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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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The Cuban Internationalist Mission in Education. The Example of Angola 1976-1991
| Panel |
19. New Perspectives on Liberation in Southern Africa
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| Paper ID | 653 |
| Author(s) |
Hatzky, Christine
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | Although much has been written and discussed about Cuba’s long lasting military engagement in Angola’s (post-) independence conflict, Cuba’s civil mission in Angola between 1976 and 1991 is less well-known and not even thoroughly explored yet. This civil collaboration was the largest, longest and most varied one in Cuban history; it also was the most broadly based one. Furthermore it is an example of a unique phenomenon of South-South co-operation. About 50.000 Cubans with civil duties lived and worked in Angola in this period. This collaboration primarily covered the areas of health, education and civil engineering. It was initiated by a demand by the Angolan government and structured and fixed by various bilateral agreements or contracts over the years.
Altogether about 11.300 Cubans from the field of education carried out their internationalist duties in Angola as teachers, educationalists, and advisers between 1976 and 1991. Though the military mission in Angola was closely linked to the civil collaboration with regard to organisational and political matters, it developed an autonomous strength with its own structures.
Following the massive exodus of the Portuguese population after independence on 11th November 1975, the Angolan government felt impelled to request international help, initially to ensure the integrity of the Angolan territory by means of military support, but also to maintain essential administrative and social functions. A transitional phase from colonialism to independence didn’t occur in Angola. This is the reason why Cuba’s involvement was not only important on the military sector but also on the civil one: Cuba partly took over the duties that would have been the responsibilities of the former colonial power in the first years of its civil presence in Angola. These responsibilities included support in reconstructing the government by employing advisers for organisational and administrative areas. Industrial structures were sustained by the deployment of qualified staff. Additionally, educational programmes for qualified employees for all economic and social fields were initiated. Right from the start Cuba was involved in the development of the new education system and the campaign for literacy. But the biggest Cuban contribution to the construction of the Angolan educational system was the provision of thousands of teachers and students. A further aspect of support in the collaboration between Cuba and Angola came in the form of scholarships for pupils and students who either were enabled to complete their school education on the Cuban Isla de la Juventud. This program for scholarships is still carried out today. About 7.500 Angolan scholars have graduated from schools, universities and technical colleges in Cuba and a further 2.500 Angolans received further education till 2001.
The abstract is based on some provisional results from my current post-doc research project. I conducted my research between 2004 and 2006 in archives in Angola, Cuba and Portugal amoung others. Moreover I interviewed about 150 contemporary witnesses and analyzed newspapers and journals of both countries.
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