African student migrants in Russia

This article proposes to share part of the results of our research on the analysis of a confrontation of African students with values, academic norms and social relations during a long stay of study in the USSR and, or in Russia. These Africans are considered by their host culture both as students and as foreigners, hence their name "foreign students". We asked ourselves the following questions: What is the place of contextual factors in their trajectory? How do they behave in the face of a culture that is foreign to them and that considers them, above all, foreigners? To what extent can the experiences of these students diverge? First, we will briefly recall the theoretical and methodological framework adopted, then we will present the composition and profiles of the 458 African students interviewed. Finally, we will analyze the possible links between the contextual factors and the individual and collective difficulties encountered by the students and the various strategies they have developed to adapt (or not).