Imperial Desert Dreams

Cotton Growing and Irrigation in Central Asia, 1860–1991
Officials, engineers and scientists in the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union envisaged the expansion and modernization of irrigation systems and cotton growing in Central Asia. Focusing on the region of today's Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, this book highlights the continuities in discourse and policies beyond the historical divide of 1917. One of the central topoi was the transformation of 'dead' lands into 'blossoming oases'. High modernism policies hit their peak in the post-war decades. From the 1970s, an ecological critique evolved which gained momentum in the Perestroika period. Ultimately, the grave ecological, economic and social consequences of the growth-fixated modernization contributed to the downfall of the Communist regime. Read more Continue reading Read less ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prof. Dr. Obertreis ist Inhaberin des Lehrstuhls fur Neuere und Neueste Geschichte mit dem Schwerpunkt der Geschichte Osteuropas an der Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg. Read more Continue reading Read less