2019/05/16 by Niccolò Pianciola
Social Sciences · #Colonialism, slavery, and trade #Global Maritime and Colonial Histories #Islamic Studies and History
paper · doi:10.1163/15685209-12341490
crossref issued 2019/05/16 · crossref published 2019/05/16 · crossref published-print 2019/05/16 · openalex publication_date 2019/05/16 · crossref created 2019/05/28 · crossref deposited 2019/06/05 · openalex created_date 2019/06/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21 · crossref indexed 2026/07/26
Abstract The article addresses the managing of Aral Sea fisheries by the Tsarist administration, and the making of a colonial frontier inhabited by exiled Ural Cossack, Qaraqalpaq, Qazaq, Russian, and Ukrainian fishermen. By comparing the different power relations between Cossacks and the local population on the Ural River and in the Aral Sea region, it shows how they shaped fisheries management regulations and their effectiveness. It also investigates the conditions of production of scientific knowledge on the Aral Sea ecosystem and what role it played in governance decision-making. By drafting a series of fishing regulations and by examining the balance between humans and aquatic animals, scientists oriented the Tsarist government’s decisions on how to manage both the fisheries and the populations that exploited them. At the same time, members of a specific social group, the exiled Ural Cossacks, functioned as mediators between the imperial state and an ecosystem undergoing colonization.