Sources of resilience in the Mongolian society

SCHWARZ, Michal. Sources of resilience in the Mongolian society. In The Mongols – Tradition and Modernity : Mongolian Communities and their Neighbours Facing Global and Local Challenges, University of Tartu, 24. 03. 2023. 2023.

Basic information

• Original name: Sources of resilience in the Mongolian society
• Authors: SCHWARZ, Michal (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: The Mongols – Tradition and Modernity : Mongolian Communities and their Neighbours Facing Global and Local Challenges, University of Tartu, 24. 03. 2023, 2023.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 50701 Cultural and economic geography
• Country of publisher: Estonia
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14210/23:00134197
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords in English: Mongolia;society;resilience;transition
• Tags: rivok
• Tags: International impact

Abstract

Historical populations of Mongolia were considered as serious threads to their southern neighbors. Usually mentioned reasons were their specific lifestyle, instable natural conditions, and high concurrence pressure. Today this traditional and “instant” explanation does not correspond to the changes in socio-economic setting and modern transformation in contemporary Mongolia (Empson 2020, Marzluf 2018). Moreover this gap stimulates creation of partly improper narratives about sustainability or even extinction of the life in the countryside (Messner 2007). The traditional “instant” narrative also hinders important factors of resilience, namely specific social imperatives, remarkable social cohesion and distribution of wealth which is not obvious to foreign observer on the first sight (Ruhlmann 2019, Purevsuren et al. 2022). These trends and informal institutions are not unique only in Mongolia. Similar patterns can be well found in culturally related Central Asian countries in transition (Sharipova 2018). 1) The first part of this paper will try to enumerate local factors strengthening resilience and comment the structure of developing Mongolian society. 2) The second part will focus on particular conditions contributing to contemporary healthy and relatively developed social cohesion in Mongolia. 3) The third part will provide comparisons with Turkic societies in post-soviet Central Asia (Baubekova et al. 2021). The whole framework of this paper and its economic connections (cf. Karatayev 2021) will help to understand typological problems in various endangered areas (Ahearn & Bayarsaikhan 2022, Junussova & Beimisheva 2021, Ismailbekova 2017) and specify topics promising for further research and projects.

Links

• GM23-07108M, research and development project: Name: Proměnlivé adaptační strategie mobilních pastevců v Mongolsku: Dynamika v komunitních historiích a vzorcích stěhování dokumentovaná orálními prameny

Investor: Czech Science Foundation, Changing Adaptive Strategies of Mobile Pastoralists in Mongolia: Dynamics in Community Histories and Movement Patterns Documented Through Oral Sources