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Paper short abstract

The paper seeks to widen the concept of Cold War anthropology by considering the history of contacts and dialogue between Soviet and American anthropologists in 1945-1964. Focusing mainly on the Soviet side, it argues that the isolation of Soviet ethnography was never complete, although it was at its peak during late Stalinism.

Paper long abstract

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; the preparation, proceeding 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) in Soviet academia. Soviet ethnography presented itself as an alternative center of consolidation for both western progressive left-leaning anthropologist, and scholars from postcolonial countries.