In his book, William Wheeler traces the transformation of the Aral Sea across time and space to elucidate broader ecological, social, economic, and political transformations. As the Soviet Union collapsed, so did the centralized state institutions that had not only managed the rivers flowing into the Aral Sea, but the fish stocks that had once populated it. What remained visible to the outside world was a desiccated sea considered to be dead and one of the greatest ecological tragedies of the twentieth century.
Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Kazakhstan, Wheeler illuminates the complex situation on the ground in Aral΄sk, Kazakhstan. By spending twelve months in Aral΄sk and the surrounding villages, Wheeler captured critiques regarding the disaster narrative of the Aral region. Yet, this is not a book just about the Aral Sea and its environmental impacts and attempts at its restoration, but rather about the “continuities and ruptures of Soviet socialism and postsocialism” (9). The Aral Sea becomes a lens to examine the bureaucratic structures of the Soviet state as well as the various meanings of the sea and the fish that have populated the sea for the communities in proximity to it. At times, the book is less about the sea, but about the fish industry and the fishermen's understanding of their local environment and its change, as well as their connections to global supply chains that link them to European consumers and Chinese net manufacturers.
The book is organized chronologically; the first four chapters examine the sea's regression. Wheeler leverages rich archival material about the Russian colonial and Soviet attempts to control and transform the Aral Sea and the political economy of the region, in which he finds “homologous histories of dispossession” (37). Chapter 1 provides a nuanced and methodical recounting of the modernization processes that led to the development of the fishery in the northern Aral, its transformation into a “socialist fishery” (45), and the role of collectivization and cotton in altering the Central Asian landscape. Throughout, Wheeler includes photos from the Museum of Fishermen in Aral΄sk to help to visualize the fishing boats and fish factory from this period; unfortunately, owing to their age, the images are frequently hard to discern. Chapter 2 delves into the heart of the Soviet state—its bureaucracy–to elucidate how the Soviet bureaucracy responded to the receding sea and the loss of the sea's fishery through the import of ocean fish to be processed in local factories. Through the lens of the sea's fishery, Wheeler revisits defunct debates pertaining to the proposed diversion of the flow of Siberian rivers. Combined, these historical chapters provide a comprehensive survey of natural resource (mis)management and economic policies during the Soviet period.
What stands out in the book are the conversations with informants about memories from the Soviet period. In Chapter 3, Wheeler astutely captures competing narratives of life in Aral΄sk in which informants describe memories of “a good life” and “stable employment” (93). There are “memories of leisure” (94) when it comes to the sea and Wheeler documents stories of postsocialist nostalgia. While memories vary, Wheeler also notes that many of the narratives of the Aral disaster were constructed from outside the region, either by those in Moscow or international actors.
Chapters 5 to 7 situate international attempts to restore the Aral Sea within development debates as well as connections to global supply chains. While Wheeler underscores that “there was nothing inevitable about the sea's restoration” (142), Chapter 5 weaves back and forth across global and local efforts that ultimately led to the restoration of the Small Aral Sea in Kazakhstan. Most notably and often missing in global accounts of international development interventions in the Aral Sea is a discussion of the locally led efforts to place a dam between the large and small seas. By focusing on a Danish aid project to revitalize the fishery sector, Wheeler offers an alternative perspective; specifically, the way in which Danish activists worked with the villages to rebuild the fishery and to support the establishment of a local NGO—Aral Tenizi—offers an important case study for building social capital and small-scale fisheries. Ultimately, according to Wheeler, the “postsocialist sea” becomes not only “an object of management” but also a “source of economic value” (232).
While the main audience for this book is the Central Asian studies community, it would be a shame if scholars and students of fisheries did not read this book.
