Subject: This Month in Mongolian Studies June 2025

June 19, 2025

A Word from the Director

Summer is always the busiest time for ACMS, and this year's program season has thus far been no exception! In our newsletter below, you'll find announcements about new and upcoming programs, overviews of recent events and activities, exciting opportunities from our partners, and local happenings in Ulaanbaatar, where I've been for the past four weeks now meeting with our program participants, engaging with stakeholders, planning and overseeing events, and getting our summer programs -- including our Intensive Summer Language Program and Field Schools -- up and running.

This is an exciting time for ACMS as we work to develop new partnerships and steward existing ones, expand both our in-person and online programming, and continue to engage supporters such as yourself. Our loyal members, alumni, participants, library patrons, event attendees, and others in our community are what make this organization so special, and we are grateful to have you along on this journey with us.

I can't wait to see you at our upcoming events and activities, which you can read about below. And if you're in UB this summer, please stop by our office and say hello!

Wishing you all the best,

Maggie Lindrooth
ACMS U.S. Director

Friday, June 20: Book Launch and Speaker Series Event with Dr. Michael van Walt van Praag

A flyer featuring the event title, speaker name and affiliation, date, time, and location, all described in the text below the flyer.

Tomorrow, Friday June 20, ACMS is co-sponsoring a book launch and subsequent Speaker Series lecture with the Diluv Hutugthu Foundation featuring Dr. Michael van Walt van Praag, a Dutch lawyer, mediator, and advisor in intrastate peace processes and professor of international law and international relations.

The book launch will take place at Internom Bookstore (University Branch) at 3pm ULAT, and will celebrate the launch of Tibet Explained: Legal Status, Rights and State Responsibility.

Following this launch event, ACMS will host Dr. van Walt van Praag for a Speaker Series lecture focused on peacebuilding in East Asia at the American Corner at 5:30pm ULAT.

Both events are free and open to the public, and we hope to see you there!

Friends of ACMS Speaker Series Week: June 24-27

A flyer advertising the event described in the text below. The flyer features photos of all three speakers, their names and titles, the titles of their presentations, and presentation dates, times, and locations.

We are thrilled to announce our upcoming week of special edition Speaker Series lectures! From June 23 to 27, four well-respected Mongolian Studies scholars from around the globe will converge in Ulaanbaatar to speak about fascinating topics as wide-ranging as rock art in Western Mongolia, future directions of Mongolian Studies, Asian peacebuilding initiatives, and the practice of bloodletting in modern Mongolia.

All lectures will be delivered in English and are free and open to the public. See the full schedule below:

"Pax Mongolica: New Research Tracks"

Speaker: Dr. Marie Favereau, Director of the French Institute for Central Asian Studies

When: June 24 at 5:30pm

Where: The American Corner of Ulaanbaatar

"Ritual Landscape: Rock Art of Mongolia"

Speaker: Dr. Richard Kortum, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Humanities, East Tennessee State University

When: June 26 at 5:30pm

Where: The National Museum of Mongolia

"Bloodletting: An Ancient Nomadic Practice for Contemporary Diseases"

Speaker: Dr. Natasha Fijn, Director of the Mongolia Institute, Australian National University

When: June 27 at 5:30pm

Where: The American Corner of Ulaanbaatar

Under Shared Blue Skies Conference: Become a Sponsor!

A blue, green, and yellow painting of the Ulaanbaatar skyline.

Painting by Bolor Lkhaajav of Monus.Ed

Become a sponsor for our upcoming conference "Under Shared Blue Skies: Mongolia and the North American West," co-organized by ACMS, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and the Ulaanbaatar-Denver Sister Cities Committee!

Sponsorships come in three levels, which each provide different benefits including publicity, shout-outs in our promotional materials and on our website, and your name or organizational logo on our website. For more information, visit the "Under Shared Blue Skies: Sponsorships" page of our website here.

To register for the conference as an attendee, see our registration page here.

ACMS News

Professor Christopher Atwood Gives ACMS Speaker Series Lecture

A group of people sitting in rows in an auditorium looking at the camera and smiling

On May 27, 2025, ACMS hosted a captivating lecture by Professor Christopher Atwood, Department Chair of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Professor of Mongolian and Chinese Frontier and Ethnic History at the University of Pennsylvania. Entitled “Translating Empire: The Secret History of the Mongols and the Future of Mongolian Studies,” the event highlighted both the enduring relevance and global academic legacy of Mongolia’s foundational historical text, The Secret History of the Mongols. Professor Atwood shared insights from his acclaimed new English translation of The Secret History of the Mongols, published in 2023 by Penguin Classics. This essential 13th-century narrative chronicles the rise of Chinggis Khan from his legendary ancestry and early struggles to the unification of Mongolia and the expansion of the empire under his son, Ögedei. Professor Atwood also shared his thoughts and insights on the future of Mongolian Studies, and engaged in a lively Q&A with the audience. Read more about this event on our website here.

ACMS Field School Kick-Off!

On Monday, June 9, ACMS welcomed participants for our first 2025 Mongolia Field School, Hustai National Park: Managing Biodiversity in the Home of Mongolia's Native Horses. Participants have spent the last week observing wolves, spotting wild Przewalski's horse herds, and engaging with local herders and learning about community conservation practices.

On Saturday, June 14, we welcomed participants for our second Mongolia Field School of the season, Mongolia's Ancient Cities: Archaeological Excavation with the Uyghur Cultural Heritage Project. This group has now arrived at their site: the ruins of a Uyghur site in Central Mongolia's Orkhon Valley.

A group of people standing in a line in a classroom smiling at the camera

Two people riding bactrian camels and smiling at the camels

ACMS Hosts the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Global Seminar Program

A group of undergraduate students standing with their professor in front of an ancient architectural ruin in the Mongolian countryside

From May 16 to May 23, ACMS hosted the UPenn Global Seminar (PGS) in Mongolia for the third time, welcoming 16 students led by Professor Christopher Atwood. During their stay, the students visited historical, cultural, and educational sites across Mongolia, exploring Mongolian pastoral nomadism and examining how Mongolia’s economy, literature, and steppe empires were historically built upon grasslands and livestock. They also studied how Mongolians have consistently used the foundations of empire to create lasting sedentary structures—including funerary complexes, Buddhist monasteries, socialist-era boarding schools, and modern urban capitals.

Read more about this ACMS-coordinated trip on our website here, and contact us if you want to collaborate on a faculty-led trip to Mongolia!

ACMS Board Member Wins NSF Grant Award

ACMS Board Member Dr. William Taylor (PhD, University of New Mexico, 2017), now Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Curator of Archaeology at the University of Colorado Boulder has been awarded a National Science Foundation 2025 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant for his research project “Understanding Animal Domestication and Human-Environmental Relationships.” Congratulations, Dr. Taylor!

Roy Chapman Andrews Legacy Camel Expedition 2025 Comes to Monoglia!

ACMS is thrilled to highlight our friends currently on the Roy Chapman Andrews Legacy Camel Expedition 2025 (RCALE2025)! The principal goal of RCALE2025 is to replicate and complete the scientific field exploration of the Gobi Desert initiated by Roy Chapman Andrews in 1925 using the same type of 38 Bactrian Camel Caravan he used 100 years ago.

Their expedition team, led by Robert Atwater -- a highly regarded, intrepid explorer for over 50 years -- is a distinguished and diverse group of 30 men and women explorers, scientists, academicians and field investigators from several countries who collectively have traveled to and explored every continent and virtually every country in the world.

Under the guidance of 15 Mongolian colleagues, the team will follow the same geographical pathway Andrews planned in 1925. They also plan to provide education in several venues on our findings regarding the lasting geographical effects of Climate Change over the past 100 years, the need to preserve the Cultural Heritage of local Indigenous Peoples, the identification of the Fossilized Remains of Dinosaurs of the Gobi, and surveying and promoting Animal and Plant Life Conservation.

Learn more about this expedition and follow along on their journey across the Gobi by following their Instagram or Facebook pages!

Calls for Papers

Mongolia Society Annual Meeting: Announcement and Call for Papers

Annual Meeting Dates: October 3-4, Washington, D.C.

Call for Papers Deadline: July 20, 2025

The Mongolia Society is placing a call for papers for academic panels that will take place as part of their Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. October 3-4. Within their general focus on Mongolian history, language and culture, they particularly invite papers related to this year’s conference theme: “Mongolia in the World: Improving Understanding Through Interdisciplinary Perspectives.”

Abstracts from individuals and fully formed panels should be submitted to The Mongolia Society no later than July 20, 2025.

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

The abstract must contain the paper title, be no more than 300 words, and include contact information (email address and telephone number). Presenters whose abstracts are accepted will have 20 minutes to present their paper. The meeting and conference will be fully hybrid, and the Mongolia Society welcomes both in-person and virtual participation.

Paper Presenters: Please note that you must be a member* of The Mongolia Society in order to present a paper. To join the Society, you may pay online (via Paypal and Stripe) at the Society website or contact Susie Drost at monsoc@iu.edu.

*New Member Discount: The Society is offering a special discounted membership rate when new members join and pay the Annual Meeting Attendance Fee at the same time. It will cost only $100 for new U.S. members, $80 for new US student members, $110 for new foreign members and $90 for new foreign student members to both join the Society and attend the Annual Meeting and Panels, until September 1, 2025. After September 1, 2025, it will cost $115 for new US members, $100 for new US student members, $125 for new foreign members and $110 for new foreign student members to both join the Society and attend the Annual Meetings and panels.

Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS) Annual Conference Announcement and CfP

Conference Date: November 19, 2025.

Panel Proposals Submission Deadline: June 22, 2025

Individual Paper Proposal Submission Deadline: July 20, 2025

CESS will be running a smaller conference in advance of the larger meeting of the Association of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), in Washington, DC.

The one-day CESS2025GWU conference will take place on November 19, 2025, and be hosted by the Central Asia Program at George Washington University in Washington, DC. This is an in-person event, although members who aren’t able to travel to Washington will be able to follow the event remotely and pose questions to panelists. CESS will also organize a virtual meeting the week prior, Nov 14-15, CESS2025online, for those who cannot travel to Washington.

For more information and to submit a panel or individual paper, visit the CESS 2025 Annual Conference website here.

Mongolian and Inner Asian Studies News, Media, Events, and Publications

In Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar Biennale: June 6-20, 2025

The Ulaanbaatar Biennale opened on June 6 at venues around the city including the National Gallery of Mongolia, the National Museum of Mongolia, and Sukhbaatar Square. Events have included art installations, music and dance performances, a folklore festival, a poetry reading, and more. If you're in Ulaanbaatar this week, don't miss the final days of festivities before the Biennale closes on June 20! You can find updates and a schedule of events on the Biennale Facebook page here.

CAMCA Regional Forum: June 19-20, 2025

The CAMCA (Central Asia-Mongolia-Caucasus-Afghanistan) Regional Forum is a non-political and non-partisan Forum established to promote region-wide discussions on means of advancing economic growth and development in the 10 countries of the region: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It promotes this goal by fostering dialogue and interaction among rising leaders from all sectors in the 10 countries of the region, as well as with international leaders and stakeholders. The Forum organizers - the CAMCA Network, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Rumsfeld Foundation - believe that expanded communication and collaboration among talented professionals from a range of fields can significantly contribute to economic, political and social development on both a national and regional basis. This year's CAMCA Regional Forum will be held in Ulaanbaatar at the Shangri-La Hotel June 19 and 20.

Join the ACMS Today!

Interested in becoming more involved with the ACMS? In addition to checking out our website or following us on social media to stay up to date, consider becoming a member online or by stopping by our UB office located at Natsagdorj Library, East Entrance, Seoul St-7, Sukhbaatar District, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Additionally, keep your eye out for future newsletters that will include more resources, upcoming events, CfPs, and more.

As always, our Mongolian language classes are available on Zoom or in-person in our Ulaanbaatar office. Contact Tsermaa for more details. And don't forget, many of our library resources are available online as well! So until next time, happy reading and enjoy your winter.