The Terms of Ethnological Study of Western Mongolians: Historical Versions and Contemporary Opportunities

Abstract

The article discusses the various attempts made at producing ethnic classifications of groups of Western Mongolians which have always been the population minority in the country. I outline and examine three periods in which the search for the language of ethnological description took different forms: the eve of the 19th-20th centuries; the socialist period (1924-90); and the contemporary period (from 1990 onward). I suggest possible ways of resolving the terminological quandary that researchers are experiencing today. I argue that the issue is to be viewed in the context of a broader research challenge – namely, that of diagnosing the state of ethnic identity in smaller communities and working out methods for studying it as well as the politics of constructing it if it is not manifested strongly.