Economic and Political Transformations in Inner Asia

The workshop will address processes of transformation in the Inner Asian cultural region, and explore themes such as shamanic economies, political histories, and routes and frontiers.

25th March 2013, 10am - 5pm
UCL Anthropology - Daryll Forde Seminar Room, 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW

Programme

10.00 - 10.20 Welcome and Introduction

Joseph Bristley & Rebecca Empson, UCL

Panel I: Religious Economies & Politics of Learning in Mongolia

Chair: Martin Holbraad, UCL

10.20 - 12.00

• Joe Ellis, UCL
  The End of Whose World? Mayan Prophecy, Globalisation and Shamanism in Mongolia
• Joseph Bristley, UCL
  Multiplicity and Transformation: The Power of Money to Absorb Spirits in Mongolia
• Aude Michelet, LSE
  What is there to learn from 'not being taught'? Learning pastoral and domestic skills in southern Mongolia
• Liz Fox, UCL
  The "Rich Lambs" of the "Wolf Economy": Self-presentation and Performativity among Mongolia's Urban Elite.

Panel II: Political Transformations & Techniques of the Self

Chair: Rebecca Empson, UCL

12.00 - 12.50

• Elvira Churyumova, University of Cambridge
  Political-Economic Situation in Kalmykia, Russia
• Anthony Howarth, University of Cambridge
  Nomadism, Trade and Change among the Humli-Khyampa in far North-western Nepal

12.50 - 1.50 Lunch

1.50 - 2.40

• Elisa Tamburo, SOAS
  Hui young generations' engagement with new media: ethnic, religious and political identification
• William Matthews, UCL
  Cultivating the self through the social in the Beijing Teahouse

2.40 - 3.10 Tea

Panel III: Borders & Routes in Inner Asia

Chair: Christopher Kaplonski, University of Cambridge

3.10 - 4.25

• Sayana Namsaraeva, University of Cambridge
  "Dragon Head" turns North: China's economic jump to Russia's frontier (case of Manzhouli and Russian Zabaikal'sk)

• Mari Valdur, SOAS
  Between homes: The Dukha peoples migration to the Reindeer Festival in Northern Mongolia

• Ed Pulford, University of Cambridge
  Wind from an empty cave? Rumour and ideology in postsocialism

4.30 - 5.00 Reflections on Themes

End of Day