Modern Mongolia : Reclaiming Genghis Khan

by SABLOFF PAULA L. W. (ED)

• ISBN13: 9780924171901
• ISBN10: 0924171901
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Pennsylvania Pr

Summary

Mongolia, a country that evokes romantic curiosity on the part of American readers, has emerged from its former Soviet cocoon. It has achieved independence, democracy, and a twenty-first-century market economy. This book provides factual information about Mongolia and new ways of looking at a historical figure, Genghis Khan, whose ideals of nationhood and democratic principles are in practice now.Modern Mongoliais unique in providing multiple perspectives--Mongolian and American, scholarly and less formal--about the country's developments in a readable style, richly illustrated with 120 full-color contemporary and archival photographs, both scenic and artifactual. The first chapter provides an overview of Mongolian geography and history to the twentieth century and the author's personal experience as a teenager during the 1989-90 democratic revolution. Chapter 2, by a Mongolian historian, recounts the exciting changes from Manchu Dynasty feudal society and autonomous theocracy to Communist nationhood and, finally, full independence as a democratic nation. The third chapter, by a cultural historian, describes the effects of historical changes on the daily life of Mongolian nomads--their clothing, family dwellings (gers), and furnishings. Chapter 4, by an American political anthropologist, shows the connection between modern Mongolians' devotion to democracy and the political ideas of Genghis Khan. Readers of all ages seeking an accessible and picturesque presentation of Mongolian history and society will find Modern Mongolia a fascinating introduction.

Author Biography

Paula L.W. Sabloff, Senior Research Scientist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and Adjunct Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, is a political anthropologist who has conducted research and published on Mexico, the U.S., and Mongolia.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Jeremy A. Sabloff
Foreword	xi
Borjigid Sanduin Idshinnorov
Preface and Acknowledgments	xiii
Paula L.W. Sabloff
My Mongolia	1	(30)
Munhtuya Altangerel
The Twentieth Century: From Domination to Democracy	31	(30)
Nasan Dashdendeviin Bumaa
Deel, Ger, and Altar: Continuity and Change in Mongolian Material Culture	61	(30)
Eliot Grady Bikales
Genghis Khan, Father of Mongolian Democracy	91	(29)
Paula L.W. Sabloff
Suggested Readings	120	(1)
Index	121