nigerian students in the Soviet Union, I use conducted oral history interviews about their memories of interpersonal encounters and the dynamics of (absent) friendships. This comparative micro-level approach will offer new insights into the significance and limitations of international friendships forged behind the Iron Curtain.