Chapter 7: Students of Color and State Socialism – Double Exoticism in Public Space

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with a description of two portraits hanging together in the Museum of Warsaw: August Agboola O’Brown, a Black jazz drummer who fought in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, and Bolesław Bierut, the Stalinist-era president of Poland. This juxtaposition illustrates what the author calls “double exoticism”—the simultaneous strangeness of the socialist past and of racialized otherness. The visitor’s surprise at the Bierut portrait highlights how the communist era has become foreign and forgotten, while O’Brown’s image intensifies the distance felt toward historically global entanglements of Polish history.

The author then traces Poland’s participation in what historians term the “imperial cloud,” meaning the sharing of colonial knowledge and representations despite Poland not having overseas colonies. After 1989, the memory of Polish contacts with the Third World faded, yet during the state-socialist period (PRL) Poland hosted thousands of scholarship students from decolonized countries as part of Cold War rivalries and socialist internationalism. The chapter focuses on the School of Polish for Foreign Students (SJPdC) in Łódź, founded in 1957, which became a key institution for preparatory language and cultural training. SJPdC was nicknamed “the Tower of Babel” by locals, reflecting the perceived strangeness of its international student body.

From a top-down perspective, the school served propaganda purposes: foreign students were displayed in parades and media as socialist brothers and sisters, yet they were also subjected to intensive police surveillance, medical checks, and control over housing and mobility. This system of “governmentality” treated cooperative aid as a knowledge-power regime. Students were often used for espionage and monitored by the security services. Politically, the foreign student community was not homogeneous. Tensions emerged over allegiances to China versus the Soviet Union, and during Arab-Israeli conflicts. For example, Jordanian students were accused of being too close to Israel, while large pro-Arab demonstrations occurred in 1967 and 1973.

From a bottom-up perspective, the chapter examines everyday interactions between local Polish residents and foreign students in Łódź. The local press initially presented students as ambassadors from exotic countries, but by the 1980s some journalists gave voice to the students themselves, who reported stereotypes and social exclusion. One student, Jean, said he was never invited to a party in Poland, unlike in France or Germany.

The conclusion argues that the post-1989 oblivion of this history can be explained by the difficulty of confronting the communist legacy and its influence on Polish society. Studying these circulations reveals Poland’s alternative path to globalization, which was obscured by the dominant narrative of Western integration.

Key Events

Museum of Warsaw portrait display juxtaposing August Agboola O’Brown and Bolesław Bierut, illustrating double exoticism.
Founding of the School of Polish for Foreign Students (SJPdC) in Łódź in 1957, preceded by a preparatory course for Korean War students in 1951.
Construction of the SJPdC main building at 16 Kopcińskiego Street in 1963, nicknamed “Tower of Babel” by locals.
May Day parades and other public festivities where foreign students were displayed as socialist brothers and sisters for propaganda.
Police surveillance and security-service files documenting student collaboration, espionage, and monitoring of political factions.
Demonstrations by foreign students in Łódź in 1968 (anti-Zionist marches) and during the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli wars.
Joanna Sławińska’s 1984 article in Odgłosy giving voice to overseas students, reporting stereotypes and social exclusion.
Exponential increase in foreign students from Third World countries in the 1960s–1970s, followed by a sharp drop after 1989.

Character Development

August Agboola O’Brown: A Black jazz drummer, Warsaw Uprising veteran, used as a symbol of Poland’s global history and racial otherness.
Bolesław Bierut: Stalinist-era president, whose portrait serves as a reminder of the forgotten socialist past.
Witold Śmiech: Director of the Department of Modern Polish Language at SJPdC, who noted the school’s limited financial means and intuitive teaching methods.
Henryk Bilski: Citizens’ Militia Chief who argued SJPdC should add political education to persuade students of socialist legitimacy.
Alina Grabowska: Journalist writing in Kultura in 1968, noting that African and Vietnamese students marched with anti-Zionist slogans in Łódź.
Joanna Sławińska: Journalist for Odgłosy in 1984 who interviewed foreign students and reported their experiences of stereotyping.
Joanna Mantel-Niećko: Professor of Ethiopian Studies who only made her first trip to Ethiopia in 1984 despite decades of scholarly expertise.
Constantin Katsakioris: Cited historian who analyzed the origins of students from sub-Saharan Africa coming to Poland.

Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

Double exoticism: The simultaneous distancing from the socialist past and from racialized otherness, creating a layered sense of strangeness in public space.
Governmentality: Michel Foucault’s concept applied to the control of foreign students through police, medical, and administrative regimes, framed as a knowledge-power system.
Third World student mobility: Academic exchanges as a form of Cold War globalization, with Poland training cadres from decolonized nations to enhance its own international standing.
Propaganda and surveillance: Foreign students were used as public displays of socialist international friendship while being secretly monitored and controlled.
Racial otherness: Persistent stereotypes about “exotic” African students, reinforced by a lack of direct colonial experience and book-based knowledge of the Global South.
Forgetting of communist legacy: The post-1989 erasure of these exchanges is linked to the difficulty of confronting the PRL’s influence on contemporary Polish society.
Łódź urban space: The city as a contact zone where local residents and international students cohabited, with the SJPdC building symbolizing strangeness (Tower of Babel).

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter challenges the common perception of Eastern Europe as isolated behind the Iron Curtain by revealing Poland’s active participation in global networks of education and modernization. It shows that state socialism generated its own form of internationalization, one that involved colonial-style power relations despite the official anti-colonial rhetoric. The “double exoticism” concept helps explain contemporary Polish attitudes toward racial otherness and the memory of communism. By recovering the forgotten history of Third World students, the chapter provides a crucial postcolonial perspective on Eastern Europe, demonstrating that Poland was not merely a periphery but also a center that trained elites from the Global South. This history also offers a deeper context for understanding post-2015 migration debates in Central Europe, where the earlier absence of colonial immigration is often cited but the PRL-era exchanges are overlooked.

Study Questions and Answers

What is “double exoticism” and how does the museum portrait example illustrate it?
Answer: Double exoticism refers to the simultaneous strangeness of the socialist past and of racialized otherness. The portrait of August Agboola O’Brown (a Black Warsaw Uprising veteran) hanging next to Bolesław Bierut (a Stalinist president) surprises museum visitors because both the communist era and the presence of a Black person in Polish history feel distant and unfamiliar. This juxtaposition highlights how Poland’s global entanglements have been forgotten.
How did the Polish state use foreign students for propaganda and control, according to the chapter?
Answer: The state showcased foreign students in public festivities and media as socialist brothers and sisters from “backward” countries, thereby legitimizing the regime’s internationalism. At the same time, students were subjected to police surveillance, mandatory medical exams, and restrictions on housing and mobility—a system the author calls governmentality. Security services recruited some students as informants and monitored political factions among the student body.
What evidence does the chapter provide of tensions and divisions among foreign students in Poland?
Answer: The chapter reports that Chinese propaganda influenced students, creating pro-Chinese versus pro-Soviet factions until 1970. Jordanian students were accused by Syrians and Algerians of being too close to Israel. Large demonstrations in support of Arab countries occurred during the 1967 and 1973 wars, and in 1968 African and Vietnamese students marched with anti-Zionist slogans while Polish students held anti-regime protests. Security-service files document these geopolitical fault lines.