The Department of Asian and African Studies, established in 1969, inherited the scientific and pedagogical traditions of its predecessors — Lazarev Institute of Oriental languages (1815–1919) and the Moscow Institute of Oriental studies (1921–1954). Now, it is the leading division of the School of International Relations, providing training for bachelor- and master-degree students specializing in Foreign Area Studies with command of Oriental languages.
The Department of Asian and African Studies is one of the leading training centers for experts in Asian and African studies and international relations in Russia. Its history is inseparable from such well-known researchers and diplomats as Sergey Tikhvinsky, Leonid Kutakov, Piotr Milogradov, Esfir Feinberg, T. Korotkova, who taught most of today’s faculty at the Department. Focused on doing research on relevant issues of comprehensive Asian and African studies and current socio-political and foreign policy development in the region, the academic profile of Department was defined by a famous historian and sinologist Professor Arlen Meliksetov, who headed the division in 1969–1986 and later became the Head of the MSU Institute for Asian and African Studies. Arlen Meliksetov is well-known for his monographs and textbooks.
In different periods of time, the Department of Asian and African Studies was headed by Galina Goroshko, Nadezhda Stepanova, Larisa Efimova, Alexei Voskresensky. Since January 2008, the Department has been headed by Dmitry V. Streltsov, Doctor of Sciences (History) and Professor, author of over 300 academic papers and 8 monographs on international relations in the Asia-Pacific as well as the domestic, foreign policy and socio-economic issues of postwar and modern Japan.
Every year, the Department supervises dozens of bachelor- and master-degree papers in Asian and African studies that, in most part, receive high marks from state commissions. The members of the Department’s faculty are academic advisors to full- and part-time PhD students and research scholars, both Russian and international, who successfully defend their PhD and doctoral theses.
Academic work
The Department of Asian and African Studies teaches a broad spectrum of general and specialized subjects at the School of International Relations, the School of International Journalism, the School of Governance and Politics, the International Law School.
The research interests of the Department cover a wide range of theoretical issues of modern international relations and domestic political development of Asian and African countries, including history, culture, civilizational issues and their impact on social and political life of African and Asian communities.
Since 2008, the Department of Asian and African Studies has implemented a number of educational and research innovations in history, political development and international relations of Asian and African countries, including history, culture, civilizational issues and their impact on social and political life of African and Asian communities. Headed by Prof. Dmitry V. Streltsov, the Department has carried out a number of major research projects on topical issues of Asia and Africa, including Foreign Policy Process in the Countries of the East, Environmental Challenges in Asia and Africa, Territorial Issue in African-Asian World, Social Protest in Modern East, Armies in Modern East. Each project included an academic conference, followed up by the publication of a collective academic monograph issued under the aegis of the Department.
The Department has prepared and published a number of prominent educational and methodological books which are widely used when teaching history at MGIMO University and other Russian universities. These include a fundamental two-volume textbook for BA students entitled Post-War History of Asian and African Countries that has already had two editions, textbooks, study guides and lecture courses on Traditional Diplomacy of the East (2014), Foreign Policy Process in the East (2017), Security Policy in Countries of Modern East (2021), Islam in World Politics in Early 21st Century (2016), Countries and Regions in World Politics (Volume 2: Asia and Africa) (2019), Issues of Source Study and Historiography in Modern Asian and African Studies (2019), and others.
Staff
Ksenia Efremova
Ph.D. in Political Science, Associate Professor
Department of Asian and African Studies - Associate Professor
Anna Kireeva
Ph.D. (Cand.Polit.Sc.) in International Relations
Department of Asian and African Studies - Associate Professor
Ekaterina Koldunova
Ph.D. (Cand. Polit. Sc.) in Political Science, Associate Professor
Department of Asian and African Studies - Associate Professor
Dmitry Streltsov
