96 Sophie Roche
radiation and who usually leave as fast as possible) could or would not. In
the words of Stawkowski’s interviewees, the bodies would physically change
as the environment changed: “I am a radioactive mutant.” 41 Their bodies
not only adapted to the pollution, but they could not live outside the zone
anymore, as per her source. As Stawkowski has argued, the people of Koyan
consciously think of themselves as part of an ecosystem, as organisms that
have learned to thrive on a polluted landscape. 42 This argument of adaptation has been recalled in other polluted contexts as well. The examples share
a commonality that demonstrates how people integrate into environments
through cultural narratives. To summarize, in the Kazakh example, humans
adapted to their agriculture-based environment by “mutation.” In Tajikistan,
the entire production cycle was integrated into a rural-urban developmental
narrative. These three possible relationships are rooted in local conceptions of
human-environment relationalities and therefore differ, although the three
sites share the same Soviet frame of modernity.
Khujand and Chkalovsk relate to their environment in a historical continuity, which considers the rural environment responsible for supplying the
city. Rural regions provide the raw material for urban progress, or in other
words, rural areas are hierarchically subservient to cities. Regarding the relationship between Khujand/Lenindabad and Chkalovsk, 43 they equally stand
in a hierarchical relationship in which the Leninabad population would be
“a step lower than those in Chkalovsk.” Such conceptualizations of the new
neighboring Soviet town and its people follow the evolutionary concepts and
rural-urban relationalities introduced above.
Khujand/Leninabad is one of the historical towns along the Syr Daryo
with a long history of being an artisanal, trade, and at times political center.
Its educational elite served as the Tajik leadership in Dushanbe, where a capital was created out of a village when the Tajik SSR was founded in 1929.
The discovery of uranium in the nearby mountains made the city and its
environment of special interest to the Soviet leadership and became part
of the plan to produce a nuclear bomb. The sub-district Leninabad (today
Nohiyai Bobojon Ghafurov) enclosed the mines and the main mining town
Tabashar, the Sovkhoz of Palas and Chkalovsk, with the Leninabad Mining
and Chemical Combine responsible for the enrichment of uranium before
transporting it by train to the north. This relationship between the different
regions is not only based on a division of labor, but rather they relate to one
another through the hierarchical relationships of the environments. These
are narrated and are often ethnically colored because of the many groups
that came as deported populations, prisoners, or elites: Tabashar was built by
Germans who came from the Volga region and had been deported to Siberia
before coming to Tajikistan. In the first decades after their deportation at
the end of World War II, they were not allowed to work in the mines, but
were responsible for the construction of the new town. Later, this group was
joined by prisoners of the Great Patriotic War (World War II). Consequently,
Germans entered local narratives as excellent architects and construction
radiation and who usually leave as fast as possible) could or would not. In
the words of Stawkowski’s interviewees, the bodies would physically change
as the environment changed: “I am a radioactive mutant.” 41 Their bodies
not only adapted to the pollution, but they could not live outside the zone
anymore, as per her source. As Stawkowski has argued, the people of Koyan
consciously think of themselves as part of an ecosystem, as organisms that
have learned to thrive on a polluted landscape. 42 This argument of adaptation has been recalled in other polluted contexts as well. The examples share
a commonality that demonstrates how people integrate into environments
through cultural narratives. To summarize, in the Kazakh example, humans
adapted to their agriculture-based environment by “mutation.” In Tajikistan,
the entire production cycle was integrated into a rural-urban developmental
narrative. These three possible relationships are rooted in local conceptions of
human-environment relationalities and therefore differ, although the three
sites share the same Soviet frame of modernity.
Khujand and Chkalovsk relate to their environment in a historical continuity, which considers the rural environment responsible for supplying the
city. Rural regions provide the raw material for urban progress, or in other
words, rural areas are hierarchically subservient to cities. Regarding the relationship between Khujand/Lenindabad and Chkalovsk, 43 they equally stand
in a hierarchical relationship in which the Leninabad population would be
“a step lower than those in Chkalovsk.” Such conceptualizations of the new
neighboring Soviet town and its people follow the evolutionary concepts and
rural-urban relationalities introduced above.
Khujand/Leninabad is one of the historical towns along the Syr Daryo
with a long history of being an artisanal, trade, and at times political center.
Its educational elite served as the Tajik leadership in Dushanbe, where a capital was created out of a village when the Tajik SSR was founded in 1929.
The discovery of uranium in the nearby mountains made the city and its
environment of special interest to the Soviet leadership and became part
of the plan to produce a nuclear bomb. The sub-district Leninabad (today
Nohiyai Bobojon Ghafurov) enclosed the mines and the main mining town
Tabashar, the Sovkhoz of Palas and Chkalovsk, with the Leninabad Mining
and Chemical Combine responsible for the enrichment of uranium before
transporting it by train to the north. This relationship between the different
regions is not only based on a division of labor, but rather they relate to one
another through the hierarchical relationships of the environments. These
are narrated and are often ethnically colored because of the many groups
that came as deported populations, prisoners, or elites: Tabashar was built by
Germans who came from the Volga region and had been deported to Siberia
before coming to Tajikistan. In the first decades after their deportation at
the end of World War II, they were not allowed to work in the mines, but
were responsible for the construction of the new town. Later, this group was
joined by prisoners of the Great Patriotic War (World War II). Consequently,
Germans entered local narratives as excellent architects and construction