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Politics of Responsibility in an Increasingly Hazardous Climate: The Case of Herding in Post-Socialist Mongolia Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Ericksen, Annika Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 03/10/2021 23:42:49 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/321471 1 POLITICS OF RESPONSIBILITY IN AN INCREASINGLY HAZARDOUS CLIMATE: THE CASE OF HERDING IN POST-SOCIALIST MONGOLIA by Annika Ericksen __________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2014 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Annika Ericksen, titled Politics of Responsibility in an Increasingly Hazardous Climate: The Case of Herding in Postsocialist Mongolia and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 2/24/14 John W. Olsen _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 2/24/14 Brian E. Silverstein _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 2/24/14 Thomas E. Sheridan _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 2/24/14 Katherine K. Hirschboeck Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 2/24/14 Dissertation Director: John W. Olsen ________________________________________________ Date: 2/24/14 Dissertation Director: Brian E. Silverstein 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Annika Ericksen 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee: Brian Silverstein, John Olsen, Tom Sheridan, and Katie Hirschboeck. All were consistent in their support and each provided unique inspiration and guidance. I am also thankful to my family and friends for their support, and to the fellow graduate students for feedback and encouragement. This research was funded by fellowships from the American Center for Mongolian Studies and the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad program, and a Lewis and Clark grant from the American Philosophical Society. The writing of this article was supported by the Philanthropic Educational Organization. Numerous colleagues helped me clarify my research objectives, including but not limited to B. Batbuyan, Maria Fernández-Giménez, David Sneath, and I. Byambabaatar. Special thanks are due to friends who supported me in Mongolia, particularly D. Altanchimeg and Kh. Enkhtuya, and to the families who hosted me during my research. I am unable to list here the many other friends and colleagues who contributed to this research in meaning ways, but I am grateful to all. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ 8 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 11 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 1 : THE PROBLEM, THE RESEARCH, AND KEY CONCEPTS ................... 14 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 14 Discursive Manifestations of a Politics of Responsibility (Why does Everyone Say that Herders are Lazy?) .......................................................................................................... 18 Blaming it on the Socialist Legacy ........................................................................................ 20 Parallel Post-Disaster Discourses .......................................................................................... 21 Unworthy Disaster Subjects ............................................................................... 23 Whence the “Lazy Herder” Discourse ................................................................................... 25 Research Methodology .......................................................................................................... 28 Sociocultural Surveys and Nuances of Truth ..................................................... 29 The Research Setting ............................................................................................................. 33 Ethnographic Research in the Gobi .................................................................... 38 The Urban Research Circuit ............................................................................... 41 Theoretical Frameworks ........................................................................................................ 43 “Risk” ................................................................................................................. 44 Modernity and the Governance of Risk .............................................................. 46 “Vulnerability” ................................................................................................... 48 “Resilience” ........................................................................................................ 49 A “Neoliberal Agenda?” ..................................................................................... 51 Organization of the Dissertation ............................................................................................ 53 Chapter 2 : AN INCREASINGLY HAZARDOUS CLIMATE? CLIMATE CHANGE AND ZUD ......................................................................................................................... 64 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 64 Mongolian Climate ................................................................................................................ 66 Climate and Weather Anomalies ........................................................................ 69 Observed Climate Change in Mongolia ................................................................................ 72 Gobi Herders’ Observations of Climate Change ................................................ 77 Climate Change Projections .................................................................................................. 80 Zud Definitions and Types ..................................................................................................... 82 Historical Zud ........................................................................................................................ 88 Case Study 1: White /Cold Zud in 1954-1955 and 1956-1957 .......................... 93 Case Study 2: White Zud in Spring 1993 ........................................................... 95 Case Study 3: Back-to-Back Zud from 1999 to 2002 ......................................... 98 Case Study 4: Storm Zud in Spring 2008 ......................................................... 102 Case Study 5: Variations of Zud in 2009-2010 ................................................ 105 Chapter 3 : HERDERS’ “RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES”: WINTERING IN RURAL MONGOLIA TAKES HARD WORK ............................................................. 115 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 115 So, Are Herders Lazy? ......................................................................................................... 116 6 Migration ............................................................................................................................. 117 Fodder .................................................................................................................................. 120 Hand Fodder ..................................................................................................... 125 Keeping Animals Warm .....................................................................................................