Lost in Transition: Fuzzy Property and Leaky Selves in Ulaanbaatar

Abstract

For many people in postsocialist Mongolia, the crisis brought about by the ‘transition’ from state socialism to democracy and capitalism has become a permanent condition of life. Based on fieldwork in Ulaanbaatar, this article explores various religious and economic innovations through which people respond to the ‘age of the market’. We show how, among low-income families of mixed Mongolian and Russian background, one age group in particular suffers from the symptoms of being ‘lost in transition’: alcoholism, soul loss, and a total inability to plan ahead. Inspired by Alexei Yurchak's work on the ‘last Soviet generation’, we argue that this group of men and women, who grew up expecting to live their lives beneath the empty shell of official state discourse, has become permanently stuck in the youth culture of late socialism.