Unsettled Modernization: Soviet Historiography on the Mongolian Ger, 1935-1980

Abstract

In the state socialist period, a unique relationship unfolded between modernism and vernacular construction, particularly in the context of the Soviet- and COMECON-aided collectivisation of mobile pastoralism and urbanisation in the Mongolian People’s Republic. This paper examines the transformation of Soviet historiography on the Mongolian ger—a portable self-made dwelling assembled from a wooden frame and wrapped in felt or other materials for insulation. Reconstructing the knowledge hierarchies and changing framings of ger offered by Mongolian and Soviet architects, scholars and government officials between 1935 and 1980, the article highlights the role this historiography played in the broader ideology of state socialist modernisation. Particularly, the paper demonstrates how histories of ger allowed the construction of Mongolian “national” socialist realist canon after the destruction of Buddhist monasteries and how it balanced promises of progress with housing provision delays and material constraints in the development of state-sponsored herding collectives. Finally, the paper retraces the reification of ger for ethnonationalist mobilisation aimed to align future visions of Soviet and Mongolian mobile urbanisms via the trope of “shared nomadic heritage”.