In-Between the Rural and the Urban: Skill and Migration in Ulaanbaatar’s Ger-Districts

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper, I describe the experience of rural-urban migration amongst herders to Ulaanbaatar’s ger-districts. I show how this problematises conventional notions of rural-urban migration and suggests a particular form of urbanisation in Mongolia. Following one particular household as they move from the countryside to the city, I show how for many new migrants adaptation to urban life is tied to the transposition of existing skills – and the learning of new skills – in the new urban context. I also show some of the more problematic aspects of life in the ger-districts, including the devaluation of herding skills and the existential impact of deskilment on gender and identity. In the process, I develop a phenomenologically-grounded political-economy of skill, whereby social, economic, and political change can be traced at the level of human embodiment and polydirectional experiences of enskilment and deskilment.