Subject: This Month in Mongolian Studies - April 2023

Having trouble viewing this email?  Click here to open in your browser.

In this Issue:

ACMS Announcements 

ACMS Sponsored Programs and Events

Vacancies, Scholarships, and Fellowships

Grants and Calls for Papers

New Resources

Other News and Events

Recent Books

This Month in Mongolian Studies is a monthly listing of selected academic activities, resources and other material related to Mongolia. This list is based on information the ACMS has received and is presented as a service to its members. If you would like to submit information to be included in next month's issue please contact the ACMS at info@mongoliacenter.org
This publication is supported in part by memberships.  Please consider becoming a member of the ACMS, or renewing your membership by visiting our website at
mongoliacenter.org/join

Thank you!

 
ACMS Announcements, News and Media References
Fellowship Application Decisions Will Be Sent out Later This Week

The ACMS closed applications for Field Research Fellowship, Library Fellowship and Intensive Summer Mongolian Language Program on March 1, 2023. The Independent Review Board is finalizing the fellowship application selection and the decisions will be sent out at the end of the week.

For inquiries about the Field Research Fellowship and the Library Fellowship please contact: baigalmaa@mongoliacenter.org

For inquiries about the Intensive Summer Language Program Fellowship please contact: tsermaa@mongoliacenter.org

To look up general information for our fellowships please visit: https://www.mongoliacenter.org/fellowships

Mongolia Field School 2023 
FINAL DEADLINE APRIL 30, 2023

The Priority Deadline for Mongolia Field School 2023 ended on March 31. Everyone who applied by this date are given priority consideration for fellowship awards for the Mongolia Field School 2023 program.

That being said, we are still accepting applications until the final deadline April 30, 2023.

About Mongolia Field School:
MFS is a summer program that offers an educational travel experience blending academic insights and discussions with travel experiences that allow participants to interact with local people and locations off the usual tourist track. For 2023 we are offering 3 different courses, which all begin in Ulaanbaatar with an orientation on Mongolian culture, history, language and contemporary issues. Participants will meet with their instructors and classmates from Mongolia and around the world and begin their learning journey. Class groups will then travel to selected sites across Mongolia where they will pursue field research, gaining an understanding of the topics studied in the context of the landscapes and people in the regions visited. All participants will have the opportunity to see important sites in Mongolia and participate in tourist activities, while also gaining the unique insights offered by their course leaders and the local people and officials encountered during the field studies. The course titles are:
  • Discovering The Sonic World of The Mongolian Countryside: June 2 - June 15
  • Climate Change and Public Health: What does climate change mean for the people of Mongolia?: June 19 - July 4
  • Mongolian Buddhism, Nature, and Conservation: June 19 - July 4

Priority Deadline: March 31, 2023
Final program application deadline: April 30, 2023

TUITION FEE:

International participants - 
$3500
Mongolian Participants - 1.200.000

To learn more about the Mongolia Field School 2023 and to apply, please visit:

https://www.mongoliacenter.org/mfs23
Mongolia Field School 2023 Webinar # 2 is available on YouTube

On March 15th, 2023, ACMS held a second informational webinar for the Mongolia Field School 2023, going over logistics of the program and application process, as well as answering some questions from emails and from the audience. As usual we have made the recording available. Click the button below to watch the recording.
Mongolia Field School 2023 Webinar # 1 is available on YouTube

On January 18th the ACMS held an informational webinar for those who are interested in attending Mongolia Field School. The webinar was hosted by Dr. Charles Krusekopf and the instructors of all three courses planned for 2023.
Click on the below button to watch the webinar recording on YouTube.


#WordOfTheWeek

In February we invited a guest speaker for the Language Teaching Methodology Seminar series, Ms. Narangerel N (Head of the Workgroup on National Language Policy), who gave our audience an update on the implementation of the National Program for Mongolian Script III, which aims to make Mongolian script an official writing system beside Cyrillic Mongolian to record all public proceedings. In lieu of this ACMS starting in March 2023 began making a word of the week post to encourage learning Mongolian language and script. Each week ACMS will share a Mongolian word that is related to events of the current week - we have so far shared words related to International Women's Day, Mongolian Soldier's Day, Anniversary Mongolia's Space Flight, April Fools etc. The post contains the Mongolian word of the week written in both Mongolian script and Cyrillic Mongolian, with romanizations. Posts are accompanied by texts of the image followed by definitions taken from the mongoltoli.mn, a Mongolian dictionary of definitions run by the Institute for Language and Literature at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. 

Here is the link to this week's word.
Becoming a Member

ACMS membership is another way to support and engage with the ACMS. Individuals and institutions can become members of ACMS, both come with corresponding benefits. In March, 4 new people have signed up to become ACMS members and 2 members renewed their memberships.

ACMS welcomes new members:
  • Don Rosso
  • Emily Eklund
  • Devin Pettigrew
  • Carina Kkusaka
and thanks renewing members:
  • Jennifer Beetem
  • Chris McCarthy
Visit our website here for details about memberships: https://www.mongoliacenter.org/membership

If you are in Ulaanbaatar, you can also visit our office to sign up for membership in-person. Our UB office address is Natsagdorj Library, East Entrance, Seoul St – 7, Sukhbaatar District, Ulaanbaatar 14521

ACMS Sponsored Programs and Events

We apologize, as our March Speaker Series event was postponed, due to unforeseen circumstances. The March Speaker Series was planned as in-person event. We will announce the date, time and the form of the event through our website and social media.

In March, ACMS Language Methodology Seminar invited Dr. Gerelmaa G., senior research fellow at the Institute for Language and Literature of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. She spoke on "Foreign loanwords, translation and use in Mongolian Language". The livestream of the event is available to watch, however there was an audio device issue on the presenter's side. We will upload a version with an improved audio quality to our YouTube channel.
Cultural Heritage Project: Expert Lecture took place in late March on "Collection Management, Preparation for Outgoing Loans" and it was part of a collaboration between the ACMS and the Natural History Museum of Mongolia through an MOU. The Expert Lecturer for this event was Casper Hargreaves, Director of Special Projects at Leerform Fabrications (Brooklyn). Leerform Fabrications specializes in providing museums, galleries, and individual artists logistical and fabrication services for exhibits, travel, and storage. 

This lecture will contribute the extending the longevity of museum exhibits in Mongolia.
Visit our YouTube channel to see more series of the Virtual Speaker and Virtual Panel Series, as well as our videos on Cultural Heritage Project, interviews with our Field Research Fellows and more.




Latest uploads to our YouTube Channel:
April Events
  • Virtual Speaker Series: Dr. Otgontugs Banzragch "Social mobility in Mongolia: Evidence from 2010 and 2020 Census data" April 19, 2023

We are working to bring back in-person speaker events, we will be putting these events up as more in-person speaker become available. If you would like to speak in-person for an ACMS Speaker event, please email buyandelger@mongoliacenter.org

Vacancies, Scholarship, and Fellowships
The Institute for Mongolian Studies: 3 Scholarships for Foreign Mongolists

The Institute for Mongolian Studies of the National University of Mongolia announced the Damdinsuren, Luvsanvandan, and Rinchen Scholarships for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, with the aim of supporting up and coming scholars engaged in Mongolian studies and are conducting field work in Mongolia.
  • The Damdinsuren Scholarship is granted to scholars whose research focuses on Mongolian literature and history.
  • The Luvsanvandan Scholarship is granted to scholars whose research focuses on Mongolian language, script and Altaic studies.
  • The Rinchen Scholarship is granted to scholars whos research focuses on Mongolian culture, and tradition, anthropology and ethnology.
Requirements:
  • Under the age of 40
  • Pursuing doctoral or postdoctoral research in Mongolian studies
  • Be able to start their research in 2023-2024 academic year
  • Conduct research in Mongolia for the period of 3 months (the recipient may choose their research period in Mongolia)
Documentation:
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • List of publications including research projects undertaken
  • Letter of Intent, clearly stating the applicant's objectives and scope of studies, name and department of the supervisor at the National University of Mongolia and specifying which scholarship the applicant is applying for
  • HIV test for Mongolian visa (required if accepted)
Once selected, the following terms and conditions shall apply:
  • Work under the supervision of a professor at the National University of Mongolia, who has agreed to supervise the proposed research proposal
  • IMS will provide accommodation the International Student Dormitory of the NUM. recipient may choose not to occupy the dormitory. If so the recipient shall arrange their own accommodation
  • Recipient shall receive a monthly scholarship award of ₮800000
Recipients also must:
  • Give a lecture or a seminar on their research area at IMS/NUM
  • Publish a research paper in an academic journal
  • Submit a written report to the IMS on their research
  • Abide by the rules and regulations of NUM during scholarship period
Send your application documents to infomonstudies@gmail.com by July 11, 2023
Scholarship recipients shall be notified by email on July 25, 2023

Visit the IMS website at: http://ims.num.edu.mn/?p=901

Scholarship: Fulbright Scholar Award

Application deadline: Friday, September 15, 2023

Award start period:
August 2024 - September 2024 or January 2025 - February 2025

Award length:
7 months - 10 months

Disciplines:
Projects are sought in all disciplines

Award Activity:
Fulbright scholars will teach and/or conduct their own research, work collaboratively with new colleagues at the host institution, engage with students, and become involved in the local community. Applicants may propose teaching projects, research projects, or a combination of both in a range of subject areas relevant to Mongolia, the United States, or U.S.-Mongolia relations. Scholars may also be asked to assist the host institution with curriculum and program development and/or supervise graduate student research projects. For teaching/research grants, research should make up no more than 50 percent of grant activities.

Locations:
Location Selection: Applicant may propose an appropriate host

Two-semester grants must begin in August 2024 or September 2024; one-semester grants may begin in August 2024, September 2024, January 2025, or February 2025. Fall semester begins in August or September (until late December); spring semester begins in January or February (until mid-June). Academic calendars vary by institution.

Areas of Interest
Fulbright Mongolia is particularly interested in encouraging research on contemporary issues relevant to Mongolia, the United States, or U.S.-Mongolia relations in the following fields: artistic and cultural, agriculture, anthropology, archaeology, computer science, education, engineering, environmental sciences, geology, information sciences/systems, journalism, medical sciences, public administration, public health, social work, tourism, urban planning.

Special Features
Fulbright East Asia Pacific Regional Travel Program

As conditions allow, Fulbright Scholars in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region may have the opportunity to apply for funds to support short-term (3-14 days) travel to other countries in the EAP region for activities such as lectures, workshops, graduate or faculty seminars, master classes or recitals, curricular advising or panel presentations. EAP Regional Travel Program funding covers transportation only. Regional Travel Program activities/host sites should not be included in the initial Fulbright application. Scholars may start the process of seeking out invitations for short-term activities in other EAP countries once notified that they have been selected for a Fulbright grant, but will only be able to apply for travel program funds, conditions permitting, once they have actively started their Fulbright grant in their host country. Scholars on Flex grants are not eligible for the regional travel grant.

Visit their website for more details on requirements, award benefits and to apply online:


URL link: https://fulbrightscholars.org/award/all-disciplines-694

Scholarship: Fulbright Student Program (for Mongolians)

The Fulbright (Foreign) Student Program enables graduate students, young professionals, and artists from Mongolia to earn a master’s degree in the United States. The program operates in more than 160 countries worldwide and grants approximately 4,000 scholarships to foreign students each year.

Fulbright Student Program in Mongolia supports study in most fields of study but will give priority to candidates who plan to pursue studies in following fields:
  • Data Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Renewable Energy
  • Environmental Protection Technology
  • Petroleum Engineering
  • Mining Technology
  • Education (Preschool, TESOL, Special Needs)
  • Agricultural Studies
Due to health system differences between the two countries, the program does not support studies in medicine except Public Health and in law only LLM degree study is supported.

To qualify for the Fulbright Student Program, applicants must meet following requirements:
  • Be a Mongolian citizen, currently living in Mongolia;
  • Have a minimum of 1.5 years of full-time work experience;
  • Hold a first university degree (B.A. or equivalent);
  • Be highly proficient in English, with a minimum TOEFL IBT 80-90, TOEFL ITP/PBT 550-575, IELTS 6.5-7.0, or Duolingo 115-125 depending on the field of study (please see below);
  • Preference will be given to candidates with limited prior experience in the U.S. Note that Mongolians holding U.S. green card are not eligible to apply.
Candidates who are applying to pursue studies in the following fields are required to have a minimum of TOEFL IBT 90, TOEFL PBT/ITP 575, IELTS 7.00, or Duolingo 125:
  • Arts Administration/History
  • Biology
  • Business/Economics/Finance
  • Engineering
  • English/TESOL
  • Gender and Women’s Studies
  • History
  • International Development
  • International Relations
  • IT/Communication
  • Journalism
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Management
  • Psychology
  • Public Administration/Public Policy
  • Political Science
  • Theater/Drama/Creative Writing
  • Urban/Regional Planning
  • Veterinary Medicine
Candidates pursuing studies in fields other than named above should have a minimum of TOEFL IBT 80, TOEFL PBT/ITP 550, or IELTS 6.5.

In order to apply for the Fulbright Student Program, interested applicants must complete online application form. Complete online application must have following documents attached:

Recommendation Letters
  • Three letters of recommendation from individuals who can attest to your academic and professional abilities
  • Note that recommendations requested via the automated online system are still due on the same day and time of the application deadline. Applicants should notify their reference providers regarding the deadline.
  • Recommendations must be in English or provide English translation by an authorized translation service along with the original letter in Mongolian. Recommendation letters submitted separately from the online application will not be accepted.
  • Scanned copies of Diploma of all university degrees
  • Diploma scan must include all language versions (i.e., Mongolian Cyrillic, Mongolian Script, English, etc.)
  • In case the original is only issued in Mongolia, provide English translation by an authorized translation service along with the scanned copies of diploma/s in Mongolian.
  • Original Transcript of all university degrees
  • Official transcript must be issued by the school administration on a letterhead with an official stamp.
  • Official transcript must be in English or provide English translation by an authorized translation service along with the original transcript in Mongolian.
  • Diploma appendixes are not considered as transcript.
  • Work experience proof
  • A TUTs machine or e-mongolia reference indicating employment period of 1.5 years or more (only in Mongolian)
  • A scanned/printed copy of TOEFL or IELTS official score report
  • Curriculum Vitae
Things to remember when completing the online application:

Application must be completed in English in electronic format.
Applicants must answer all questions in the application form. Incomplete applications will be deemed technically ineligible. No questions can be left blank. Put N/A if not applicable.
Essays must be your own work reflecting your original thought. Other people’s works/ideas used anywhere in the application must be properly noted. Plagiarism in any part of your application will result in your disqualification from participating in the Fulbright Program.
Please note any word or character limit for essay portions of the application and give your answers within the limit.

The online application deadline is April 24, 2023, 8 a.m. ULAT. The Embassy will announce application results in May 2023 and will notify all applicants via email. Any inquiries about the program will not be answered via phone. Please direct all inquiries to exchange@usembassy.mn.

Visit the website of the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia for more information at (information is also available in Mongolian): https://mn.usembassy.gov/education-culture/scholarships/fulbright-student

Grants and Calls for Paper
Call for Papers: 2023 Annual Members Meeting and Conference 
of the Mongolia Society

The Mongolia Society is pleased to announce that its 2023 Annual Members Meeting and Conference will be held in conjunction with the Central Eurasian Studies Society, on the weekend of October 19-22, 2023, at the University of Pittsburgh.

At this time, The Mongolia Society is placing a CALL FOR PAPERS: We invite scholarly submissions in all fields of the humanities and social sciences relating to Mongolia and the Mongols. Abstracts from individuals and fully formed panels should be submitted to The Mongolia Society office, no later than 
July 1, 2023.

Each abstract must contain the paper title, be no more than 300 words, and include your contact information (email address and telephone number). If your abstract is accepted, you will have 20 minutes to present your paper.

Please send your abstract to Susie Drost at monsoc@indiana.edu

Please note that you must be a member of The Mongolia Society in order to present a paper.

To join the Society, go to https://www.mongoliasociety.org/membership-types or contact Susie Drost at the address provided above. An attendance donation will also be requested.

The meeting and conference will be fully hybrid, so we welcome both in-person and virtual participation.

Call for Proposals: Sinification, Globalization or Glocalization?: 
Paradigm Shifts in the Study of Transmission and Transformation of 
Buddhism in Asia and Beyond

International Conference: August 9 to 12, 2023

Location: Hong Kong, China

The organizing committee for the international conference on “Sinification, Globalization or Glocalization?: Paradigm Shifts in the Study of Transmission and Transformation of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond” cordially invites the submission of related papers. This conference is sponsored by the Glorisun Charity Foundation, administered by the Glorisun Global Network for Buddhist Studies (https://glorisunglobalnetwork.org) and FROGBEAR (www.frogbear.org) at the University of British Columbia, and hosted by the University of Hong Kong.

We propose, though not exclusively, the following themes for discussion:
  • Conflicts and Conciliations: Patterns of intercultural/intercivilisational Interactions as Seen from Buddhism’s Crossborder and Transcultural Transformation
  • Indigenization and Globalization of Buddhism as Part of World History;
  • Sinification and Globalization of Buddhism and Reconstruction of Sacred Spaces in Asia;
  • Case Studies Showing Glocalization as a More Dynamic Approach for the Study of Transcultural Transmission of Buddhism;
  • Buddhism’s Transborder Transmission and the Formation and Transformation of Pan-Asian Textual Communities;
  • Buddhism’s Transborder Transmission and Commercial Networks in Asia;
  • Buddhism’s Transborder Transmission and Geopolitical Reshaping in Asia
The organizing committee welcomes all paper proposals related to this conference theme. All conference-related costs, including local transportation, meals and accommodation during the conference period, will be covered by the conference organizers, who—depending on availability of funding—may also provide a travel subsidy to selected panelists who are in need of funding. 

Please email proposals and CVs to frogbear.project@ubc.ca by April 15, 2023.

A conference volume will collect all the papers in English, plus English translations of several papers written in languages other than English; a volume in Chinese will include Chinese versions for all papers not written in Chinese in addition to those papers contributed by our colleagues based in China. Only scholars who are confident in finishing their draft papers by mid-July and publishable papers by mid-November of 2023 are encouraged to apply.


Call for Papers: Religion and Society Special Issue Proposal

Editors:Simon Coleman, University of Toronto, Sondra L. Hausner, University of Oxford

Religion and Society has been receiving increasing numbers of excellent suggestions for special issues. We have therefore decided to invite proposals to be sent to us by a given deadline each year, in order to select the most appropriate special section for the journal. The pool of proposals will be considered by our editorial board, and decisions sent back to proposers as swiftly as possible. This arrangement will apply for the first time for our 2025 issue. Our timetable for proposals is as follows:

May 1, 2024: submission of proposal to Religion and Society editors (no fixed number of papers, but maximum 50,000 words)

June 1, 2024: decisions sent out, including choice of the proposal to be published

June-December 2024: external refereeing and redrafting process, with submission of final proofreading by January 2025

The format of the proposal sent to Religion and Society should be as follows:

• Description of the special issue, including summary of its fit with Religion and Society, and assurance that all papers exist in draft form, fully ready to be send to reviewers (max. 500 words)

• Abstracts of all papers (max. 400 words each)

• Bios of special issue editors and all other contributors (max. 100 words each)

• List of potential reviewers for each paper, and assurance that special issue editors will work to obtain external reviews to fit with deadlines

Submission

The Religion and Society style guide is based on The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS). Please note that the journal uses US punctuation and spelling, following Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

Please refer to the Style Guide online:

https://journals.berghahnbooks.com/_uploads/air-rs/religion-and-society_style_guide.pdf

Please submit articles, reviews, and other contributions as Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format (rtf) files by e-mail to the editors:

Simon Coleman at simon.coleman@utoronto.ca and 
Sondra Hausner at sondra.hausner@theology.ox.ac.uk


New Resources
Interesting digital resource we discovered in March, 2023:
  • "Database of Names and Biographies (DNB)" - The LOD dataset of ASCDC_Database of Names and Biographies (DNB) is created by the Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures (ASCDC) and based on the metadata from the online “Database of Names and Biographies” (人名權威人物傳記資料庫, http://archive.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/ttsweb/html_name/), which is established and maintained by the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC). The data includes the names of Chinese historical persons, mostly from the Ming to Qing dynasty, and their biographical information. 
  • "Electronic Library of Historical Documents" - is an online archive of Russian historical documents including documents related to Mongolia. The link takes you to a list of documents from the Ministry of Defense of Mongolia.
  • "Endangered Archives Programme" - The EAP seeks to preserve cultural heritage by digitizing and documenting archives. In 2009 the EAP digitized over 10000 rare negatives from Mongolia taken between 1910-1940, which are available online. 
Member contribution publications:
(If you would like to announce your publication, please reach out to us at info@mongoliacenter.org. Make sure you put Member contribution publication in the Subject field of your email.

Selected scholarly articles published in March, 2023:
Other News and Events

FEATURE ARTICLES AND EVENTS ON MONGOLIAN STUDIES
2 Week in-country summer course on Mongolian Language and Culture
/NUM News/ March 14. The Institute for Mongolian Studies at the National University of Mongolia will be running a 2 week in-country summer Mongolian Language and Culture course. In addition to classroom instruction participants will go on an Ulaanbaatar and countryside tour organized by the IMS. The course will run from August 3 to August 15, 2023. Those interested in participating in this course must submit an Enrollment Form before Jun 30, 2023 to the IMS. For details go to: https://news.num.edu.mn/?p=93647
Center for Mongolian Studies Founded in Estonia
/Montsame/ March 28. The Center for Mongolian Studies opened in the Eastern Studies Department of the University of Tartu, which is the oldest and most prestigious university in the Republic of Estonia on March 24. The opening ceremony was attended by Ambassador T. Janabazar, Rector of the University of Tartu Toomas Asser, Honorary Consul of Mongolia in Estonia Leizi Karindi, Chairman of the National Council for Mongolian Studies; Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the National University of Mongolia D. Zayabaatar, and President of the International Association for Mongol Studies Agnes Birtalan. Read more
Mongolia taking steps towards feminist foreign policy.
/UB Post/ March 27. In the following interview, international relations researcher L.Byambakhand delved into her research on feminist foreign policy and the measures taken by the government in this field

You conducted a research on feminist foreign policy and the government policies and activities, as well as the measures that can be implemented in the future. What is a feminist foreign policy?

Gender equality is being talked internationally. This concept was first created in 2014 by Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Margot Wallstrom. She proposed the principle of 3Rs: rights, representation and resources. Rights refer to achieving gender equality by combating gender-based violence and discrimination. Representation means supporting women’s participation at all levels of decision-making. Using all resources is also the principle of implementing projects and programs aimed at eliminating gender inequality. In general, the issue of creating equality will be placed at the center of foreign policy...
US-born Mongolian child named by Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of Tibetan Buddhism's third most important spiritual leader is pictured for the first time - risking China's fury
/DailyMail/ March 23. A Mongolian boy with US dual-nationality has been revealed as the incarnation of the third most important spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism and was pictured for the first time alongside the Dalai Lama. Pictures show the US-born boy, aged around eight, in a face mask and wearping a bulky red robe at a ceremony alongside the 87-year-old Dalai Lama in Dharamshala is in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The formal title of the child, who is said to have a twin, is the tenth Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoché - the third most important spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism and the faith's leader in Mongolia, according to The Times. From Daily Mail

Silence Around Sex Has Dangerous Consequences for Mongolian Teens
/Global Press Journal/ March 16. ERDENEBULGAN, ARKHANGAI PROVINCE, MONGOLIA — Seventeen-year-old Gerelee’s rosy face turns deep red as she considers the sharp swerve of her life in the past year.

“Even now, I cannot believe that I have become a mother,” she says, looking down at her 6-day-old daughter.

Rates of teenage pregnancy in Mongolia, albeit well below the global average, were until recently among the highest in the western Pacific region, in large part due to poor sexual and reproductive health education, limited access to reproductive health care for adolescents, and a reluctance to discuss sex at home. Each year, some 4,000 girls become pregnant, 650 of whom typically terminate their pregnancies. In Mongolia, abortion is legal until 22 weeks, with late-term abortions... Read more
Exiled Russians Build New Lives In Mongolia
/Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty/ March 21. Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled their country after it announced conscription for its war in Ukraine, heading in large numbers to countries such as Turkey, Armenia, or Georgia. But for many living in the east of Russia, the nearest and easiest destination was Mongolia. Watch the report
Kalmyk Activist With Expired Russian Passport On His Way To U.S. After Mongolia Refused Entry
/Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty/ March 1. A leading Kalmyk activist whom Mongolian officials did not allow to enter their country because his Russian passport had expired has left Ulan Bator international airport for the United States. The #1ROOT and #NoWar groups said on March 1 that Batyr Boromangnaev, the deputy chairman of Kalmyk’s self-governing Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk people and former leader of the Yabloko party’s branch in Kalmykia, was allowed to leave Mongolia for the United States. It is unclear how and under what conditions Boromangnaev was allowed to travel to the United States. Former Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj placed a video on Twitter on March 1 showing Boromangnaev leaving the airport's gates with an added caption: "Good-bye, Hero.". Read in more
U.S. Secretary of State Recognizes Brigadier General Bolor Ganbold at 2023 International Women of Courage Awards
/U.S. Embassy in Mongolia/ March 7. Brigadier General Bolor Ganbold will be honored for her nearly 30 years of courageous service to Mongolia and the series of firsts she has achieved, which have broken barriers and opened the door for other women to follow. On March 18, 2022, Brigadier General Bolor earned yet another first, becoming the first woman general in the Mongolian Armed Forces. Her experiences as a member of both the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad in 2010 and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan in 2013, as well as serving as a Peacekeeping Affairs Officer within the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, have guided her efforts in seeking to reduce the various barriers that prevent women from fully developing their potential as peacekeepers. Brigadier General Bolor utilizes her current position as the Chief of the Education and Training Directorate of the General Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces to advance gender equality in all facets of the Mongolian Armed Forces’ organizational structure, activities, and operations. Read more
A downtown Oakland salon serves as a hangout spot for Oakland’s Mongolian community
/The Oaklandside/ March 31. “The Mongolian flag was a good symbol to represent my business,” Puntsag said in an interview conducted in English and Mongolian with some translation by Puntsag’s friend and employee, Emma Sumiya. “That’s where I’m from and I want people to know that.”. It worked out well because it attracted Mongolian families living or working nearby. There are over 21,000 Mongolians living in the United States, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. About 883 Mongolians were recorded to be living in Alameda County, but Sumiya and others believe there are actually as many as 3,000 Mongolians in Oakland and roughly 8,000 in the Bay Area. These numbers are based on family and friend connections, text groups, and social media pages that Puntsag and Sumiya are both a part of. The Mongolian community has been undercounted in the past and local residents have taken it upon themselves to obtain a more accurate count. Read more
Recent Books

"China’s BRI in Different Regions of the World: Cooperation, Contradictions and Concerns" by Sanjeev Kumar (Editor)

Price: $170.00 (Hardcover)

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is completing a decade. There have been varied responses to the Initiative from countries and regions besides the emergence of alternative initiatives and narratives. This sets the stage for evaluating the robustness of the Initiative, its implementation as well as its implications from the perspective of individual countries and regions across the globe.

This book begins by examining China’s domestic, economic, maritime and strategic interests as drivers for the Initiative. BRI has been analysed in country-specific, regional and continental contexts. It brings out the experiences and responses from South Asia, Eurasia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, Latin America, the Caribbean as well as from Europe and Africa. Further, BRI has been studied in the larger context of the US-China competition. The final section explores BRI in the context of the twin challenges of recent times, i.e., the pandemic and Russia-Ukraine conflict. The book concludes with an epilogue which outlines the broad trends related to BRI that have emerged from this study of ICWA.


Sanjeev Kumar is Senior Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi. He has been a Member and Coordinator of ICWA’s Core Group on China, and a Member of Vivekananda International Foundation’s China Experts Group. His research interests include: domestic dynamics of China, India-China relations, and China’s foreign and neighbourhood policy. Dr. Kumar has published research papers in reputed journals and contributed chapters in volumes published in India, China, and the US. His recent co-edited publications include China and the Eurasian Region: Geographic and Geopolitical Influences.
"The Ideological Foundations of Qing Taxation" by Taisu Zhang

Price: $120 (Hardcover)

How states develop the capacity to tax is a question of fundamental importance to political science, legal theory, economics, sociology, and history. Increasingly, scholars believe that China's relative economic decline in the 18th and 19th centuries was related to its weak fiscal institutions and limited revenue. This book argues that this fiscal weakness was fundamentally ideological in nature. Belief systems created through a confluence of traditional political ethics and the trauma of dynastic change imposed unusually deep and powerful constraints on fiscal policymaking and institutions throughout the final 250 years of China's imperial history. Through the Qing example, this book combs through several interaction dynamics between state institutions and ideologies. The latter shapes the former, but the former can also significantly reinforce the political durability of the latter. In addition to its historical analysis of ideological politics, this book makes a major contribution to the longstanding debate on Sino-European divergence.
  • Provides the first somewhat comprehensive English-language survey of late imperial Chinese fiscal institutions, policy, and thought
  • Offers new theoretical insights into the nature of political ideologies, the intellectual tradeoffs they must make to gain influence, and how that shapes their political life-cycles
  • Constructs an ideological, rather than economically rationalist, explanation for Qing Dynasty fiscal weakness
Taisu Zhang is Professor of Law and History at Yale University.
"The King’s Road: Diplomacy and the Remaking of the Silk Road" by Xin Wen

Price: $49.95/£42.00 (Hardcover)

The King’s Road offers a new interpretation of the history of the Silk Road, emphasizing its importance as a diplomatic route, rather than a commercial one. Tracing the arduous journeys of diplomatic envoys, Xin Wen presents a rich social history of long-distance travel that played out in deserts, post stations, palaces, and polo fields. The book tells the story of the everyday lives of diplomatic travelers on the Silk Road—what they ate and drank, the gifts they carried, and the animals that accompanied them—and how they navigated a complex web of geographic, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. It also describes the risks and dangers envoys faced along the way—from financial catastrophe to robbery and murder.

Using documents unearthed from the famous Dunhuang “library cave” in Western China, The King’s Road paints a detailed picture of the intricate network of trans-Eurasian transportation and communication routes that was established between 850 and 1000 CE. By exploring the motivations of the kings who dispatched envoys along the Silk Road and describing the transformative social and economic effects of their journeys, the book reveals the inner workings of an interstate network distinct from the Sino-centric “tributary” system.

In shifting the narrative of the Silk Road from the transport of commodities to the exchange of diplomatic gifts and personnel, The King’s Road puts the history of Eastern Eurasia in a new light.

Xin Wen is assistant professor of East Asian studies and history at Princeton University.
"The Great Mongol Shahnama" by Robert Hildebrand

Price: $195.00 (Hardcover)

A detailed study of the Great Mongol Shahnama, considered to be the greatest of all Persian illustrated manuscripts​

The Great Mongol Shahnama is widely considered to be the definitive version of Firdausi’s epic poem, and the greatest of all Persian illustrated manuscripts. The paintings from this manuscript are held in private collections and institutions around the world, and have only been seen together in a single volume once since they were originally dispersed. This monograph reunites the paintings and reproduces them as 67 full-page, high quality color plates, alongside an analysis by leading scholar of Islamic art, Robert Hillenbrand. With newly commissioned photographs and insights into technical aspects of the paintings, The Great Mongol Shahnama is a comprehensive resource for those interested in Persian art and manuscripts.


Distributed for Hali Publications Ltd. and the Freer|Sackler, Smithsonian. Co-published by Hali Publications Ltd. and the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, and supported by Qatar Museums.

Robert Hillenbrand is an honorary professorial fellow in the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
"Journey into Other Worlds: Discoveries at the Boundary of Russia and Mongolia" by Esther Jacobson-Tepfer (Author), Gary Tepfer (Photographer)

Price: $27.54 (Paperback)

This book describes the author's intellectual and physical journey to her long-term work in the Altai Mountains of Russia and Mongolia. It recounts the challenges of getting to Siberia and the Russian Altai during the Soviet period and the physical and intellectual challenges of working in the Mongolian Altai—a region that was, at that time, virtually unknown even to researchers.

The focus of the author's work was the rock art and monumental archaeology of northwestern Mongolia. From her decades of survey, documentation, and mapping emerged an ancient world of deep culture and considerable beauty. The author's years in the Altai also revealed the lives of the local herders, inheritors of traditions going back to the Bronze Age.

The book is liberally illustrated with the photographs of Gary Tepfer, the author's husband and partner in this multi-year exploration.


Esther Jacobson-Tepfer received her doctoral degree in Chinese art history from the University of Chicago (1970). In her early publications she began to explore the interconnections between Chinese artistic traditions of the Zhou-Han period and those of the Early Nomads inhabiting the steppe region to the north of China’s borders. Extended study periods in the former Soviet Union allowed Jacobson-Tepfer to investigate more fully those nomadic traditions and to refocus her research interests in North Asia, the Early Nomads, and their Bronze Age predecessors. In recent years her research has been directed particularly to rock art of North Asia in the pre-Bronze, Bronze, and early Iron Ages.


American Center for Mongolian Studies, 642 Williams Hall, 255 S. 36th St, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States
You may unsubscribe or change your contact details at any time.