Forced Labor and The Landscape Modification: A Phenomenological Study of Karlag Prisoners’ Experiences at Aktailak

Abstract

This capstone project aims to explore the experience and activities of Karlag prisoners at the Aktailak site during the late operation of the camp by focusing on their interactions with the landscape and construction of the camp's infrastructure under the conditions of forced correctional labor. The study will be conducted through the lenses of the post-processual archaeological theories of landscape phenomenology and narrative storytelling proposed by Christopher Tilley (1994) and Janet Spector (2009), respectively. The research will provide a humanizing reconstruction and interpretation of the experiences and activities of the prisoners who extensively modified the landscape and interacted with the environment around them. The main focuses of the project will be on the bodily and sensory aspects of the convicts inside the camp spaces, the construction of the irrigation system and buildings, and the environmental and living conditions that accompanied convicts at Aktailak. The research and the site overview will be supported by the primary sources and archival collection of memoirs, diaries, official documents, and historical records about Karlag and its subdivisions.