“Don’t Call Us Kushim”: Racialized Experiences and Political Activism among African Students in Israel in the 1960s

During the 1960s, several hundreds of African students attended long-term academic or vocational programs in Israel. Their studies in Israel were largely sponsored by the Israeli government, which sought to strengthen its political relations and influence in liberating Africa. Israel offered professional training and higher education to African citizens, while African states sought to gain technical expertise and were glad to reduce their dependence on ex-colonial powers or the Cold War superpowers. African international students, however, were not merely passive objects in larger international politics. They were active participants and commentators within Israeli society, engaging in political activism at levels that were uncommon in the Israeli student scene. My paper, which is part of my Ph.D. dissertation about Israel’s attitudes toward African decolonization, seeks to trace the experiences, stances, and agency of these African students in Israel during the 1960s. Their history is largely understudied and primarily depicted through “macro” perspectives of international relations between different governments. Nevertheless, African students in Israel employed diverse strategies to promote their interests, combating domestic prejudice, and promoting global causes in the shadow of the Cold War and national liberation in Africa. My paper demonstrates how young Africans, who came to acquire higher education in the Jewish State, contested preconceived assumptions about Africa and Africans through their activism and eventually taught the hosting society important lessons on political awareness, broad-mindedness, acceptance, and tolerance. Their story sheds new light on the histories of Israel and Black-Jewish relations during the turbulent sixties.









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