Alimdzhanov B. A. Cotton as a resource for (de)modernization and  a source of nationalism in Uzbekistan // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2026. V.11. №2. P. 155-169.

EDN: OQZTNS

Annotation

The article considers the role of cotton as a resource for modernization and de-modernization of social life in Uzbekistan from the late 1980s to the present day. The author argues that cotton was a key product in the colonial period, and its perception as a de-modernizing force changed from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s; that cotton has become an integral part of the Uzbek political ideology, and every type of Uzbek nationalism is based on the perception of cotton. The article presents the changing interpretations of cotton’s role in the Uzbek history as determined by cultural-political contexts, raising the following research questions: how cotton growing turned from a modernization project to a de-modernization project; how this transformation affected culture and worldview of the intellectual elite; how cotton once again become a source for modernization in independent Uzbekistan in the 2000s; why cotton has not become a de-colonial project of “national awakening”. The author refers to the works of S. N. Abashin on nationalism, describing Uzbek nationalism as situational and depending mainly on the historical context and interests of elites: cotton is perceived as part of de-modernization project in Uzbekistan and as a failed Soviet experiment; at the same time, the perception of cotton became a catalyst for nationalism of the “blame-the-Soviets” type, i.e., the Soviet modernization project is blamed for all the troubles and declared a “de-modernization” project. Uzbek nationalism of the 1980s was very different from that of the 2000s: the former emphasized the need to “fix” the Soviet system, while the latter was rather utopian due to its focus on modernization and perception of cotton as Other.

Keywords

Cotton, modernization, Uzbekistan, “nationalism of intellectuals”, S. N. Abashin, G. Balandier.  

About the author

Bakhtiyor A. Alimdzhanov, PhD (History), Senior Researcher, Institute of Anthropology of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Mirzo Ulugbek St., 81, Tashkent, 100170, Uzbekistan.
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