This is a monthly listing of selected academic activities and resources related to Mongolia. This list is based on information the ACMS has received and is presented as a service to its members. If you would like to submit information to be included in next month's issue please contact the ACMS at info@mongoliacenter.org and/or the editor, Marissa Smith, at msmith@mongoliacenter.org.

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ACMS Sponsored Programs and Events
New Books in the ACMS Library
Call for Papers, Conferences and Workshops
Research Fellowships, Scholarships and Grants
Position Openings
Resources
News and Events
Recent Publications
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ACMS Sponsored Programs and Events

ACMS Speaker Series:  Brian White, Editor, The Mongolist. Understanding Mongolia: Fact, Fiction, and Everything In Between.  5:30 PM, Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013, American Corner, Natsagdorj Library.   The digital age has made easy information something we take for granted. Every second journalists, academics, think tanks, bloggers, and many other knowledge producers provide timely analysis and synthesis of complex issues. Except on Mongolia. Information is a bit more sparse in that area, and it is often difficult to sort out what is fact, fiction, and everything in between because of a lack of trusted information sources and even information itself. Brian White created the blog "The Mongolist " in 2012 as his way to supplement his own unending curiosity about Mongolian politics, business, and society and to contribute to a better understanding of Mongolian issues among the public by using an investigative evidence based approach to his writing. In this lecture, Mr. White will present on several topics he's investigated for his blog and expand on some of their more interesting and important implications.

 

New Books in the ACMS Library

H. Vogtmann and N. Dobretsov (Eds.). 2006. Environmental Security and Sustainable Land Use: With Special Reference to Central Asia. Springer.

E. Endicott.  2012.  The History of Land Use in Mongolia: Thirteenth Century to the Present. Palgrave Macmillan.

M. Mulder and P. Coppolillo.  2005.  Conservation: Linking Ecology, Economics, and Culture. Princeton University Press.  

P. Luvsandorj, C. Khashchuluun and N. Batnasan (Eds.).  2012.  Mongolia at the Market: Dedicated to the 60th Anniversary of the School of Economic Studies. LIT Verlag. 

J. Dierkes (Ed.). 2012. Change in Democratic Mongolia: Social Relations, Health, Mobile Pastoralism, and Mining. Brill Publishing.

R. Bedeski and N. Swanstrom (Eds.).  2012.   Eurasia's Ascent in Energy and Geopolitics: Rivalry or Partnership for China, Russia and Central Asia?  Routledge.

M. Rossabi.  2012. The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press

 

Call for Papers, Conferences, Workshops, and other Academic Programs 

Call for Articles: The Journal of the Anthropology of the Contemporary Middle East and Central Eurasia (ACME) is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to the anthropological studies of all societies and cultures in the Middle East and Central Eurasia. Its scope is to publish original research by social scientists not only in the area of anthropology but also in sociology, folklore, religion, material culture and related social sciences. It includes all areas of modern and contemporary Middle East and Central Eurasia (Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, China) including topics on minority groups and religious themes. The journal also will review monographic studies, reference works, results of conferences, and international workshops. ACME also publishes review essays, reviews of books and multimedia products (including music, films, and web sites) relevant to the main aims of the journal. All submissions for articles are peer-reviewed. ACME is published with the financial support and collaboration of Groupe Societes, Religions, Laicites, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France. For general enquiries and Instructions for Authors, please visit: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/anthropologyiran/acme/contact/.

Call for Articles: Asian Literature and Translation (ALT) is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal established by the Centre for the History of Religion in Asia (CHRA), Cardiff University. The main objective of the journal is to publish research papers, translations, and reviews in the field of Asian religious literature (construed in the widest sense) in a form that makes them quickly and easily accessible to the international academic community, to professionals in related fields, such as theatre and storytelling, and to the general public.  The scope of the journal covers the cultural, historical, and religious literature of South, Southeast, East and Central Asia in the relevant languages (e.g. Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, et al.). We particularly welcome literary translations, including extracts from longer works in progress, manuscript reports and commentarial material, new adaptations of classic texts, archive stories and debate pieces, and the discussion of new approaches to translation. Book and performance reviews, including visual material, and letters to the editor, including responses to published material, are also solicited.  Contributions are welcome on a wide range of topics in the research area as defined above. For further information see: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/share/research/centres/chra/whatwedo/journal-asian-lit-and-translation.html.

Workshop: Postsocialist Cultural Studies: Methodology and Research, St. Petersburg (Russia), June 29 - July 5, 2013. More than twenty years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the dispersal of the global socialist movement. Since then, we have been living in a post-world that is variously characterized as postsocialist, post-Marxist, postmodernist, and postcolonialist. This new condition has challenged scholars to find appropriate concepts, theories, and methods. In the 1990s, such theories as "transition", "path-dependency", and "multiple modernities" became popular among post-scholars. Over the decades, these concepts have revealed their problematic character. Empirical studies of the cultural condition of postsocialism in its most problematic manifestations - class, gender, generational, regional, ethnic, confessional, etc. - reveal continuities, gaps, and hybridizations that were not predicted by ideologues. But the concept of post-socialism is still in demand. In various forms that range from memory to inertia, the socialist legacy makes its impact on cultural processes, social troubles, and the political quests in the post-Soviet and global space. In our problematic world, methodologies and reality illuminate and challenge each other. The Summer School will discuss the emerging concepts and visions that inform our research of the world after socialism. Faculty: Prof. Katherine Verdery (City University of New York, USA), Prof. Alexander Etkind (Cambridge University, UK), Prof. AlmiraOusmanova (European University for Humanities, Lithuania), Prof. Vladimir Ilyin (St. Petersburg State University, Russia). Target group: Doctoral students and junior researchers. The languages of the summer school are Russian and English. Doctoral students and junior researchers who are accepted for the summer school are eligible for grants. These grants are limited and cover travel and/or accommodation costs up to a set amount. Applications should be submitted to: summerschoolkazan@gmail.com  by April 15, 2013.Applicants will be notified about their acceptance no later than May 6, 2013.The application should include: letter of motivation (1 page max.), brief description of current research project (1 page max.), short CV (no more than 3 pages), contact information (email, telephone and postal address), indication of interest in applying for grant to cover travel and/or accommodation costs.

Conference: Kazakhs of the Altai, Bayan-Ulgii, Mongolia, October 7-8, 2013. The Conference is being convened to focus on issues relevant to Kazakh studies and to build linkages between Mongolian and foreign scientific researchers from all disciplines.  Themes: History: origin of the Kazakhs, other historical problems. Religion and Tradition: eagle hunting, wedding traditions, religious customs, etc. Language, Literature, Oral Cultural Heritage: oral tales, myths, aitis (vocals), riddles, Arabic texts. Current Issues: transition to a market economy, globalization, Oralmandar project, language policy. Proposals may be submitted in Kazakh, Mongolian, Russian, French or English and must: include a completed cover page as outlined below; be prepared in Microsoft Word; use Times New Roman typeface with 12 point font; be single spaced and up to 10 pages in length; include a summary in either English or Russian; provide images in JPG or TIFF formats and tables in Microsoft Excel; and include complete references. Organizers: Center for Social and Economic Research in Bayan-Ulgii Province, Academy of Sciences of Mongolia, Altan-Argamag ONG, and the Teachers College of Bayan-Ulgii. Conference Chair:B. Altangul, Ph.D., (Professor at the National University of Mongolia, Altan-Argamag ONG) altaabol@yahoo.com, + 976-99 14 15 01. Vice President: G. Zolbayar, Ph.D., (Director, Center for Social and Economic Research, Academy of Sciences Bayan-Ulgii Province) zolbayargagaa@yahoo.com, + 976-93094146, Vice President: Kh. Edilkhan, Ph.D., (Director, Teaches College, Bayan-Ulgii) edilkhan.khonisbay@yahoo.com , + 976- 99423158. Secretary: B. Umirbeck (Section Head, Center for History and Archaeology Research, Academy of Sciences, Province of Bayan-Ulgii, argun_kz@yahoo.com, + 976-99429171. Fees cover registration, hotel, meals and cultural activities associated with the conference. Foreign researchers – 200 USD Mongolian researchers: 100000tugrics. We are unable to cover the cost of international or national transportation for conference participants. Conference participants may attend the 16th annual Bayan-Ulgii Eagle Hunters Festival, free of charge, on October 6-7, 2013 in the village of "SaytTolgoi" Bugat, Bayan-Ulgii. Deadline: May 15, 2013.

Call for Manuscripts: "Central Asia," Education About Asia (EAA) is the peer-reviewed teaching journal of the Association for Asian Studies. Our approximately 1,800 readers include undergraduate instructors as well as high school and middle school teachers. Our articles are intended to provide educators, who are often not specialists, with basic understanding of Asia-related content. Qualified referees evaluate all manuscripts submitted for consideration. Most of our subscribers teach and work in history, the social sciences, or the humanities. We are in the process of developing a special section titled 'Central Asia' for the fall 2013 issue of EAA. In this special section, we invite authors to submit manuscripts that assist instructors and students in secondary school and college/university introductory survey courses in the humanities or social sciences to better understand Central Asian cultures and history. This special section will include articles on a variety of both historical and contemporary topics. Manuscripts on early and modern history, geography, economics, culture, and contemporary geopolitics are especially encouraged. We welcome manuscripts from teachers, scholars, journalists, or others who have expertise in the topic. Prospective authors should be aware that approximately fifty percent of our readers teach at the undergraduate level and the rest are secondary or middle school teachers. Please consult the EAA guidelines, available on the website under my signature before submitting a manuscript for this special section. Pay particular attention to feature and teaching resources manuscript word-count ranges. Prospective authors are also encouraged to share possible manuscript ideas with me via email. The deadline for initial submission of manuscripts is June 10, 2013. Contact the editor, Lucien Ellington at l-ellington@comcast.net.

 

Research Fellowships, Scholarships and Grants 

MPhil/PhD: The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London is pleased to be able to announce a new scholarship opportunity for research applicants whose proposed research topic is on Chinese History with a focus on the intensifying encounter - economic or otherwise -between China and the West during the second half of the nineteenth/early twentieth century.  For applicants classified as Overseas for fee purpose, the total value of the scholarship will be 23,625 per year for up to 3 years subject to satisfactory progress.  For applicants classified as Home/EU for fee purposes, the total value of the scholarship will be 15,345 per year for up to 3 years subject to satisfactory progress. The deadline for applications is 17 June 2013.  Start of the programme: October 2013. Visit:
http://www.soas.ac.uk/registry/scholarships/the-swire-scholarship-in-chinese-history.html

Fulbright Regional Travel Program.  The East Asia and Pacific Programs Branch at ECA (ECA/A/E/EAP) has established a Regional Travel Program (aka “travel pot”) to support the regional travel of U.S. Fulbright Scholars (not students) in order to offer local institutions, partner governments, posts and commissions the opportunity to benefit from the academic and professional expertise of Fulbrighters based in another EAP country. The travel pot provides a way to increase the impact of the Fulbright program in the region at a modest cost.  The visit itself should be used to enhance and support the joint interests of the visiting U.S. Fulbright scholar and his or her host institution collaborators. Receiving Posts and Commissions may also utilize the Regional Travel Program to invite a scholar to engage key audiences on priority topics. Activities may include lectures, workshops, graduate or faculty seminars, master classes or recitals, curricular advising, public lectures or panel presentations.  As a general rule, programs should last at least three (3) days but not more than two (2) weeks. Funding will be available on a first-come. An individual scholar is not likely to receive more than two grants from the “travel pot” in a given program year, although exceptions may be granted.  While the Fulbright scholar may wish to use some of their free time for research or other independent academic work, such activities should not be the primary purpose of their travel nor should it represent more than a small portion of their time spent in country. Travel pot funds are to be primarily used to cover between country travels. Grantees will be funded for round-trip fare (usually via air) by the most economical route from their site to the travel destination. In the event that the program requires in-country ground travel for the scholar to transit from the arrival city to the city where the activities are taking place, these costs may also be funded by the regional travel program. Cost sharing by receiving-country institutions and/or posts and commissions is highly desirable. Cost sharing is not required in the event the scholar assumes responsibility for hotel/housing and per diem costs.  For more information on the program in Mongolia contact: Ms. UyangaAyur, Cultural Assistant, U.S. Embassy, Mongolia at: Uyanga@state.gov.   

Doctorate Scholarship: The Open Society Foundations offers supplementary grants to students from select countries in Southeastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Mongolia, the Middle East/North Africa, and South Asia. The program enables qualified students to pursue doctoral studies in the humanities and social sciences at accredited universities in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Students pursuing doctorates in the medical, physical, chemical, technical or natural sciences as well as fine or performing arts are not eligible for this grant. GSGP grants are for students pursuing doctorate degrees only. Students admitted to Master’s programs with the intent to continue, but who are not clearly admitted into a PhD program, are ineligible. Please note that this is a supplementary program and not intended for full funding. Applicants must be able to demonstrate additional support from other sources. Candidates are strongly encouraged to apply online at https://oas.soros.org/oas/. The deadline for the GSGP North America award is April 1, 2013, and the deadline for GSGP Europe is May 21, 2013. Questions regarding the application can be sent to: scholar2@opensocietyfoundations.org.

Postdoc: The Oriental Institute, Prague, is offering one-year fellowships to outstanding scholars (with a preference on non-Czech residents) of history and cultures of the countries of Asia (with a preference on Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, East Asia) for the 2013-2014 academic year. This position is open to recent PhDs (as a post-doctoral position). PhD must be completed by September 1, 2013. Terms: The position is open beginning by September 2013 (negotiable). The annual salary will be in the 12.000-14.500 EUR range. Researchers are expected to be in residence at the Oriental Institute in Prague. During their residence, researchers are required to produce academic publications (ideally turn their doctoral dissertations into monographs) and participate in all Oriental Institute seminars and other events. We reserve the right not to fill this position. Deadline for applications: May 31, 2013.Notification: June 30, 2013. Visit: http://www.orient.cas.cz/sd/novinky/hlavni-stranka/news_0040.html

Postdoc: Social Anthropology of Zoonoses in Central Asia.   In the project "Social Representations of Pathogens and the Species Boundaries Between" supported by the fund Axa, the Laboratory of Social Anthropology will recruit a researcher from 1 September 2013 to examine the perception of animal diseases in Central Asia, Mongolia and Siberia. The researcher should have filed his doctoral thesis before 31 March 2013, and studied the relationship between humans and animals in the geographical and cultural area. In the context of this post-doctoral contract with the Collège de France, he / she will acquire a general knowledge of animal diseases and participate in the work of the team "Relationships men / animals: Contemporary Issues." He / she will develop a questionnaire on the perception of these diseases by the people who live in contact with animals, will land on his ethnography of expertise and contribute to the analysis of data for a comparative approach to social and environmental diseases. Applicants should send before April 15 and draft a CV of less than five pages showing the relevance of their research for this project. Contact: Frédéric Keck - Laboratoire d'anthropologie sociale - 52 rue Cardinal Lemoine - 75005 Paris -   frederic.keck@college-de-france.fr

 

Position Openings

Position, Assistant or Associate Professor: The Department of Asian Studies at The University of Haifa invites applications for a tenure-track appointment at the Assistant and Associate Professor level (Martze, Martze Bachir) on Modern Asia Studies. We are particularly interested in applicants whose scholarship focuses on modern Asia in the disciplines of Anthropology, Business Management, Communication, Cultural Studies, Economics, History, International Relations, Sociology, Political Economy, Political Science and related fields. The successful candidate will be joining a young and vibrant department, which concentrates on Modern Asia, has a vigorous research culture, and whose faculty and graduate students have made significant contributions to scholarship in a wide range of areas. The appointment will commence on October 1, 2013, subject to budgetary approval. For further information visit our website: http://asia.haifa.ac.il Applicants must have a completed Ph.D., or be near completion, (completed by autumn 2013), and have a minimum of two peer reviewed publications. They should demonstrate considerable promise in research, teaching, and scholarly achievements. Applicants should send: (1) a letter of application, (2) a C.V., (3) evidence of teaching ability, (4) three letters of recommendation, which should be sent directly by the referees to the email below, and (5) a sample publication to: Ms. Adi Ophir-Lamdan, Administrator, Department of Asian Studies, asian-studies@univ.haifa.ac.il. Applications should be received by 15 April 2013. Applications will be reviewed on April 29, 2013; the position will be open until it is filled. In accordance with Israeli immigration requirements, this advertisement is directed in the first instance to Israeli citizens and permanent residents. Nevertheless, applications by all qualified candidates are welcome. The University of Haifa is committed to the principles of employment equality.

Position, Professor: The Faculty of History and Arts, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat (LMU), invites applications for a Full Professorship (W3) of Russian/Asian Studies commencing on 01 October 2013. The position at professor rank covers broad regional expertise in Russian history as well as a sub-region of Asia in research and teaching. Applicants should have contributed excellent research to the historical analysis of processes of transfer and/or to comparative history in the fields of Russian and Asian studies. Furthermore the successful candidate is expected to participate in the newly established Graduate School for Eastern and Southeastern European Area Studies (http://areastudies-osteuropa.de). Prerequisites for this position are a university and a doctoral degree, teaching skills at university level, excellent academic achievements and a productive and promising research program. LMU Munich makes a point of providing newly appointed professors with various types of support, such as welcoming services and assistance for dual career couples. Please submit your application comprising a curriculum vitae, documentation of academic degrees and certificates as well as a list of publications to the Dean of the Faculty of History and Arts, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, D-80539-Munich, Germany, no later than April 19, 2013 (date of receipt).Contact: Dean of the Faculty of History and Arts, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, 1D-80539 Munich, Germany. Visit: http://www.geschichts-und-kunstwissenschaften.uni-muenchen.de/index.html; http://areastudies-osteuropa.de

 

Resources

We are pleased to announce the new website for the The Dukha Ethnoarchaeological Project.  The primary goal of the Dukha Ethnoarchaeological Project is the development of spatial theory of human behavior for application to archaeological problems.  Visit the website at: https://sites.google.com/site/dukhaethnoarch/.

We are pleased to announce the new website for Asian Politics and History Association. Asian Politics and History Association is a non-political, non-profit academic society organized by scholars of Asian studies. Established in 2011 in Hong Kong, APHA currently has members from Asian-Pacific, European and North American countries. APHA supports the Journal of Asian Politics & History, an academic journal published twice a year beginning in October 2012.  Visit the website at: http://www.aphahk.org.

Juniper: Online Database for Mongolian and Siberian Studies. This new French scientific tool is created at the initiative of the Centre for Mongolian and Siberian EPHE. It aims to bring together texts (native), images and multimedia on the peoples of Mongolia and Siberia. Several galleries of images are presented, including collections of old prints and a new series of old photographs of the Tuvan National Museum. Sheets populations gather essential information and links to documents relating to the peoples of Northern Asia.  Subject files (kinship, Personalia, shamanism and soon others) allow you to browse the data according to thematic itineraries.  The bibliography contains references to books and articles, some of which have been digitized and can be downloaded for researchers.  Visit: www.base-juniper.org.

Searchable Ornithological Research Archive (SORA).  Recently the University of New Mexico Library officially announced the launch of the new, upgraded Searchable Ornithological Research Archive (SORA). The ornithological community is once again indebted to the UNM library for investing in the open access distribution of our historical ornithological literature. SORA has been moved to a new platform that will allow the resource to grow and expand over time. Many of the SORA journal titles have been updated with additional articles, and a new ornithological title has been added to the site. SORA now offers a number of new features for users and provides tools for journal publishers to update the SORA repository directly, with little or no technical support.  All of these improvements have been needed for some time, and the UNM Libraries SORA team appreciates your collective patience; it has taken over a year to convert the entire SORA article holdings and prepare the new site for production. A number of ongoing improvements are still in the works for 2013, and as with any major system upgrade, there are a countless number of small details that still require attention. The new URL to the site ishttp://sora.unm.edu.

The Mongolist is a website dedicated to sharing knowledge about Mongolian politics, business, and society. The website is an ever growing resource built on data and information collected on the Internet and in Mongolia. The aim of this website is to make understanding the complexity of the rapid social and economic change occurring in Mongolia not only accessible but also rewarding.  The underlying principle guiding the development of all content on this website is evidence based investigation. Whenever possible, opinion, conjecture, and pure guesswork are replaced with facts, data, and extrapolation. And, when this is not possible, opinion, conjecture, and pure guesswork are advertised as such.  Visit: http://www.themongolist.com/

Education About Asia: EAA has become an essential resource for teachers dealing with Asian themes or topics; both in the broad trans-continental and regional contexts.  Conceived as a publication for K-12 faculty, it has in fact proved to be extremely helpful for higher education faculty seeking insights on many subjects. The Asian Studies outreach activities of many colleges and universities have greatly benefited from EAA materials.  Register (for free) to access approximately 900 articles from all thirty-seven back issues from 1996-2008: http://www.asian-studies.org/EAA/index.htm and subscribe to the Print Edition at https://www.asian-studies.org/EAA-Subscriptions.htm.

Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center: Indiana University’s IAUNRC has updated its website to include not only its regular newsletters but podcasts, lecture videos, teaching resources and more:  http://www.iu.edu/~iaunrc/.

Mongolia Today: “This blog is an attempt by three avid Mongolia watchers to share their observations about current developments in Mongolia.” By Julian Dierkes and Dalaibulanii Byambajav, social scientists at the University of British Columbia, this blog mostly follows Mongolian politics and the mining sector. Visit: http://blogs.ubc.ca/mongolia/. 

News and Events

Monthly Biobeers Talk: First Thursday of the month, Sweet Cafe (located behind the Information and Technological National Park and next to the Admon Printing Company, west of Internom Bookstore Building). People are requested to arrive after 6pm, in time for the talk to start at 6.30. Biobeers is a monthly gathering of government and NGO staff, biologists, researchers, and other professionals interested in conservation. Each month, Biobeers sponsors a half-hour presentation on a topic relevant to Mongolian conservation, followed by an informal gathering to discuss activities and issues of interest. Biobeers is an opportunity to find out what is happening in the field of conservation in Mongolia, talk informally to other researchers and peers in your field, and share information about issues critical to the environment and people of Mongolia. Biobeers is organised by the Zoological Society of London's Steppe Forward Programme and sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Society. Join the Yahoo! Group Mongolbioweb for announcements.  

Recent Publications

LIVE FROM UB: A Documentary on Modern Mongolian Rock. Lauren Knapp (Fulbright-mtvU Fellow 2012) is in post-production on her documentary film LIVE FROM UB. She spent ten months in Mongolia researching the rock music scene, its history, and how the new generation of musicians is fusing traditional music and themes with modern styles to create something that is unique to both their generation and Mongolia. Lauren was first interested to learn how the first generation of Mongolians to grow up in a democracy was expressing themselves through music. She found that the trajectory of Mongolian rock through, emulates the path Mongolia has taken as a nation over the past three decades. You can read more about the film, her research, and watch exclusive videos on the film website (www.livefromub.com).

Does Everyone Want Democracy?: Insights from Mongolia. Paula Sabloff. (Left Coast Press). Do all people desire democracy? For at least a century, the idea that democracy is a universal good has been an article of faith for American policy makers. Paula Sabloff challenges this conventional wisdom about who wants democracy and why. Arguing that certain universal human aspirations exist, she shows how local realities are highly particularistic and explains that culture, history, and values are critical to the study of political systems. Her fascinating study of Mongolia—feudal until it became the first country to follow Russia into communism and now struggling with post-socialist democratization—is a model for investigating how everyday people around the world actually think about and implement democracy on their own terms.

A History of Land Use in Mongolia: The Thirteenth Century to the Present. (Palgrave Macmillan). Elizabeth Endicott.  2012.  A History of Land Use in Mongolia examines conceptual and practical issues of land use during eight centuries of Mongolian history.  The book analyzes how Mongolia's pastoral nomadic herding population historically has dealt with secular and religious forms of authority in the ongoing struggle for control over pastureland and water resources.  The author's findings derive from a number of field trips to the Mongolian countryside as well as a diverse array of written sources including Russian geographic treatises, historical texts, Mongolian press accounts, and Western economic analyses of the present day herding sector.

A Kazakh Teacher's Story: Surviving the Silent Steppe. (Stacey International).  Mukhamet Shayakhmetov.  2013.  This book begins where 'The Silent Steppe' left off. It is early 1945, and the author, Mukhamet, still recuperating from serious war injuries, has traveled thousands of kilometers back to his home village in the eastern Kazakh steppe. As he encounters scenes of desperate poverty, he quickly realizes the immense sacrifices made by local people, and particularly women, while the able-bodied men were away fighting. Mukhamet endeavors to pick up the pieces of his pre-war life, working hard to support his extended family, marrying, continuing his education, and eventually embarking on a life in teaching dedicated to giving young people the best education possible. Through his insightful portraits of local party bosses, district officials and bureaucrats, and tales of the vicissitudes of daily life, a broader, more personal picture emerges of life under Stalin, and of his pervading shadow decades on. The author's moral integrity, stoicism and profound respect for the struggles of the common people stand out in this memoir of a life of self-effacing dedication.

Energy Access, Poverty, and Development: The Governance of Small-Scale Renewable Energy in Developing Asia (Ashgate Studies in Environmental Policy and Practice). (Ashgate Pub Co).   Benjamin K. Sovacool and Ira Martina Drupady. 2012.  This book showcases how small-scale renewable energy technologies such as solar panels, cook stoves, biogas digesters, microhydro units, and wind turbines are helping Asia respond to a daunting set of energy governance challenges. Using extensive original research this book offers a compendium of the most interesting renewable energy case studies over the last ten years from one of the most diverse regions in the world. Through an in-depth exploration of case studies in Bangladesh, China, India, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, and Sri Lanka, the authors highlight the applicability of different approaches and technologies and illuminates how household and commercial innovations occur (or fail to occur) within particular energy governance regimes. It also, uniquely, explores successful case studies alongside failures or "worst practice" examples that are often just as revealing as those that met their targets. Based on these successes and failures, the book presents twelve salient lessons for policymakers and practitioners wishing to expand energy access and raise standards of living in some of the world's poorest communities. It also develops an innovative framework consisting of 42 distinct factors that explain why some energy development interventions accomplish all of their goals while others languish to achieve any.

The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors (Complete Illustrated History 1). (I. B. Tauris).  Christoph Baumer. 2012. The epic plains and arid deserts of Central Asia have witnessed some of the greatest migrations, as well as many of the most transformative developments, in the history of civilization. Christoph Baumer's ambitious four-volume treatment of the region charts the 3000-year drama of Scythians and Sarmatians; Soviets and transcontinental Silk Roads; trade routes and the transmission of ideas across the steppes; and the breathless and brutal conquests of Alexander the Great and Chinghis Khan. Masterfully interweaving the stories of individuals and peoples, the author's engaging prose is richly augmented throughout by color photographs taken on his own travels. For all the complexity of the history, Dr. Baumer, a noted authority on Central Asia, never loses sight of the sweeping grandeur of its overall setting. Volume 1 focuses on the geography of the area now occupied by present-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, northern Afghanistan, western and central Mongolia and parts of southern Russia and northern China. Discussing the changing climates of the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Ages, the author explores subjects as diverse as glacial retreat; the invention of the wheel; the legendary Cimmerians and Amazons; Hellenism and Zoroastrianism; and the Oxus Treasure. Future volumes will explore the later historical periods of the region.

The Short Essays of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.  (Paths International Ltd.). Wang Hong and Zhang Shunsheng.  2013.  The late Ming Dynasty (1572-1644) and the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1722) saw the true splendour of short essays in China. No other period in the history of short essays in ancient China can match them in the quality and number of works, literary schools, or the variety of styles. Compared with those written before or after, the short essays in these periods were richer in the choice of topics, and freer in form, focusing not only on real social life, but also on worldly experience and life's little delights. They are a rich and vital part of China's literary and cultural heritage. The 127 short essays in this wonderful book are considered to be the very best examples from an era of China's history that's synonymous with beautifully crafted short essays. 82 essays are from the Ming Dynasty and 45 essays are from the Qing Dynasty, written by more than a hundred different Chinese authors from both dynasties. These are arranged in the order of the authors' birth dates and tenderly translated into English by leading Chinese translators Wang Hong and Zhang Shunsheng, who have faithfully represented the styles and literary achievements made by the featured essayists. It's a wonderful book that will delight fans of classic Chinese short essays, as well as providing the perfect introduction to readers new to the genre.

Mongolia’s Nomads: Life on the Steppe.  Nina Wegner, Taylor Weidman. 2012.  For millennia, pastoral herders have lived on the Mongolian steppe, moving with their livestock according to the seasons. They still live in traditional felt tents, subsisting on the meat and milk of their animals, and living “as free as the country is wide.”  But today, Mongolia is on the fast track for change: desertification and climate change are threatening pastures and herds, while some of the world’s largest reserves in coal, copper, and gold are positioning Mongolia to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Nomads now face a choice that will shape the future of their country: withstand new threats on the steppe, or give up herding in search of new opportunities. The Vanishing Cultures Project traveled to Mongolia in 2012 to document the ancient traditions of nomads and to understand their current struggles. Packed with first-person interviews, perspectives, and anecdotes from herders, Mongolia’s Nomads reveals what ancient nomadic philosophies and traditions are still practiced by herders, where these customs come from, why they are so important, and how they may be altered forever by shifting climates, development, and new ways of life.  Available at: http://www.vcproject.org/mongolias-nomads/.

Reindeer Herders in my Heart: Stories of Healing Journeys to Mongolia.  Sas Carey.  2012. Join Sas Carey as she follows her calling to a remote community of nomadic reindeer herders in the northernmost reaches of Mongolia. Live her experiences and encounter the spirit world, truth, ancient ways of healing, and a strong heart connection. A registered nurse, energy healer, educator, writer, and filmmaker, Sas is the founder and director of Nomadicare, which works to support the healthcare and cultural survival of Mongolia's nomadic herders.  Available at: http://nomadicare.org/new-book/.