Social Organization of the Mongolian Nomad Community in XXI Century: Role of Family Ties
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2021-1-211-223
Abstract
The issues of kinship in the social self-organization of nomads are considered. The results of field studies in various regions of Mongolia, which unambiguously record the existence of informal family-related groups, united on the basis of, first of all, common economic and household interests are presented. The author notes the functions of the nomadic community: law enforcement, expressed in the collective protection of pasture lands and their joint ownership; cooperative, involving labor cooperation, mainly of a seasonal nature, and spiritual, associated both with the holding of common religious, festive and other events, and with the regulation of conflict relations within the nomadic community on the basis of traditional moral values. It is shown that contradictions in the legal issues of the use of pasture lands, on the one hand, and the temporality and relativity of the territorial settlement inherent in the nomadic way of life, on the other, contribute to the stable existence of the nomadic community. It is concluded that socio-legal regulation in the absence of effective public-state institutions is replaced by traditional ideas about property rights, the carriers of which are represented by family-related groups of nomads. It is emphasized that the role of kinship as a characteristic social resource is also manifested in migration processes in Mongolian society.
About the Author
A. D. GombozhapovRussian Federation
Alexander D. Gombozhapov, PhD in History, Leading Researcher, Department of History and Culture of Central Asia
Ulan-Ude
References
1. Barcus, H. R. (2018). Contested Space, Contested Livelihoods: A Review of Mongolia Pastureland Management and Land‐Tenure Reform. Geographical Review, 1: 138—157.
2. Bold, B. (1996). Socioeconomic segmentation — Khot-Ail in nomadic livestock keeping of Mongolia. Nomadic Peoples, 39: 69—86.
3. Grayvoronskiy, V. V. (1997). Sovremennoyye aratstvo Mongolii: sotsialnyye problemy perekhodnogo perioda, 1980—1995 g. [Modern Aratstvo of Mongolia: Social problems of the Transition period, 1980—1995]. Moskva: Vostochnaya literatura. 184 p. ISBN 5-02-017323-X. (In Russ.).
4. Khazanov, A. M. (1974). Sotsialnaya istoriya skifov. Osnovnyye problemy razvitiya drevnikh kochevnikov Evraziyskikh stepey [Social history of the Scythians. Main problems of development of ancient nomads of the Eurasian steppes]. Moskva: Nauka. 342 p. (In Russ.).
5. Khazanov, A. M. (1994). Nomads and the Outside World. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. 382 p.
6. Khazanov, A. M. (2008). Kochevniki i vneshniy mir [Nomads and the outside world]. Sankt-Peterburg: Filologicheskiy fakultet SPbGU. 512 p. ISBN 978-5-8465-0632-9. (In Russ.).
7. Kradin, N. N. (2007). Kochevniki Evrazii [Nomads of Eurasia]. Almaty: Dayk-Press. 416 p. ISBN 9965-798-46-X. (In Russ.).
8. Kradin, N. N., Skrynnikova, T. D. (2006). Imperiya Chingiskhana [Empire of Genghis Khan]. Moskva: Vostochnaya literature. 557 p. ISBN 5-02-018521-3. (In Russ.).
9. Markov, G. E. (1976). Kochevniki Azii: struktura khozyaystva i obshchestvennoy organizatsii [Nomads of Asia Nomads of Asia: structure of economy and social organization]. Moskva: Izdatelstvo Moskovskogo universiteta. 320 p. (In Russ.).
10. Mongolia in Transition. Old patterns, New Challenges. (1996). Routledge. 260 p. ISBN 9780700704415.
11. Rossabi, M. (2005). Modern Mongolia: from khans to commissars to capitalists. University of California Press. 418 p. ISBN 0520244192.
12. Sneath, D. (2003). Land use, the environment and development in post-socialist Mongolia. Oxford Development Studies, 4: 441—459.
13. Social Structures: a Network Approach. (1988). New York: Cambridge University Press. 513 p.
14. Szynkiewicz, S. (1993). Mongolias Nomads Build a New Society Again: Social Structures and Obligations on the Eve of the Private Economy. Nomadic Peoples, 33: 163—172.
15. Tolybekov, S. E. (1971). Kochevoye obshchestvo kazakhov v XVII — nachale XX veka: politiko-ekonomicheskiy analiz [Nomadic society of Kazakhs in the XVII — early XX century: political and economic analysis]. Alma-Ata: Izd-vo «Nauka» Kazakhskoy ASSR. 633 p. (In Russ.).
16. Tserenkhand, G. (2015). Mongol akhuy — ugsaa, soelyn sudalgaa. Bүteeliyn tүүver [Survey on Mongolian culture and economy. Creation sample]. Ulaanbaatar khot: «Admon-print» XXK. 572 p. ISBN 978-99973-0-167-3. (In Mong.).
17. Uellman, B. (2000). Mesto rodstvennikov v sisteme lichnykh svyazey [The place of relatives in the system of personal relations]. Sotsiologicheskiye issledovaniya [Sociological research], 6: 78—87. (In Russ.).
18. Zhagvaral, N. (1974). Aratstvo i aratskoye khozyaystvo [Bratstvo and aratskiy economy]. Ulan-Bator: Akademiya nauk MNR. 224 p. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Gombozhapov A.D. Social Organization of the Mongolian Nomad Community in XXI Century: Role of Family Ties. Nauchnyi dialog. 2021;(1):211-223. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2021-1-211-223