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Dr. Darrow had taught Russian history, The West in the World and other European history courses since he had arrived at UD in 1996. His research related to the politics of census taking and agrarian reform in the Russian Empire received support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the International Research and Exchange Board. Dr. Darrow served as director of the International Studies Program and University Honors Program.

Research interests

• Peasant economies
• Colonial technologies
• History of Capitalism

Selected publications

Tsardom of Sufficiency, Empire of Norms: Statistics, Land Allotments, and Agrarian Reform in Russia, c. 1700-1921. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2018.

“Agrarian Experts and Social Justice: Land Allotment Norms in Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1920.” Cahiers du Monde russe, 57, no. 1 (2016), 55-80.

“Census as a Technology of Empire.” Ab imperio, no. 4 (2002), 145-176.

"Statistics and Sufficiency: Toward an Intellectual History of Russia's Rural Crisis." Continuity and Change: A Journal of Social Structure, Law and Demography in Past Societies no. 1 (May 2002): 63-96.

"From Commune to Household: Statistics and the Social Construction of Chaianov's Theory of Peasant Economy." Comparative Studies in Society and History 43, no. 4 (October 2001): 788-818.

"The Politics of Numbers: Zemstvo Land Assessment and the Conceptualization of Russia's Rural Economy." The Russian Review 59 (January 2000): 52-75.

Selected presentations

“V. F. Sokul'skii & A. N. Balakshin: Biography & the Shape of Siberian Butter Production.” Fifty-Third National Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies. Nov. 18-21, 2021. New Orleans.

"Defending Siberian Butter, Socializing its Production: Butter Adulteration and the Promotion of Cooperative Creameries in Siberia, c. 1894-1907." Trade and Empire: Productivity, Economic Exchange, and Differences in Eurasia Conference. April 18-19, 2020. Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities at Tyumen State University, Tiumen, Russian Federation (held via Zoom).

“The Spread of Empire: Siberian Butter and Political Economy.” Annual Meeting of the British Association for Slavonic & East-European Studies. April 12-14, 2019. Robinson College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, U.K.

Peasants into Property Owners: The Peasant Land Bank as an Agent of Social Transformation. Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia Seminar, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Oct. 13, 2016. Madison, Wisc.

Ordering Economy: Managing Land Allotments for Fiscal and Moral Improvement. Higher School of Economics-St. Petersburg. Boundaries of History Seminar, Sept. 29, 2016, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.

Categories of Agrarian Reform: The Varied Meaning of the Labor Norm in the Operations of The Peasant Land Bank. Higher School of Economics-St. Petersburg. Boundaries of History Seminar, Dec. 10, 2015, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.