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H2020Individual fellowship2020–2022

MONGOL-GNP · GENDER NARRATIVES AND POLITICS IN THE MONGOLIAN SACRED GRASSLANDS

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2020-08-01 → 2022-11-20
EU contribution
€184,708
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

GENDER NARRATIVES AND POLITICS IN THE MONGOLIAN SACRED GRASSLANDS

For centuries, people have constructed religious sites in order to benefit from the magical power they are believed to provide. In the grasslands of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the People’s Republic of China, indigenous people build and worship at sacred monuments to ensure, among other things, the fertility of their herds and the well-being of their community. Besides their accredited ritual power, these holy places also offer an accurate overview of the way local societies have been shaping the different social and political norms regulating their everyday lives. Sitting astride social anthropology, gender studies, and religious studies, the overall objective of the present research is to provide a comprehensive framework of the changing social organization of the Mongols of China from the beginning of the 20th century to the present in terms of gender and politics. This project combines ethnographic fieldwork in Inner Mongolia with oral and written sources to explore two intertwined issues. The first analyzes the way gender practices have been narrated and performed throughout the 20th century in order to shed light on changing indigenous interpretations of sex difference and complementarity. The second examines how power holders gather and demonstrate authority, respect, or allegiance to administrative political power. Taking the Mongolian societies of China as a case study, this project also raises larger questions: what can a religious site tell us about the evolution of gender roles and political legitimacy in a given community? How have men and women adapted their social norms and religious values while living through changing political regimes? This research also echoes contemporary issues topical in other parts of the world: the place of minority groups within authoritarian states, relationships between the central state and local societies, and gender equality.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

This anthropological project investigates how sacred sites and connected ritual activities reflect gender narratives and political hierarchy among the Mongols in the People’s Republic of China. To put it another way, what can a monastery or a shamanic grave tell us about the evolution of gender roles and political legitimacy within a local community?For centuries, people have constructed religious sites to benefit from the magical power they are believed to provide. In the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, local people also build and worship at sacred monuments to ensure the fertility of their herds and the well-being of their community. Besides their accredited ritual power, religious sites also offer an accurate overview of the way local societies have been shaping the different social and political norms regulating their everyday lives. By taking religious sites as the starting point, the project explores two intertwined issues. The first analyzes the way gender practices have been narrated and performed throughout the 20th century in order to shed light on changing indigenous interpretations of sex difference and complementarity. The second examines how memorable characters and other mythical ancestors have redefined the political landscape of Inner Mongolia. More precisely, this focuses on how power holders gather and demonstrate authority, respect or allegiance to the administrative political powers. Sitting astride anthropology, gender studies and religious studies, the project combines ethnographic fieldwork with oral and written sources to provide a comprehensive framework of the changing social organization of the Mongols of China in terms of gender and politics. Taking Mongolian societies of China as a case study, this project will also echo contemporary issues topical in other parts of the world: the place of minority groups, relationships between the central state and local societies and gender equality.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisCoordinatorFrance

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union