Acknowledgments

Though unassuming in appearance, I have worked on this book for over a decade, and I have accrued a number of debts as a result. I first read A Soviet Journey while teaching for a year at Harvard in 2003 and 2004. I had read Alex La Guma’s fiction earlier, given an interest in the “Coloured” community of Cape Town. This book opened a new and different dimension to his life and work. Since then, I have made several attempts through two chapters and an article to collect my thoughts. This book constitutes a summation, if not quite culmination, of my thinking, given my possible return to La Guma’s work in the future. Nonetheless, the introduction and notes to this new edition reflect my current views and judgment, which have involved revising past interpretations, clarifying certain details, reinforcing some arguments, introducing new ideas and information that have come to light, and fleshing out historical events and politics when I did not have the space to do so before. Despite my intention to republish this book years ago, it now appears in the wake of three preceding book projects that have examined decolonization at diplomatic, intellectual, and socio-cultural levels. The timing for this project’s completion could not be better.

I must thank Monica Popescu and Maxim Matusevich for their generous invitations, support, and insight on earlier pieces, in addition to their own path-breaking work on forgotten Soviet-African histories during the Cold War. Roger Field also provided feedback and conversation on an earlier book chapter. His biography of La Guma remains the authoritative work, and I have learned much from his scholarship. Phil Zachernuk hosted me during a year at Dalhousie University as an Izaak Walton Killam fellow (2005–2006) and has been generous with his insights on this project and others since then. The University Research Council at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill supplied funding for an initial transcription of the text, ably completed by Emily Baran. A grant from the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India, sustained my work at the Centre for Indian Studies in Africa (CISA) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. My thanks to Dilip Menon and Isabel Hofmeyr. Henry Louis Gates and Krishna Lewis provided intellectual and financial support while I worked on this project at the Hutchins Center at Harvard during the spring of 2014. The African Studies Centre at Leiden and Martin Luther University in Halle provided generous fellowships in 2015. I thank Jan-Bart Gewald, the late Stephen Ellis, Philippe Peycam, Richard Rottenburg, Ronn Müller, and Cirila Toplak for their support at these institutions. In the spring of 2016, I was a visiting scholar with the Committee on Globalization and Social Change at the CUNY Graduate Center. I thank Gary Wilder, Julie Skurski, Grace Davie, and Mark Drury in particular for comments on a draft of the introduction. Constantin Katsakioris invited me to participate on a conference panel at the ECAS 2015 meeting in Paris and later to be a fellow at the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies in 2016. Both occasions were excellent, and I have been inspired by Constantin’s own innovative research. Jerry Buttrey generously guided me in Havana, Cuba, in December 2012, where I found La Guma’s grave. Lindsay Ceballos gave generously of her time, supplying crucial expertise on Soviet literature and saving me from many errors in the process. Josh Sanborn similarly provided a thorough reading of the introduction from a historical angle. Sarah Duff read the introduction with expert attention on the South African side. Other friends and colleagues who gave assistance and conversation over the years include Gillian Berchowitz, Kerry Bystrom, Allison Drew, Barbara Harlow, Minkah Makalani, Marc Matera, Susan Pennybacker, Donald Raleigh, Karin Shapiro, and Judy Wu. Last but not least, the Academic Research Committee at Lafayette College presented me with a publication grant that aided completion of this project.

I need to thank especially those involved in the editorial process. Brighid Stone, Sarah Craig, and Bethany Davis provided indispensable assistance at Lexington Books. Bill Nelson created the map. I am honored to have the foreword by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o—a fellow writer and friend of Alex La Guma. He supplies an invaluable literary and generational perspective as only he could. My greatest debts are to Reiland Rabaka, editor of the Critical Africana Studies series and who responded immediately to my initial query, and to Blanche La Guma, Alex’s wife and noted activist in her own right, whom I met in 2004, answered numerous questions, and has been consistently supportive of this project over the past decade. My sincere thanks to Reiland for making this book happen: I am grateful to have this book be a part of this series. And my enduring gratitude to Blanche for her patience and trust: I hope this fulfills a promise made too long ago.

 

Easton, Pennsylvania

November 2016