Mobility and Displacement: Nomadism, Identity and Postcolonial Narratives in Mongolia

This book challenges outsiders' perceptions of Mongolia as a nomadic nation and explores how Mongolians represent their country as a land of nomads. It reveals that most Mongolians live in cities and small population centers, despite the country's environmental and climatic conditions. The book explores the constraints on population mobility in Mongolia from the Qing period to the post-socialist era and makes a valuable contribution to cultural geography, political geography, heritage and culture studies, and Eurasian and Inner-Asian Studies.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 120 pages
\n Publication date: 30 September 2020
\n Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
\n

This captivating book delves into and challenges the prevailing perceptions of Mongolia, as well as the self-serving tropes employed by Mongolians to portray their country as a land of nomads. It sheds light on the experiences of numerous societies and cultures that are often perceived as exotic, romantic, primitive, or otherwise different in the Euro-American imagination, and it also explores how these imaginaries are internally generated by these societies themselves. The notion that Mongolia is solely a nomadic nation is largely based on the country's environmental and climatic conditions, which are believed to render it unsuitable for any other form of livelihood except pastoral nomadism. However, the reality is quite different. The majority of Mongolians have settled in and around cities and small population centers, and even those who engage in herding have long been restricted in their ability to roam freely as free-roaming nomads. Instead, they have been subjected to various constraints over time, significantly limiting their movement.

The book skillfully weaves threads from diverse branches of Mongolian studies to unveil a wide range of visible and invisible constraints on population mobility in Mongolia from the Qing period to the post-socialist era. Through its in-depth analysis of the intricate interplay between land rights, mobility, displacement, and the state, this book makes a substantial contribution to the fields of cultural geography, political geography, heritage and culture studies, as well as Eurasian and Inner-Asian Studies.

Moreover, it is worth noting that this book has received prestigious recognition, winning the Julian Minghi Distinguished Book Award (AAG, 2022). This accolade further underscores the significance and value of its insights into the complex dynamics of Mongolia and its place within the broader region.

\n Weight: 348g\n
Dimension: 241 x 162 x 14 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780367361662\n \n