Abstract:

This panel brings together four papers which answer key questions about the possibilities and challenges of securing livelihoods in rural Central Asia in the modern period. We aim to bring the focus on agrarian Central Asia to better understand how Soviet and post-Soviet era political and economic systems have shaped realities for rural communities across the region. By exploring a range of topics including collectivization in Uzbekistan, state research and policies on employment, education, and resettlement, the political economy of cotton supply chains, community seed selection, and kitchen gardens as a form of social reproduction, this panel seeks to explain how key questions and issues facing rural populations invited state responses and have shaped the historical development of modern Central Asia. We aim to demonstrate how incorporation of these rural and historical perspectives into our studies can help enhance our understanding of the region.