Last Country Homestay

This is something I wrote in mid October. I was not in the best of spirits. lol;)

I have survived yet another, and indeed the last, country homestay. This time I was at an advantage: I could understand and effectively speak Khalkha Mongol the whole week. Also the refreshing laid-back Khalkha attitude was a welcome respite from the strictly scheduled Darkhad routine of Ulaan-Uul. While the interview was supposed to be on my upcoming ISP, I quickly found that anything on ethnicity and/or nationalism was not in the herder repertoire. Luckily, I was able have more than the set hour to communicate and learn beyond my own intellectual prowess. Although herders may not have the same interests as me, I stand faithful that we can learn from each other- hopefully, I accomplished this goal.

From the interview I was able to gleam some diversity of opinion and a larger demographic in some general questions regarding ethnicity and nationalism in the Mongolia conquest. To my questions on Inner Mongolia, my host mom thought she had little to offer; however, it was her unadulterated opinion on the subject that was interesting to me. She was able to provide me with her actual opinion on the subject. She said that she figures that Inner Mongolians or not they can’t be that different from people in Mongol Uls. This suggests a strong feeling of solidarity, regardless of geography, nationality, or even sub ethnicity. It would seem that regardless of basic small tensions and stereotypes, even the loathsome expression of tsever khalkh mongol bears little meaning to actual racism as seen in the United States for example.

As far as being Khalkha Mongol goes, I can see that there is really little actual meaning to the determination in the modern Mongolian nation. When I asked my Darkhad family what they think makes a Darkhad Mongol they were able to come up with some traits, etc. When I asked the same question to my Delgerkhaan host family they could come up with nothing beyond location and language. As an academic, I consider it part of my student duties to question such constructed titles, especially considering that this particular one was not (to my knowledge) determined by Mongolians themselves, but rather came out of Manchu Imperialism.

Playing off of this, I was also surprised to learn that despite my Ulaanbaatar family’s insistence it is not universally believed that people from Uvs Aimag are dumb, or otherwise uncultured (as the word may be applied to Mongolia). My host mom in Delgerkhaan as well as Bagana were actually quite surprised that I even would ask such a question. Dulgmaa replied that Uvs people are actually considered actually very smart and that most of Mongolia’s best leaders have come from the western aimags. I wonder if perhaps there may be some inter-aimag tension between my UB host family’s Zavkhan roots and neighboring Uvs.

For reasons of length, I changed my interview topic midway into a topic that my host mother would be better able to answer. However, when my host father came back he quickly regained control of the interview in Mongolian man fashion (to be fair, my host mother seemed more than willing to relinquish her role as interviewee and return to making dinner). We talked about Mongolian traditional medicine and body ideals. While they mentioned several medicinal herbs, there seemed to be no obvious stem theory to the system. For example, I personally practice Ayurveda, a Hindu system of medicine, and while specifics are mentioned the system is guided by set principles and ideas about the body so items can be substituted and adapted to the Western user. Mongolian traditional medicine, at least as far as herders are personally concerned seems to not follow this rule. However, I am sure that traditional Buddhist medicine does indeed follow a similar principle, and it was not mentioned due to my family’s own lack of personal knowledge on the subject.

The map project was generally uneventful. I lived in the middle of nowhere and within a 100 meter radius there was generally nothing much to draw. The difference was in scale, space perception, and style. I used a circle for the ger while my host mother drew out little gers as if a person was looking north at out homestead. Also she included the river, which is far beyond the area I asked for. I think these differences are primarily an association issue, whereby I think of the area as a location with things in certain places, etc. She, however, is drawing her home, not just some week location. In this sense her visualization is more cute and intimate. Mine is withdrawn and practical.

I had a much better time at this homestay. This is probably due to a combination of my own slow adaptation to country life and my previous familiarity with Khalkha people. Even though I was the furthest from base camp and nowhere near any of the others, I felt much less abandoned than the Ulaan-Uul homestay. I question my previous statement in regards to Khalkha people, since I am actually used to Ulaanbaatarchuud. Perhaps I had fewer expectations and they were able to surpass them. Regardless, I feel that I did manage to charm them into adoring me. While Purevsuren had immediately declared me his son, it took 5 days for Aakhuu to do the same. Perhaps I actually earned it? This is the most tiring part of these homestays: I have to convince three separate families that I am a good person and that they should love me. When I am living on my own I feel much more able to naturally make friends without the pressure of matching the hosting families’ hospitality. Exhausted.

Academic Geography

This paper is a bit academic and not as well developed as it otherwise could be. Still I think I present some good ideas. Let me know your thoughts.

Mongolia is in Central Asia. Mongolia is located in East Asia. Mongolia is part of North Asia. All the previous three statements can be easily supported with historical and contemporary arguments as well as classifications of major and minor international and transnational organizations such as the United Nations, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. It may then seem most appropriate for the modern scholar to place Mongolia in a geographical category based on where the country is most visible in its affairs and what regions project the most amount of influence on the country itself. The former is complicated by Mongolia’s colonial history by both China and Russia and the religious-cultural influence of far away Tibet. In terms of Mongolia’s own influence, we encounter the problematic issue of the far-reaching Mongolian Empire, Mongolia’s own “third neighbor policy”, and its involvement in such organizations as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations among others. While Mongolia is clearly located in a physically concrete arbitrarily bordered area, the increasingly transnational reality of the international community leaves the actual designation of the country more and more questionable.

It will be useful to first discuss the intersection of geography and politics as well as the conventional usage of geographical terminology in academic and popular discourse. In academia terms such as “global south” and “East-West divide” are gaining more and more popularity; however, the true value of such geo-political language is the source of the problematique. The designation of ‘East’ is a product of orientalism, encouraging an idea that all countries outside an arbitrary and evershanging ‘West’ are the same and inherently exoticized. The same is true for the possible designations of Mongolia. Central Asia lumps all nomadic Turkish peoples together with Mongols and even incorporates Tajiks and on occasion Afghanis (which also are often groups in more than one geographic sphere- i.e. South and Central Asian). East Asia is most notably defined by a Confusian social system, which Mongolia as never adopted, while North Asia is more positional and less inclusive of any country on the basis of national borders.

Mongolia is covered in an array of regional studies classes. Regional studies as a discipline that attempts to produce experts in a set region. This ‘region’ is determined by continent, cultural unification factors, and a set application of the cardinal directions-South, East, North, West. From this we get South Asian Studies, Eastern European Studies, North American Studies, and so on; however, such regional studies scholars are also redefining their disciplines in response to modern historical events. Suddenly a scholar can study Russia, Estonia, and Kazakhstan while still falling under a regional specialty: Post-Soviet. The term itself includes not one geographical term, yet it is a specific place on the globe united by no more than historical consequence. Chinese scholars will find numerous references to Mongolians and Mongolia, as will anyone approaching Soviet history. Additionally, Central Asian Studies is shaped directly by the movements of nomadic peoples, including (and perhaps most importantly) the Mongols.

Having established that geographical spheres are inherently unable to reflect the true cultural and national reality of any country, one can discuss the various factors directly related to placing the modern Mongolian nation. In this respect, I would like to present two main factors: the history of colonial and neo-colonial experience and the contemporary third neighbor policy.

Mongolia’s two powerful neighbors have exerted heavy influence on the people and nation. Mongolia’s long history of hostilities with China is influenced heavily by Manchu colonialism. During this time, Mongolians were in a position of inferiority to Manchu in their own lands as well as forced into a strong bureaucratic system not necessarily congruent with the freedom of nomadic lifestyle. At this point in history, Mongolia would have been considered part of the Manchu Chinese Qing Dynasty; therefore, part of East Asia proper. Then with the victory of the socialist revolution in Outer Mongolia, the independent Mongolian state quickly fell out Asia almost together as a de facto satellite state of the USSR and into the same sphere as Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Soviet Central Asia. Also, the country fell into an isolationist policy with anyone outside the Soviet bloc. Of particular concern for Mongolians, themselves, is the fact that they did manage to remain independent from the Soviet Union. Although, this is less by Mongolian choice and more by the USSR’s need of a buffer state between it and the PRC, this should not distract from the fact that to some degree its experience with the USSR is far different from that of Kazakhstan or Latvia.

The modern democratic, capitalist nation of Mongolia works neither to be seen as a simple buffer state nor to be considered tied to it neighbors exclusively in terms of politics or economics. To this end Mongolia seeks to balance its two physical neighbors by being actively involved in cultivating close relations with its non-physical third neighbors. In this sense, Mongolia receives the bulk of its aid from Japan and the USA, is involved in the ASEAN functions such as the Asian Regional Forum (ARF), votes on issues of Japanese whaling, and can claim spiritual neighbor status with India (conveniently avoiding Tibet). Mongolia’s involvement with regions it as never seen as part of (i.e. Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the general ocean bordering states) leaves it up to question whether the state (or any state for that matter) can be correctly designated as belonging to only one geographical sphere.

Its close ties to Tibet further complicate Mongolia’s cultural-geography. Mongolia is the only country outside of Tibet’s immediate neighbors (i.e. Bhutan and India) to hold a strong Tibetan Buddhist Monastic tradition to date. Religion is an regional uniting factor for many countries: Catholic Western Europe, Orthodox Eastern Europe, Muslim Middle East, etc. Mongolia however is not tied to either China or Russia in terms of religion. Ancient Mongolian Shamanism is one factor to consider, but Tibet Buddhism is by far the leading religion of Mongolians to date.

These ties to Tibet are apparent in several forms of artistic expression including monasteries, religious art, and even some of Mongolia’s writing systems. Monasteries in Mongolia serve not only as places of worship, but are essentially the traditional canvas of divine art. This art is meant to symbolize the many facets of divinity and connect the viewer more personally and physically to the teachings of Buddhism and Buddhist mysticism. In modern times these monasteries are also a source of tourism both domestic and international. Even the ruins of monasteries destroyed during the Choilbolson purges attract the attention of travelers otherwise not willing to travel to such desolate regions as Dundgovi or Dornogovi. These monasteries also attract foreign investment in infrastructure to better facilitate responsible tourism and as part of movements at preserving cultural heritage. The Mongolian Fine Art Museum, the Mongolian National Museum, as well as monasteries and other small collections are full of religious art. The placement of this art in museums is comparable to The Russian State Museum’s huge collection of Orthodox art in a Soviet attempt to put religion in the past.

This art is a glimpse at the rich cultural history of Mongolia as well as clue that this culture is far less homogeneous than some may wish to believe. Tibet Buddhist art and artistic expression follows a style of depiction that the artist can use and bend at will. This freedom tied with various certainties allows the educated viewer to know what he or she is looking at without looking at the exact same image. For example certain deities will always have a small stupa in the left hand, etc. This reflects the oneness of Buddhism’s outlook on humanity without attempting to stifle the same diversity it cherishes. The art itself varies from wall and canvas painting, statues, monuments, and stupas. In modern times this art has been revived along side the growing movement at restoring monasteries lost in the communist purges. The growing Buddhist revival is also reflected in the modernizing of art and temple facilities allowing for more comfortable tourism, but also for a fresh perspective on the development of the art and religion itself. In this way, Buddhism and spiritual art can cease to be a religion of the past and modernize.

The writing history of the Mongols is also considered art, especially considering the strong usage of calligraphy in old traditional Mongolian script as well as Soyombo and the Horizontal Quadratic Script made by Zanabazar in 1686. It is the former of these that is important when considering placing Mongolia in any Huntington-style geographical cultural bloc. Zanabazar was a monk that had spent his life learning Tibetan and Sanskrit as part of his religious training. When he set out to make his own alphabet for the Mongolian theocratic state he took Tibetan and Sanskrit alphabets as a medium to construct what he considered an appropriate writing system for Buddhist Mongolia. Soyombo and the horizontal script were never widely used by Mongolians outside of writings on religious art. Tibetan and Sanskrit are themselves used widely in temple writings as a way of directly using the traditional languages of Buddhism. The wise use of the language even in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, is interesting compared with the Russian influenced Cyrillic one is accustomed to seeing.

While Mongolia can historically be categorized as Central Asian, contemporary developments continue to push Mongolia into the domain of the odd-man-out. Not only is Mongolia the only truly democratic state of the steppe, but it is also the region’s only Buddhist/non-Islamic majority population. Linguistically, Mongolian (while Altaic) is closer to Japanese or Korean, while the “-stans” of Central Asia all speak more languages more directly related to Turkish (modern and Turkic as a classification). Mongolia’s formal independence from the USSR left it in a less culturally degraded position. It had no need of establishing a re-integration policy like Kazakhstan, where Kazakhs remain a minority in their so-called homeland. Mongolia’s participation in transnational organizations and presence in issues not in its immediate geographical standing further calls to question its classification in one particular zone. As a final note, Mongolia’s support of other Mongolic peoples, such as Hazara in Afghanistan points to an actual influence that most developing nations cannot command.

AIDS is Mongolia

The following is a short paper about Hamtdaa, and NGO that works with HIV+/AIDS patients. It just so happens that my best Mongol-friend works here and I have spent a lot of time with the boys at this org. Hopefully the paper is worth your read.

HIV/AIDS and LGBT right’s activism have become linked since the outbreak of the epidemic in the late 1970s early 1980s. While the negative implications of associating a minority group with a disease that affects everyone is something to be considered, there is a counter argument to be made. Many countries that are otherwise heterosexist/homophobic will support efforts at HIV/AIDS reduction and will grant funding for such organizations. Although countries with already deplorable human rights have employed homophobic tactics at reducing the virus (i.e. Uganda, The Gambia, etc.), countries like Mongolia have welcomed the international community’s view on the best practices for dealing with the epidemic. This has allowed organizations that focus on HIV/AIDS prevention to work freely in the LGBT and MSM (men who have sex with men) communities. To this end the organization Хамтдаа works with HIV+ and AIDS patients in Mongolia, supplies free condoms and lubricant, and organizes several seminars for LGBT support and small activism.

Хамтдаа's primary role is providing support to already infected people. They work jointly with their sister organization Youth for Health (ЗЭМ), which focuses on prevention and education to lessen spread of the virus. «Together» was founded in 2005 and has partnered with the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment since 2008. From that date the organization's primary source of funding has been the Global Fund. Its partnership is contracted through 2013 after which time the organization will need to find alternative funding, perhaps from the Mongolian Ministry of Health or the other international grant awarding organizations.

To accomplish its charter, Hamtdaa distributes antiviral medication free of charge to HIV+ Mongolians and provides living stipends to the least forunate of its clients. In terms of its LGBT activism and support activities the NGO provides free safe sex materials, as well as organizing several support groups aimed at empowering sexual minorites. The organizations main publication Сонголтгvй амьдрал acts as a basic primer on LGBT peoples and attempts to deconstruct ideas of heterosexism and masculinity in Mongolian society. The organization arranges its own seminars and retreats as well as participating fully in national and international seminars taking place in Ulaanbaatar. Outside the capital, Hamtdaa is limited to being listed as a member of the Global Fund, which operates in all aimag centers, while only conducting its own work in Erdenet and Darkhan. These missions to the other large cities of Mongolia are mostly aimed at delivering condoms, lubricant, and brochures to the main hotels and contacts within the city for larger distribution.

My experience with Hamtdaa has been mostly positive, but like any NGO some inefficiencies are expected. My travel with them to Erdenet was interesting, because it essentially seemed that no travel should actually be necessary, the sole purpose of the going there was to deliver condoms and lubricant to several set people and organizations.

The same thing could have been accomplished via conference call and mail; however, some signatures were necessary to confirm delivery reflecting the ridiculousness of bureacracy. To further critique the organization, it is very focused on gay men, with no lesbian staff and a general lack of materials aimed towards lesbian health concerns. This is yet another issue resulting from ties LGBT rights with HIV/AIDS work, only gay men get any attention from such an approach (with the occasional transgender individual). Another issue is the organization's publication on LGBT people. A major issue in non-Western countires is the preception of LGBT identity as a solely Western construction (often paired with a critique on Western materialism and indulgence). The publication not only fails to fit the issue in a Mongolian context, but almost serves to further westernize the argument, by not including any pictures of Mongolians, only pictures fom America's own gay rights movement-most of which are from the 1960s. This perhaps is meant to make a comparison of contemporary Mongolia to pre-gay rights movement America. These pictures hold no significance to Mongolians making the publication lose much of its importance. Despite these issues, the organization pulls on a great community of volunteers and has a definate role to play in Mongolian civil society.

At the end of the day, it can be said that given its limitations Hamtdaa has been accomplishing its mission well. They are able to provide services to 90% of HIV+ patients (the other 10% are from the striaght demographic and/or willing choose not to associate with Hamtdaa, which primarily works with LGBT people). The issue of lack of government support is an ongoing theme in Mongolia, where citizens often say the government is only good at talking, but can’t accomplish most of its expressed efforts.

Hamtdaa is only able to work with the Ministry of Health, whereas their work clearly falls under human rights and could be reasonably extended to other ministries within the government. Combined with the greater part of Mongolian society's homophobia, Hamtdaa is part of a movement to change mistaken perceptions and work towards equality.

OMG! Gay Mongolian Song!

The title of the song means something like Not Giving a Damn. I am disturbed by the boy beating up the girl coming on to him, but continue watching to the end to see the best part. This is really interesting because it is actually a rather positive representation of gays in Mongolia; actually any media presence is a huge step. Obviously, it is has its share of problems, but I approve. Enjoy!

Kisses!

Egshiglen: Best Mongolian pop artist!!!

I absolutely love this song. The girl's voice is amazing!

Надаам: Морийн Урилдаан: Nadaam: The Horse Races

Here are some pictures from the horse races. The horses, obviously, do not take place in the city, as they are long distance. The horses are raced young and the winner is prime breeding stock. Young children ride the horses to lighten the load.

The area is about an hour and a half outside the city, so we left at 7 am (what a terrible time!). My Mongol boy arranged the whole thing and got a friend of his to drive us. I drank a whole big bowl of airag (koimus=fermented mare's milk)-click on the link to learn more- on my own. Sooo proud, since last year I had trouble with the taste of the slightly carbonated alcoholic milk product.

The top picture is a separate event at the venue made to fill the time between the start and end of the race. The masks are tsam masks of Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Enjoy! I would write more but I am off to lunch with my Mongol fruitfly.

Kisses!

Надаам: Nadaam 2009

I know that the several people reading this blog have expressed direct and indirect concern over the fact that I have not written anything in about a month. I had been waiting to be motivated enough to provide intelligent commentary and scholarly insight into the events of the past month; however, I have just decided that time might not be soon in coming, so I will provide more pictures than text and you, the readers, can fill in the holes using wikipedia, etc.

The biggest thing was Nadaam, or games. Originally called the three manly games, it is the formalized festival of Mongolia's summer sports: Archery, Wrestling, and Horse raceing (with shagai, or ankle bone shooting recently thrown in for good measure). It is the main tourist event of the year, as well as the main event for all Mongolians. My Ulaanbaatar Nadaam consisted of waiting till the last minute to buy tickets, finally finding a seller on the side of the street outside the opening ceremony, 15 minutes into the ceremony, itself. It took so long, because I refused to spend the tourist price of $25, and since I am obviously not Mongolian this was difficult. I did manage and found myself packed into west side of the stadium, just

barely able to squeeze myself into the top rung, where I was quite certain I would fall to certain death. The pictures of the ceremony follow:

The man in the jeep is last year's wrestling champion.

Wrestling is very central to

Mongolian identity and Mongolian wrestling is distinctive from other forms. This is also

part of the reason Mongolia's winning of a gold metal last year at the Beijing Olympics in Judo (not Mongolian but still a martial art) was so exciting- besides the fact that it was the first gold metal the country had ever won. The dancers are just that.

And in rides the circus, complete with Mongolian flags and horse-trick riders, and the whole bit. Gotta love it.

And the army solute to the President and members of Parliament (Ikh Hural).

Finally, the ceremony ends and Brandon gets herself some good vegetarian huushuur, or a sort of fried dumpling thing. Getting it without mutton is a new chic thing, so I was lucky to find really really yummy ones. I ate 4!

OK, next post Horse Races with Mongolian boyfriend!

Kisses!