Changing Inner Mongolia by David Sneath

Changing Inner Mongolia by David Sneath

Since the Chinese Communists took control of Inner Mongolia, very little has been written about the region. This book is an attempt to redress the balance. It is a study of the effect of decades of social engineering on a Minority Nationality in China. David Sneath charts the recent history of the pastoral Mongolians of Inner Mongolia since they became the subjects of the Chinese Communist state, and examines the society that has emerged since the abolition of the Communes in the 1980s. He explores the history of local economic and political forms to illuminate the transformations and continuities of life in pastoral Mongolian society, and offers an account that includes both the swings of national and regional government policy and the experiences of individuals subject to those changes. By taking a historical perspective his study reveals underlying modes of symbolism, and notions of domestic organization and paternalistic authority, that have remained fundamental to pastoralism in Inner Mongolia. It suggests an indigenous mechanism for economic inequality and dependency in pastoral society, one that has helped to shape the pastoral nomadic sociopolitical order of the past.

This book is an important contribution to the study of Inner Mongolia and Sneath offers an illuminating description of pastoralists who have preserved certain aspects of their traditional culture despite major changes brought about by the Chinese stateSneath's insights on the recent history of Inner Mongolia provide a useful study for Mongolian specialists as well as anyone interested in cultural change.

David Sneath is director of the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at Cambridge University and a lecturer in social anthropology. He conducted doctoral research in Inner Mongolia in the 1980s and since then has carried out research in Mongolia and other parts of Inner Asia.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780198234135
ISBN 10	0198234139
Title	Changing Inner Mongolia
Author	David Sneath
Series	Oxford Studies In Social And Cultural Anthropology
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2000-10-19
Number of pages	320
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.