Cities, Mobilities, and Environments in Inner Asia

Through a multidisciplinary approach in humanities and social sciences (anthropology, sociology, geography, history, urban studies, architecture, planning, etc.), based on ethnographic fieldwork and the analysis of various written, visual, and material culture corpuses, the program “Cities, Mobilities, and Environment” examines some of the major social challenges related to mobility and the environment faced by societies of the Mongol cultural area. The diverse urban forms, migrations to cities, relationships with the state and the environment, the integration of pastoral communities into globalized networks, and spatial planning all constitute essential case studies for understanding the long-term history of Mongol peoples as well as their contemporary development.

The program is organized into three sub-programs:

1/ Nomadic Systems and the Anthropocene

Nomadism is a classic topic in Mongol studies, through which the history, cosmologies, and socio-economic development of steppe pastoral societies can be grasped. Based on the extensive herding of the “five snouts” (sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and camels), Mongol mobile pastoralism has been a prime site for the ethnography of human-animal relations and the forms of interspecies cooperation that underpin hybrid communities worldwide. The variability of the forms of mobility adopted by Mongol peoples in space and time precludes any conception of a homogeneous and timeless nomadism. However, it must be acknowledged that certain human problems take a particular form for the nomadic herders of the Mongol plateau.

For example, the climate crisis (drought, desertification, fires, floods) is severely impacting herders in all regions of the Mongol area, causing internal migration and adaptation strategies that require precise description. Furthermore, while rural flight and urbanization are currently progressing in Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and among the Buryats of Russia at a rate unprecedented in the history of these pastoral populations, cities have always been an integral part of the Mongol nomadic system (see sub-program 3). At the heart of the question of the relationship between mobility and urbanity lies the problem of the relationship of nomadic peoples to the state. Despite the specific forms of statehood they have developed throughout their history, mobile herders have sometimes found themselves under the domination of sedentary powers or caught up in ideologies of progress that viewed the nomadic way of life as a thing of the past. In this respect, the situation of Inner Mongolia, subjected to authoritarian cultural and modernization policies, seems quite characteristic. But socialist pastoral “modernization” policies undertaken by the Mongolian People’s Republic throughout the 20^th century, followed by shock therapies inspired by the Washington Consensus after the fall of the Soviet bloc and the resulting economic and social crises, still constitute important case studies for understanding the “modern” reforming of pastoral societies.

2/ Glocalization, Planning, Environment

It would probably be impossible to describe Mongol nomadism today without considering the integration of pastoral communities into globalized networks, which give every local problem a global dimension. Beyond the production and marketing circuits for prized raw materials like cashmere wool, the mining economy has clearly become a total social fact in contemporary Mongolia, affecting all sectors of society, and first and foremost herders, who are torn between concerns for the ecological impact of river and subsoil exploitation and the allure of economic opportunities promised by extractivism.

Controversies surrounding land use and ownership, from species conservation to waste management, and including the preservation of a recognized nomadic culture, involve a diverse range of actors (herders, the State, international organizations, NGOs, tourists, etc.) whose local and global interactions require careful consideration.

Finally, uses of the internet by Mongol peoples are rich and varied. In cities, villages, and even in herders’ yurts, everyone is constantly connected. Mongols use numerous social networks, through which they access local and international news, build and strengthen global and inter-community groups, exchange information, goods, and services, and organize public, cultural, and political events, giving its full meaning to the concept of glocalization.

3/ Mongol Cities

While the urbanization of Mongol peoples has often been seen as a symptom of the “end of nomadism”, urban forms (medieval mobile ordo, walled or unwalled cities occupied year-round or temporarily, monastery-cities, garrisons, towns, etc.) have always been an integral part of the Mongol nomadic system. However, the specificities of urbanism and urban life among the populations of the Mongol plateau remain a blind spot in our field, which tends to focus more on the rural and ruralist components of nomadic systems. The objective of this sub-program is to rethink the city and urban life through the lens of the transformations and adaptations that have characterized urban spaces in the Mongol cultural area throughout history, up to the present day. For the contemporary period, the city will be considered in its broadest sense (small and medium-sized towns) and beyond the urban norms and hierarchies imposed by Mongolian and Chinese state authorities. We will examine, among other things, how new forms of urban life and mobility between rural and urban areas and within the urban space shape daily economic and social practices.

Activities

— Bi-monthly Mongol studies seminar, organized by Laurent Legrain, Aurore Dumont & Éléa Bonnec (all disciplinary approaches combined). The seminar is held in person at Campus Condorcet and online, and represents the activities of the three programs: https://etudesmongolesetsiberiennes.fr/seminaires/.