Description

Even though their physical geography comprises two major maritime surfaces, seas and the maritime are usually not what one associates with the Ciscaspian and Central Asia. This talk will look into the position and role of the Caspian and Aral seas and their respective littorals in the region’s social transformation in the modern era. It will explore whether they were part of a maritime consciousness and of a notion of ‘overseas’ vis-à-vis Central Asia, before looking into a number of developments the outcomes or at least traces of which are still visible today. More concretely, these include the patterns of maritime accessibility over the Caspian and Aral seas that came into being; the existence of seashore-shaped cultures and livelihoods; and the establishment of new territorialities which served as spaces for double-edged economic modernization, blueprints of modern national individualities and a peculiar pattern of urban development.