Cotton in Central Asia: Between Utopia and Ecocide with Flora Roberts

The Alworth Institute for International Studies hosts Dr. Flora Roberts of Utrecht University. This talk takes listeners to the cotton fields of Central Asia to explore how demand for a vital global commodity drove the Soviet Union to restructure the society, culture and economy of the Tajik republic around cotton. In the USSR’s southern periphery, growing cotton was presented as the “magic key” that would help Central Asians become modern citizens, and forge a socialist paradise. Dr. Roberts will argue that the huge effort to free the Soviet Union from the need to import cotton profoundly affected the soil, water, ecosystem and broader environment, leading to structural inequalities, human health impacts and economic path dependencies that still structure lives in southern Central Asia today. Dr. Roberts will also comment on what this historical case study can teach us about the global textile market and living within planetary boundaries today.