Oral Tradition as Means of Expression of the Landscape Identity : A Case Study of the Altai Uriankhais
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The landscape of the nomadic Inner Asia is frequently approached as a land without a fixed identity. In case of the premodern Mongolian cultural area, the administrative units (e.g.: ayimaG, ulus, qosiGu) were perceived primarily as groups of people, only secondarily as territorial structures occupying a certain territory. Although this idea partially persisted till the early 20th century (e.g., in the Oirat understanding of the term nutu? as “local community” rather than the meaning “native land” common in the Khalkha dialect), a systematic documentation of local communitarian oral memories on regional level shows an oral tradition largely built on references to a specific territory (as theorized by Vansina 1985: 45-46). Presenter’s research of the oral tradition of the Altai Uriankhais in the Western Mongolia testifies, that the vitality of an oral tradition is largely dependent on an active relationship with a specific landscape, it is enlivened by regular contact with specific places in the landscape that serve as mnemonic devices for remembering and passing on oral narratives. The Altai Uriankhais, as an ethnic group that has undergone several long-distance migrations over the past three centuries, shows that the loss of direct contact with the landscape brings significant interruptions to the process of oral tradition transmission. After moving to a new territory, the community produces new narratives associated with the newly inhabited landscape, creating a new landscape identity influenced by geographical conditions and relations with neighbouring groups (mainly the Torgud and Zakhchin in case of the Altai Uriankhais). This repeated process, which is understandable and logical in the historical dynamics of Inner Asia, also has a significant relevance to the issues of economic use of the landscape. A part of the oral tradition is formed by the information about the seasonal use of pastures by mobile pastoralists in times of abundance as well as in times of climatic fluctuations. The oral tradition offers valuable information about the historical use of the landscape at the intersection of external changes represented, for example, by changes in administrative boundaries. This presentation intends to elucidate the relationship between the oral tradition and the landscape identity based on toponymic references in oral tradition narratives of the Altai Uriankhais of Mongolia. |
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