Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 416-470). Also available on the Internet for UW community only.

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This study explores the significant role that Naadam has played, and continues to play, in the creation and maintenance of Mongolian national identity, both within and outside the boundaries of Mongolia. By regularly performing the Naadam festival, the Mongolian people are constantly constructing and restructuring their culture, customs, traditions, values and identity, both to themselves and to the world beyond. Naadam, or more fully Eriin Gurvan Naadam, the ‘Three Games of Men’ is a specifically and distinctively Mongolian festival, comprising a religious, secular, political or social ceremony followed by the traditional three games of wrestling, archery and horseracing. The Games component of the festival is examined drawing on the anthropology of games and sport related to identity, liminality and the use of ritual to engender unity. Also considered is the historical importance of games in ancient religious and celebratory festivals. An overview of Mongolia’s cultural history explores the ancient origins of the festival and its evolution from a simple hunting ritual, to its incorporation into a religious ceremony after the introduction of Buddhism into Mongolia, when the ruling Khans gave tribute to the new Living Buddha. It became a political festival by which to publically display and affirm the location of power, demonstrating the dualistic role of church and state in ruling the Mongol provinces under the Qing (Manchu) Empire. In the twentieth century Naadam became a ceremony of state as it was adopted by the first Mongolia government to demonstrate its new political (theocratic) status. Ten years later, Naadam was instrumental in the construction of nationalism and nation building as the new socialist government sought to impose its communist ideals. The public performance of Naadam successfully articulated the political hierarchy in both the spatial arrangements of the official audience and also in the construction of the festival itself. The 800th Anniversary Naadam dramatically and colourfully reflects and enacts Mongolia’s development into an independent, democratic nation with a spectacular ceremonial re-enactment of Chinggis Khan’s Court on centre stage - displaying pride and identity in Mongolia’s ancient traditions, symbols and rituals while also demonstrating its modernity.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-175). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

Thesis (M.A.)--Guo li zheng zhi da xue. / Reproduced from ms. copy. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: leaves [52-53]

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1990.

Thesis (Ma (Specialized History)) -- Nei Menggu da xue Menggu xue xue yuan, China, 2004. / Title from title page. Abstract also in English. Includes bibliography. Zhi dao jiao shi: Bailadugeqi. 880-02

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2003. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 416-470).

This thesis argues that kinship is experiencing revived importance in every aspect of life in post-socialist Mongolia and suggests a number of reasons for this phenomenon. Under socialism the state performed functions that in traditional times were the province of kin relations and networks, including the provision of housing, employment, child care, social welfare, economic help, and so on. Now that socialism is gone, kinship is beginning to fulfill many of these functions again. It is therefore -lhe Je-n ,se 6f' filling the void left by socialism. ?' I approach this topic from three perspectives: the encouragement of "old" traditions (Chapter 1), the history of kinship terms (Chapter 2), and the manifestations of kinship in Mongolian society, economy, and conceptual life (Chapters 3, 4 and 5). In Chapter 1, I outline the various ways in which Mongolians have looked at the past as a source from which to choose the aspects of kinship that they wish to revive through "old" traditions and memories. A diachronic analysis of kin terms (from the eighteenth century until today) in Chapter 2 illustrates the changes that have taken place in kinship terminology that reflect changes at the theoretical level. The practical aspects of kinship are examined in three parts: kinship relations and networks (Chapter 3), kinship and economic relations (Chapter 4), and kinship metaphors (Chapter 5). Four main themes have emerged from this study. First, ritual is now being revitalised. Second, there is a mutuality of obligations in kin relations, that does not exist in non-kin relations which tend to be based on economic considerations. Third, although there is a relatively clear boundary between kin and non-kin, it is still possible for outsiders to become insiders if they develop the trust of the kin group. While there are many degrees of acceptance, one of the most interesting is the relatively new phenomenon of fictive (huurai) kinship, which has developed only since the beginning of the post-socialist period. I argue that fictive kinship has become common because it has all the social advantages of kinship and all the economic advantages of non-kinship. Last, kinship distinctions were present, but invisible during the socialist era because kinship ties were discouraged and pseudokinship relations such as "brotherhood" and comradeship took their place. Today kinship distinctions are visible again, as sources of support in troubled times, and as ways of defining what it means to be Mongolian, including the establishment of genealogical links to the national hero Chinghis Khan. The involvement of intellectuals in the reinvention of kinship and tradition is an interesting and proble'm atic phenomenon with both positive and negative implications for postsocialist Mongolian society.