New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. xi, 228 pp. (Figures, maps.) US$85.00, cloth. ISBN 978-1-137-26965-2.
This short but richly informative book is an importantwork for anyone interested in contemporary Mongolia, or concerned with Eurasian pastoralism. Those familiar with Elizabeth Endicott’s seminal early work on the Yuan dynasty might be surprised to find that the primary focus of the book is the recent past and current condition of Mongolian pastoralism, rather than the deeper history of the region. Of the seven chapters only one is concerned with periods prior to the twentieth century. This book, then, builds on Endicott’s later work on Inner Asian modernization and the persistence of pastoral nomadism, but goes well beyond a narrow focus on land use to provide an overview of Mongolian pastoralism, agriculture, rural society and its use of the environment in historical perspective. As such it also provides a very good introduction to a country in which some 80 percent of the territory is pasture land.
The writing is lucid and accessible, suitable for general as well as specialist readers. There is a short but useful glossary of Mongolian words transliterated from the new script (although, somewhat strangely, the text also includes transliteration from the old script), and a well-organized bibliography. Since her main focus is contemporary rural Mongolia, Endicott is content to give a brief digest of existing literature on the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, rather than presenting any critical new history, and she does not indulge in exploring recent historiographical debates regarding the Qing or other periods, or offer any new interpretations of earlier works. Instead, she provides an expert compilation of existing literature, illuminated by insights gleaned from the author’s long personal experience of the country. Inevitably, she raises questions that could be explored more fully in specialist historical literature; whether ritual practices such as the ovoo cairn rites predate Buddhism, for instance, or whether Eurasian imperial powers such as the Qing and the USSR “sought to settle nomads and transform them into agriculturalists” (95) or “avoided disturbing a deeply ingrained way of life” (79).
Rather than probing any one question too deeply, Endicott provides an expert review of relevant literature on her subject and, with a historian’s eye for evidence and illustration, shapes it into a clear narrative of her own. Good use is made of early twentieth-century accounts, for example, such as the writings of Andrei Simukov (1902-1942?) whose research represents the most detailed accounts we have of Mongolian pastoralism in the 1920s and 1930s, before the transformations accompanying collectivization in the 1950s. Simukov proposed a typology of pastoral movement types based upon different geographical regions of Mongolia, which Endicott neatly summarizes. Although a trifle unclear with respect to the “western” movement type, this is fascinating material and, in my view, could have been explored even further. Alongside his general typology, for example, it would have been interesting to read more about Simukov’s other writings that show the variations within regions and between different sorts of household, such as his 1935 study of Bayanzürkh Uulyn Khoshuu.
But with such a broad canvas Endicott cannot be expected to satisfy every reader’s curiosity on every topic. In any case, it is the present and future of Mongolian pastoralism that really concerns her in this work, rather than its historical backdrop, and she has mastered an impressive body of literature on the subject. She is sensibly sceptical of the recurrent predictions of imminent pastoral collapse as a result of overstocking, but she seems to remain open to the idea that, along with climate change, dwindling water resources and the impact of mining, very high livestock numbers might represent a threat to the sustainability of Mongolian pastoralism. This raises the question as to whether we should see the collective period as one of pastoral “stagnation” simply because the national herd numbers were maintained between 22 and 25 million head. Pastoral productivity can be measured in terms of output, which was relatively high at that time, rather than livestock totals, and many pastoral specialists recommend higher off-takes to reduce herd sizes. This work also raises a number of points for further research and debate: such as the real nature of the malchdyn büleg “herder groups” and belcheer ashiglagchdyn kheseg “pasture user groups” that are the target of various development projects, and the extent to which romantic notions of nomadic “tradition” and “custom” colour our understandings of pastoral practice and the lifestyles it supports. Endicott’s own approach favours the vision of ancient nomadic traditions, surprisingly resilient in the face of modernization; however, she takes seriously the perspectives of those such as Ole Bruun, who is wary of casting practice as tradition and sees pastoralism as dynamic and contingent, shaped by the particular institutions operating at any given time.
But debates of this sort are not the real target of this book, which aims to offer contemporary relevance and historical breadth rather than enormous depth, and Endicott proves to be an expert guide to the wide range of relevant literature on topics ranging from winter livestock enclosures to mining, tourism and foreign aid. By analyzing and illuminating so much of this scattered literature, this book provides a wonderfully handy and informative reference work for both the specialist and the generalist reader.
David Sneath
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
pp. 333-334