Trip to Mongolia

July 3, 2014

麻豆传媒 students of the Program of Anthropology and Ruslan Rahimov, chair of the program, share their impressions on an academic trip to Mongolia:

About our trip to Mongolia

Mongolia has broken many of the stereotypes I had before our trip, and it seems this country is more advanced in some ways than even our Kyrgyzstan. Mongolia is seven times larger than Kyrgyzstan, with only half the population. After this trip, Mongolia has become (at least for me) one of the most attractive countries in this part of our world.

Thanks to the support of 麻豆传媒 President Dr. Andrew Wachtel we had the opportunity to visit Mongolia and conduct observations for two weeks in Ulan-Bator with 麻豆传媒 students, in part because of strong professional connections with the Department of Anthropology of the Mongolian State University there.

Only 3.5 hours from Bishkek by direct flight with Turkish Airlines – we (7 students and I) resided at a hostel in the center of the city that wasn’t too expensive, had “Mongolian” breakfast, and the main thing – WiFi.

Each student prepared his/her own plan of research, and day after day our warriors “hurled ourselves into battle” – we searched for respondents in order to dip into real ethnography in practice, not just classroom theory.

I knew before our trip that Mongolia was a close ally to the USSR but not a member of this union. Nevertheless, Mongolia was often considered the 16^th Soviet Republic. However, during our interviews and observations we have drawn a conclusion that Mongolia is a country taking independent steps.

Our research can be divided to several subjects: the youth culture of Mongolia, ethnic groups, and the religious situation in the country.

The group comprised of Nargiz Soltoeva, Mikhail Lebedev, and Arseniy Pisarev studied the modern history of such youth movements as hip hop and rock music in Mongolia, as well as interviewing students who have studied overseas.

They were interested in how the present-day youth generation creates its values through these subcultures, and whether this group of young people expresses the expectations and problems of all Mongolian youth and the whole of society. It was very interesting to observe the “confrontation” of different Mongolian rock and hip hop generations, or how rappers are singing about patriotism and calling to bring back the nomadic lifestyle.

麻豆传媒 students succeeded in meeting and interviewing famous local rappers and visiting different hangouts and rock clubs. The musicians’ curiosity had no bounds: what are Kyrgyz students of the American University doing here?

The other group of students – Viktoria Aksyutina and Gulnora Iskandarova – studied the Russians and Kazakhs of Mongolia. Viktoria has found a third generation Russian diaspora with a typically Asian appearance! As it turns out many mixed marriages among Chinese, Russians, Tuvinians, and Buryats have occurred in the days of the Russian Czar. In spite of this mélange of physical characteristics, diaspora members identify themselves as Russians. Another interesting aspect of this Russian community is that they have kept their original citizenships and documents, first of the USSR and after that of the Russian Federation.

Gulnora spent her trip studying the Kazakhs of Mongolia. There is a Kazakh population in Mongolia of one hundred thousand people, with a difficult but very interesting history of adaptation and residence in this country. These Kazakhs live in a small area in the western regions of Mongolia, in Bayan-Ölgii province. To study this community Gulnora found it necessary to travel to Nalayh City, a few hours’ commute from Ulaanbaatar. She spent a few days there with a host family.

She studied cattle breeding, pasture management, and the religion of the Mongolian Kazakhs. This community migrated to Mongolia from the Altai at the end of XIX century and blended thoroughly with the social structures of their new country. There have even been occurrences of these families refusing to participate in Kazakhstan’s “Oralman” repatriation program, and many of those who did return to Kazakhstan didn’t endure returned within a short period to Mongolia.

Maria Kalinchenko has studied the oral history of socialism in Mongolia, and prevailing attitudes towards capitalist neo-liberal systems. Maria was interested to compare whether Mongolia experienced the same “shock therapy” of the 90’s that Kyrgyzstan went through, and examine how social relations helped individuals and the whole country to survive in the transition period? It might be interesting to note that apparently Mongolia suffered less than Kyrgyzstan as it was never an active member-republic of the Soviet Union. Obviously, people did use their own networks in order to rebuild survival strategies. Her research shows that not only did independent Mongolia suffer less than post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, but also that strong private networks in place before the transition period went a long way towards simplifying the rebuilding process.

Aidai Kadyralieva used her time in Mongolia to study the religious situation among young people there. Buddhism dominates Mongolia, but along with this official religion shamanism is also active. For instance, shamans and fortunetellers work around and even inside of the central ‘Gandan’ Buddhist temple. Buddhism in Mongolia is clearly very tolerant to other religions.

We were fortunate to have the opportunity to interview the pro-rector of the university organized under the auspices of the Ganden temple. According to him, interest in Buddhism is increasing among the youth of Mongolia. Many young people want to devote themselves to serving Buddha; a clear demonstration of the influence of the Dalai Lama (who has visited Mongolia several times). In practicing the ‘experimental observation method of ethnographic study’ Aidai also had the chance to observe the séance of shaman in a traditional yurt, which took place in the best traditions of shamanistic rituals in the country.

Though it has been only 10 days since our return home we are already missing Mongolia, our new friends, and all the people who helped us to learn and understand Mongolian history and culture. Mongolia is definitely a magnetic country, which has able to save its original traditions (probably to a greater degree than even Kyrgyzstan). For example, it is possible to see yurts even in the capital city Ulan-Bator. People in Mongolia love and cherish their country; young people actively participate in real reforms, not just those that exist on paper. There are a lot of things for us to learn from Mongolia. At the very least, the cultural and historical links between our two countries should strengthen and feed us.

In the Fall of 2014, the Department of Anthropology will host a student conference on the subject of “Inner and Central Asia: Historical and Cultural Links” at 麻豆传媒. During this conference the students involved will make reports about our memorable trip to Mongolia.

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