CEUS Lecture Series

Challenges Facing Mongolian Culture, 

Language, and Identity in China

By Naranbilig

Thursday, October 21, 2010, 7:00 pm

Sycamore Hall, Room 002

Indiana University

Bloomington, Indiana

China’s Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region and its neighboring provinces are home to approximately eight million Mongols, who are numerically a small minority in their own traditional lands. Over the past six decades, Mongolian culture, language and identity in China have been subjected to an unprecedented stress of radical transformation, brought on by state-sponsored economic, social and political projects such as “ecological migration,” “livestock grazing ban,” and “quick urbanization.” Implemented in a top-down manner, these programs haunt the lives of the Mongolians, whose culture and identity - at the time of the founding of the Peoples’ Republic – were supposed to be protected by law. That legal protection has not prevented the possibility of cultural assimilation of the Mongols of China today.  In my talk, I will survey the recent history and circumstances of the continuing challenges to Mongolian culture in China.

Naranbilig is an ethnic Mongolian from Southern (Inner) Mongolia, who has more than 30 years experience in journalism, research and studies in Mongolian culture, language, tradition, and history.  He has authored and translated more than 40 books, edited several journals, and written hundreds of essays.  Naranbilig has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mongolian Language and Literature from Inner Mongolia University, and a certificate in law studies from the Chinese National Lawyer Training Center.

Sponsored by:
The Mongolia Society
Mongol-American Cultural Association
Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center
The Department of Central Eurasian Studies

For further information, please contact the Department of Central Eurasian Studies.