A conquest of rice: agricultural expansion, impoverishment, and malaria in Turkey

Kyle T. Evered and Emine Ö. Evered
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Kyle T. Evered: Michigan State University
Emine Ö. Evered: Michigan State University

Historia Agraria. Revista de Agricultura e Historia Rural, 2016, issue 68, 103-136

Abstract: Serving as a parliamentarian in late-1940s Turkey, Dr. Mehmet Serif Korkut wrote of his perceptions of the gravest danger to Turkish workers and the nation: malaria. In his view as physician and politician, the greatest factor exacerbating this disease involved the rapid -though legally regulated- expansion of rice cultivation within the country. Addressing this problem through his writings, Korkut connected this commodity with conditions of unchecked agrarian capitalism and impoverishment. In such a context, he argued, rice farming caused the state to be plagued with corruption and the peasantry with malaria. Relying upon his primary texts and supported by archival research, this article presents and analyses a unique critique of agrarian capitalism from Turkey's early Cold War era. In doing so, it contributes to a broader appreciation for the diversity of sources, ideas, and linkages between histories of agriculture and public health.

Keywords: agrarian capitalism; poverty; Public health; Turkey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B31 I18 N35 N55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:seh:journl:y:2016:i:68:m:april:p:103-136

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