Vtoraya Tselina (Second Virgin Lands): A Political Economy of Sheep Herding in the Kazakh Steppe, 1960s-80s

• In Event: Between Transition and Memory: Social Change in Kazakh Society across Borders from the Early 20th Century to the Present

Abstract

This paper examines the practice of “intensive pastoralism” in Soviet Kazakhstan’s collective farms in the 1960s-80s and its impact on the steppe environment. It traces how Soviet policies sought to maximize livestock productivity through industrialized methods by capitalizing on both indigenous and scientific knowledge. It foregrounds the experiences of Kazakh returnees from China as kolkhoz workers.

Author

• Abylay Stambayev, UC Santa Barbara