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Papers by Taylor Zajicek

Central Asian Survey, 2021

For much of Russia’s fractious history, the earth’s stability at least could be taken for granted... more For much of Russia’s fractious history, the earth’s stability at least could be taken for granted. The imperial heartland was situated deep on the Eurasian tectonic plate, rarely experiencing fatal seismic activity. As the empire expanded, however, it acquired several of Eurasia’s most earthquake-prone regions. This interplay between colonization and seismic landscapes produced a novel entity: the ‘seismic colony’. With its occasional earthquakes and perpetual risks, the seismic colony posed a significant challenge to Russian rule, particularly in Turkestan. Earthquakes devastated infrastructure, gave lie to the civilizing mission and fostered social disorder, thereby undercutting the technologies of rule that the empire relied on to exploit the region. Engaging analytical tools from the history of environment and technology, this article details this threat and the developments it prompted from Russian experts and settlers, including first-response efforts, reconfigured construction practices, and the concretization of seismology as a science and infrastructure.

Free download link: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RYPRXYCKP9XDRMUTH7BK/full?target=10.1080/02634937.2021.1919056

Book Reviews by Taylor Zajicek

H-Environment, 2022

Like chickens, historians ought to be free-range. This, paraphrased, is the methodological interv... more Like chickens, historians ought to be free-range. This, paraphrased, is the methodological intervention of Place and Nature: Essays in Russian Environmental History, a 2021 collected volume edited by David Moon, Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Alexandra Bekasova. The collection summons readers to the field: "to write robust history, historians need to embed themselves in the places and environments they study" (p. 1). We are to flee the library’s artificial light, lace up our hiking boots, and go break bread with locals.

Drafts by Taylor Zajicek

Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports, 2019

This report introduces the Turkish Wheat and Training Project, one of the Rockefeller Foundation'... more This report introduces the Turkish Wheat and Training Project, one of the Rockefeller Foundation's flagship agricultural programs in the Near East, and a relatively unstudied player in Turkey's "green revolution." From 1970 to 1982, the Ankara-based, multinational staff collected plant samples from around the world, experimented with high-yielding varieties of (mostly) winter wheat, facilitated Turkish scientists' education abroad, and advocated for wheat's centrality to the Turkish economy. While grafted from the green revolution's most emblematic institution-the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)-the Turkish Wheat Project had roots in two deeper processes: the concept that Turkey was not living up to its agricultural potential and Ankara's engagement with US aid and expertise. After sketching these themes with sources from the Rockefeller Archive Center, this report narrates the wheat project's origins, participants, activities, and shortcomings. While the project's role as an engine of Turkey's agricultural "modernization" was-and remains-difficult to assess, its archive, situated at a confluence of institutions and epistemologies, is a valuable source for approaching the histories of Turkish agriculture, the green revolution, and the Cold War.

Central Asian Survey, 2021

For much of Russia’s fractious history, the earth’s stability at least could be taken for granted... more For much of Russia’s fractious history, the earth’s stability at least could be taken for granted. The imperial heartland was situated deep on the Eurasian tectonic plate, rarely experiencing fatal seismic activity. As the empire expanded, however, it acquired several of Eurasia’s most earthquake-prone regions. This interplay between colonization and seismic landscapes produced a novel entity: the ‘seismic colony’. With its occasional earthquakes and perpetual risks, the seismic colony posed a significant challenge to Russian rule, particularly in Turkestan. Earthquakes devastated infrastructure, gave lie to the civilizing mission and fostered social disorder, thereby undercutting the technologies of rule that the empire relied on to exploit the region. Engaging analytical tools from the history of environment and technology, this article details this threat and the developments it prompted from Russian experts and settlers, including first-response efforts, reconfigured construction practices, and the concretization of seismology as a science and infrastructure.

Free download link: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RYPRXYCKP9XDRMUTH7BK/full?target=10.1080/02634937.2021.1919056

H-Environment, 2022

Like chickens, historians ought to be free-range. This, paraphrased, is the methodological interv... more Like chickens, historians ought to be free-range. This, paraphrased, is the methodological intervention of Place and Nature: Essays in Russian Environmental History, a 2021 collected volume edited by David Moon, Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Alexandra Bekasova. The collection summons readers to the field: "to write robust history, historians need to embed themselves in the places and environments they study" (p. 1). We are to flee the library’s artificial light, lace up our hiking boots, and go break bread with locals.

Rockefeller Archive Center Research Reports, 2019

This report introduces the Turkish Wheat and Training Project, one of the Rockefeller Foundation'... more This report introduces the Turkish Wheat and Training Project, one of the Rockefeller Foundation's flagship agricultural programs in the Near East, and a relatively unstudied player in Turkey's "green revolution." From 1970 to 1982, the Ankara-based, multinational staff collected plant samples from around the world, experimented with high-yielding varieties of (mostly) winter wheat, facilitated Turkish scientists' education abroad, and advocated for wheat's centrality to the Turkish economy. While grafted from the green revolution's most emblematic institution-the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)-the Turkish Wheat Project had roots in two deeper processes: the concept that Turkey was not living up to its agricultural potential and Ankara's engagement with US aid and expertise. After sketching these themes with sources from the Rockefeller Archive Center, this report narrates the wheat project's origins, participants, activities, and shortcomings. While the project's role as an engine of Turkey's agricultural "modernization" was-and remains-difficult to assess, its archive, situated at a confluence of institutions and epistemologies, is a valuable source for approaching the histories of Turkish agriculture, the green revolution, and the Cold War.