The End of Nomadism?: Society, State and the Environment in Inner Asia (review) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Living off the land: Nature and nomadism in Mongolia
Geoforum, 2010
The demise of the Soviet Union precipitated profound changes in formerly collectivised rural spaces across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. However, it is only recently that attention to the post-Soviet 'land question' has begun to move beyond predominant, practical concerns with land restitution and fragmentation and towards engagement with diverse discourses of rurality, nature and modernity. In particular, longitudinal accounts of the narratives and practices of Soviet modernisation and post-Soviet ''development" in specific rural places and societies are lacking. This paper is concerned with the complex linkages between environmental policies, practice and concepts of nature in such spaces and over recent history. Through examination of the management and representation of nature amongst pastoralist communities in Mongolia and in the collective and post-collective eras this paper seeks to understand local-level enactments, reworking and assimilation of externally-derived discursive and policy formulations. In doing so it acts as a corrective to state-centred and homogenising visions of Soviet and post-Soviet rurality. It highlights how local herders' 'room for manoeuvre' in expression and enactment of diverse ideas of nature and its management resides primarily in informal spaces, facilitated by recent trends of devolution in natural resource management. Finally, the paper demonstrates how nomadism has been constructed and reconstructed as a component of, rather than inimical to, modernity, albeit with as yet unproven implications for livelihoods and for nature in rural Mongolia.
Nationalities Papers, 1999
Joyce Toomre also attem pts to measure the im pact of this experiment in her innovative contribution, which uses oral interviews about cookin g methods to chart the transformations traditional Armenian culture has undergone since the early twentieth century. Although one wonders whether the recent revival of the old foodways are not super® cial, her approach could fruitfully be applied to many other cases to help assess the nature of ethnic identity and its ability to endure under stress.
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan …, 2008
This paper presents some preliminary findings dealing with the change of pastoralists’ life in the eastern Tibetan region of Yüshu (yushu). The development of its population and livestock numbers point out that many of the region’s pastoralist inhabitants can no longer depend on animal husbandry. Major official policies imply transformations or even the breakup of Tibetan nomadic systems, yet it is shown that Tibetan pastoralists are both willing and able to develop their own coping strategies. With a number of examples of how the (former) nomad society in Yüshu deals with changes evoked by a globalized economy, we hint at the scope of economic activities and opportunities it is willing to adopt and adjust to.
Pastoralist Livelihoods in Asian Drylands: Environment, Governance and Risk, 2017
Ichinkhorloo, B. (2017). Environment as Commodity and Shield: Reshaping Herders’ Collective Identity in Mongolia. In A. Ahearn, T. Sternberg, & A. Hahn (Eds.), Pastoralist Livelihoods in Asian Drylands: Environment, Governance and Risk (pp. 41–70). Winwick: The White Horse Press.
"Chinese development discourse and official state policy holds Tibetan pastoral nomads responsible for the destruction of the grassland commons citing a ‘tragedy of the commons’ scenario, as defined by Garrett Hardin and others, as justification for enclosing the Tibetan commons. The state’s policy objectives are threefold: Firstly, modernise the region and integrate it into China’s state capitalist system introducing neo-liberal reforms; secondly, preserve degraded grasslands; and lastly, relocate and consequently sedentarise the regions pastoral nomads. The goal of the paper is to illustrate how these policies and programs have forced nomads to sedentarise against their will, demonstrating that the socio-economic problems they now face are attributable to the penal and prescriptive provisions of these policies. The paper will analyse, evaluate and contest these claims with reference to: 1) Primary data gathered by the researcher in India in the form of open-ended interviews with nomadic Tibetan refugees in 2012. 2) Secondary interviews gathered by Human Rights Watch (HRW) amongst Tibetan nomads in the affected regions in China in 2007 and in 2012. 3) Utilising secondary data: academic papers and reports based on material relating to the topic. Finally, the specific objective of the paper is to critically analyse and evaluate the normative assumptions inherent in the official narrative of ‘nomadic enclosure’.
Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines, 2018
The last six decades of Chinese state policies has led to the transformation of the Evenki reindeer herders’ domestic economy, a more systematic use of fixed homes and the reduction of the grazing areas. Paradoxically, the herders’ mobility has become more flexible and extensive, while herding skills remain a fundamental component of their way of life. The present paper explores the contemporary nomadic practices of the Evenki by examining their annual moves between village and camp. The constant movement of the herders between these two complementary spaces reflects their strategies for adapting to ecological and political challenges.
2018
The Eastern Steppe of Mongolia is one of the world's largest mostly intact grassland ecosystems and is characterised by a close coupling of societal and natural processes. In this ecosystem, mobility is one of the key characteristics of wildlife and human societies alike. The current economic development of Mongolia is accompanied by extensive societal transformation and changes in nomadic lifestyles, which potentially affects the unique steppe ecosystem and its biodiversity. The changing lifestyles are mainly characterised by rural-urban migration, resulting in reduced mobility of herders and their livestock, and presumably affecting wildlife. The question is how mobility can be fostered under these transformation processes. Time is pressing as a new generation is born which is growing up in urban environments and with new skill sets but a potential loss of the tight connection to nature and the nomadic lifestyle.Монгол орны тал хээрийн экосистем нь дэлхийн хэмжээнд унаган төрх...