Mapping Mongolia: Situating Mongolia in the World from Geologic Time to the Present

Summary

With its small population and low GDP, Mongolia is frequently deemed "unique" or tacked onto various area studies programs: Inner Asia, Central Asia, Northeast Asia, or Eurasia. This volume is a response to the concern that countries such as Mongolia are marginalized when academia and international diplomacy reconfigure area studies borders in the postsocialist era.

Would marginalized countries such as Mongolia benefit from a reconfiguration of area studies programs or even from another way of thinking about grouping nations? This book uses Mongolia as a case study to critique the area studies methodology and test the efficacy of another grouping methodology, the "-scapes" method proposed by Arjun Appadurai. Could the application of this approach for tracing individuals' social networks by theme (finance, ethnicity, ideology, media, and technology) be applied to nation-states or peoples? Could it then prevent Mongolia from slipping through the cracks of academia and international diplomacy? Experts from ecology, genetics, archaeology, history, anthropology, and international diplomacy contemplate these issues in their chapters on Mongolia through the ages. Their work includes over 30 maps to help situate Mongolia in its geologic, geographic, economic, and cultural matrix. By comparing maps of different time periods and intellectual orientations, readers can consider for themselves the place of Mongolia in the world community and the relative benefits of these and other grouping methodologies.

Paula L. W. Sabloff is Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and a former member of the Asian Section at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. She is the author of Modern Mongolia: Reclaiming Genghis Khan, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): University of Pennsylvania Press Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Notes

General Note: Proceedings of "Mapping Mongolia: Situating Mongolia in the World from Geologic Time to the Present". Philadelphia, May 6-11