International cooperation

Prof. Lenny Ureña Valerio from the Latin American and Iberian Institute at the University of New Mexico has agreed to participate in the project as a collaborator by assisting the team in obtaining and analysing historical sources from the late 19th and 20th centuries. She is a scholar of Polish and German interactions with Africa and Africans during the mentioned period and the author of a prize-winning book on the topic. Her great knowledge and understanding of colonial dynamics will help our team in adding nuance to a project that deals with postcolonial concepts. Furthermore, Prof. Ureña Valerio has access to library resources and historical documents from the early twentieth century which are important to this project, such as materials related to zoologist Antoni Jakubski. She has agreed to analyse these sources together with our team and to help us in identifying other pertinent documents.

Dr. Ian Macqueen from the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies at the University of Pretoria is an expert in the global anti-apartheid movement, especially Black Consciousness in South Africa. He has also recently authored an article about Polish-South African cultural exchanges during the Cold War. Dr. Macqueen has agreed to participate in the project as a consultant and to assist the team in obtaining historical sources from archives in South Africa and beyond. In particular, he has located a Polish archive in Johannesburg that can shed light on the attitude of the Polish refugees and migrants toward Africans and apartheid. Furthermore, he can facilitate contact with members of the South Africa Poland Heritage Project at Sol Plaatje University in Kimberly, which can result in access to further documentation, including sound recordings. He has agreed to work together with our team in analysing these sources.