Introduction: focus on Mongolia

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Estimates of the precise numbers of animals lost vary between sources. Recent estimates indicate losses of some 20% of the national herd or 8.8 million animals by the end of May 2010, by comparison with numbers in January 2010 (CAMDA 2010 CAMDA. 2010. How to face the future [online]. Cambridge Mongolia Development Appeal. Available from http://www.camda.org.uk/index.html. [Accessed 2 August 2010] [Google Scholar]). As Bulag observes, Western leaders were curiously silent on this issue. However, a number of the rioters were subsequently pardoned by the new President, N. Enkhbayar, in 2009, while the struggle over the July 2008 elections was ostensibly resolved through the formation of a coalition government between the MPRP and DP in September 2008 (Bulag 2009 Bulag, U. 2009. Mongolia in 2008: from Mongolia to Mine-golia. Asian Survey, 49(1): 129–134. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Bulag 2010 Bulag, U. 2010. Mongolia in 2009: from landlocked to land-linked cosmopolitan. Asian Survey, 50(1): 97–103. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). ‘Ninja’ is a term widely used in Mongolia to refer to informal, often illegal, small-scale miners, whose resemblance to the children's cartoon characters when carrying panning equipment on their back, occasioned the nickname. Rival political parties at the 2008 elections promised payments of up to US$1300 per citizen each year from future mining revenues, variously described as ‘Wealth Share’ (Erdeniin huv) by the DP and more evocatively as ‘The Motherland's Blessing’ (Eh Oroni Hishig) by the MPRP (Bulag 2009 Bulag, U. 2009. Mongolia in 2008: from Mongolia to Mine-golia. Asian Survey, 49(1): 129–134. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], p. 132). The notion of Mongolia as ‘the motherland’ became an important aspect of nationalist discourse in the Soviet era, and one with continuing resonance in the post-Soviet era (Sneath 2010 Sneath, D. 2010. Political mobilization and the construction of collective identity in Mongolia. Central Asian Survey. 29(3): 251–267. [Google Scholar], this issue). The phase ‘reinvention of tradition’ does, of course, derive from the work of Hobsbawn, notably The Invention of Tradition (1993). ‘Tengrism’ is defined by Laruelle (2007) Laruelle, M. 2007. Religious revival, nationalism and the ‘invention of tradition’: political Tengrism in Central Asia and Tatarstan. Central Asian Survey, 26(2): 203–216. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar] as a new ideological movement, presented by its proponents as integral to the identities of Turkic – Mongol peoples, and strategically deployed in support of particular concepts of national identity. Ovoo are cairns, traditionally used to denote sacred sites and often located on mountain tops. The state-sanctioned revival of worshipping ceremonies at ovoo is one of the most readily apparent manifestations of the Buddhist revival. Elverskog (2006) Elverskog, J. 2006. Two Buddhisms in contemporary Mongolia. Contemporary Buddhism, 7(1): 29–46. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar] goes on to argue that, in particular versions of Marxist and nationalist rhetoric and historical analyses, Buddhism may also be seen as inimical to progress and modernity, but rather a tool employed by the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) to facilitate Mongol subjugation. Thus he argues that the Buddhist revival in Mongolia is problematic in terms of its interpretation and outcomes. He asks: ‘When the state tries to co-opt the mantle of Buddhist rule … in order to “restore patriotism and national pride” – will this be seen as cynical political manipulation of religion, or … an inspiring evocation of the Dharma on behalf of the nation?’ (ibid, p. 33). This question remains largely unanswered to date. Post (2007) Post, J. 2007. ‘I take my dombra and sing to remember my homeland’: identity, landscape and music in Kazakh communities of western Mongolia. Ethnomusicology Forum, 16(1): 45–69. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar] argues that notions of ‘homeland’ amongst Mongolia's Kazakhs include references to Mongolian lands, as well as to ‘ancestral homelands’ in Kazakhstan.