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China and Inner Asia
Organized Panel Session
Mongolian poetry in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries has developed a way of thematizing aspects of traditional and pre-modern culture in order to express the essential Mongol character, which both transcends geographic and political borders, and unites the present with the past. In particular, the achievements and character of Chinggis Haan have become key themes through which issues of nationalism, national pride, and cultural heritage are being discussed and their message deepened through poetry and popular song. However, the image of Mongols as an ethnic unity inhabiting their ancestral homeland also functions as a powerful tool for dissolving the Mongolia/PRC border, which stretches across the homeland and divides Outer Mongolia (Ar Mongol) from Inner Mongolia (Övör Mongol). Poets have begun to use the language of traditional Mongolia—such as the uniting of the Mongol tribes by Chinggis Haan, Ögödei Haan’s capital at Karakorum, the Türkic hün chuluu (human stones) statues—to keep the idea of the Mongol homeland alive. In Inner Mongolia especially, with increased encouragement from the local and national government to abandon the nomadic lifestyle and settle in urban areas, this revival of ancestral imagery is a powerful attempt to retain a connection with the greater Mongol community. This paper will explore how contemporary Inner Mongolian poets are using traditional and historical imagery to promote Mongol ethnicity and Mongol culture, and how their work complements similar work by Outer Mongolian poets.
Simon Wickhamsmith
Rutgers University