About the Lecture: In the first decade of its existence, Soviet Kazakhstan had three different capitals, and several other cities were considered as potential political centers for the republic. These relocations were undertaken despite the fact that they were expensive and logistically complicated. Why did Soviet authorities undergo the difficulty and expense of relocating the administrative center of a sparsely populated republic not just once, but twice within the span of nine years, and what do these undertakings tell us about the early Soviet state?
About the Speaker: Maria Blackwood is an Analyst in Asian Policy at the Congressional Research Service, where she covers Central Asia and Mongolia. Before joining CRS in 2019, she was a Title VIII Research Scholar at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She completed a PhD in History at Harvard University in 2018, focusing on the process of elite formation in early Soviet Kazakhstan, and earned a joint BA/MA in History from Yale University in 2010. Blackwood is speaking in a personal capacity.
This event is part of the CREECA lecture series, which is held on Thursdays at 4:00 pm. Coffee, tea, and cookies served starting at 3:45.