Maya K. Peterson

About the Author

Maya K. Peterson is a historian and scholar specializing in environmental history and the intersections of empire, infrastructure, and ecology in Central Asia. With a focus on the Soviet era and its lasting legacies, she explores how human ambitions reshape landscapes and societies. Her acclaimed book, Pipe Dreams: Water and Empire in Central Asia's Aral Sea Basin (Studies in Environment and History), delves into the dramatic transformation of the Aral Sea region through ambitious irrigation projects and their profound ecological and social consequences. Drawing on extensive archival research and fieldwork, Peterson's work illuminates the tensions between modernization and environmental degradation, offering critical insights into global patterns of resource exploitation. She teaches at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she continues to advance interdisciplinary studies in environmental humanities.