Mobility and Displacement

"Myadar contributes a finely argued introduction to how nomadism as the lynchpin of Mongolian identity is both a persistent illusion and an ambivalent slogan. Mobility and Displacement raises crucial questions related to how this concept functions in a world of international brands and images. Answering those questions is a vital task." Christopher Atwood, Nomadic Peoples 26 No.1 (2022) "One of the books impressive features, among many, is how Myadar reflexively questions her own experiences, attachments and trajectory as someone who grew up in Mongolia and has spent the last several decades living and working as a scholar in the US....It is to the books tremendous credit that it opens up a space in which such questions can be asked by displacing the figure of the nomad, which, contrary to its evocation, has become frozen in time." Christian Sorace, Inner Asia 23 (20 21) 351360 (2022) "The book is a concise, readable, thought-provoking contribution to the literature on Mongolia. But it is more than that. It well illustrates the power and consequences of particular narratives about places, as well as the way those narratives reflect and shape cultural understandings/stereotypes that are driven by the culturally and politically driven impulses of outsiders and insiders alike. The latter point has particular significance for how we approach the "sense of place" concept. As Myadar makes clear, the dominant narrative about Mongolia is not just a product of external stereotyping; it is also reflected and reinforced internally as Mongolia seeks to carve out its independence from its powerful neighbors and promote nation-building. There is, in short, a synergistic external-internal dynamic at work in the development of Mongolias sense of place a point with obvious significance for work in cultural geography focused on the emotive and imaginary dimensions of place." Murphy, Alexander B. (2022): 474-475.

Orhon Myadar is a political geographer at the University of Arizona. She studies the intersection of geography and politics at various scales, specifically how borders of belonging or exclusion shape everyday struggles of underserved and marginalized individuals and communities.

1. Mongolia, Environment, and Nomadism 2. Making of Nomads: The Nomad Figure and Habitus 3. The Nomad Figure as the Imagined "Other" 4. Performing the Nomadic Identity 5. Mobility, Displacement, and Colonial Violence: The Qing Colonial Period (1650-1911) 6. In the Soviet Shadow (1921-1991) 7. Fenced Land: Discourse of Land in Post-Socialist Mongolia (1990-Present) Conclusion: Whence the Land of Nomads