A Decade of Change: Gauging the Post Demodernization Adaptations of Farm Laborers in Tajikistan's Hisor Valley (Research Brief)
October 10, 2010
During the decade since I chronicled the economic and ecological effects of the fall of the Soviet Union and the Tajik Civil War on farm laborers in Tajikistan’s Hisor Valley, the majority of the valley’s laborers have had to make new adaptations in Tajikistan’s further transition to a command economy and the on-going War on Terror that has created an upsurge in development aid and regional interest by the United States. To gather this information, I conducted 325 questionnaire-based interviews in the Hisor Valley in the same 16 villages in which I conducted similar questionnaire-based interviews in 2000. Further, I augmented these interviews with 40 open-ended interviews with NGOs, the World Bank, and local and federal administrators. From these interviews, I have created a framework through which I can comprehend the myriad changes that have occurred both in the lives of farm laborers (the largest category of employed citizens in Tajikistan) and in the evolving economic culture of the region.
Download the pdf at the top of this page for the full brief.
William C. Rowe, of Louisiana State University, was a 2010-11 Short-Term Travel Grants (STG) fellow.
