OUR GOAL
To use our film as the centre of a campaign to mobilise an international network of academic institutions to collaborate on bringing educational opportunities to Karakalpakstan and Khorezm, and on the international study of the history, geography and ethno-ecology of the Aral Sea Region.
OUR MISSION
We are an Oxford University project working to generate educational opportunities in Uzbekistan, specifically in Khorezm and Karakalpakstan.
In 2023, we recorded oral history interviews relating to the changing cultures and human ecology on the banks of the Amu Darya. We are currently editing these interviews into a film.
WHY AMU DARYA?
From the 1960s onwards, Soviet overextraction of water from the Amu Darya River for cotton irrigation has been a major cause of the depletion of the Aral Sea. In the Khorezm region alone, 16,000 km of canals were built along the Amu Darya River
As the Amu Darya was depleted, the downstream Aral Sea began to shrink. Today, this lake is one tenth of its original size.
1960
2016
AMU DARYA
RIVER
ARAL SEA
By making a film on the Amu Darya, we hope to highlight the importance of ethno-ecological, geographical, and historical research in Karakalpakstan and Khorezm.
We will use our findings to encourage a public, student, and institutional discussion on the study of the Aral Sea Region, and the study in the Aral Sea Region.
We are six Oxford University Undergraduates, collaborating with a network of students from Urgench State University and Karakalpak State University.