Huns on the Ruins of Socialism: Public Past in Inner Asian Cities

Zbigniew Szmyt

Huns on the Ruins of Socialism: Public Past in Inner Asian Cities

Publication date: 2021

Ethnographies, 2021, Vol 49 Issue 1-2, pp. 145 - 167

https://doi.org/10.4467/22999558.PE.21.010.14132

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Huns on the Ruins of Socialism: Public Past in Inner Asian Cities

Abstract

This paper examines the process of Hunnic symbols introduction to urban space. The question is, why rapidly expanding and modernizing cities at the same time create so many references to ancient archaeological cultures that previously played almost no role in the urban or national culture? The main emphasis is on public past in two cities: Ulaanbaatar and Ulan-Ude. In order to provide insight into this variety of social behaviours, an increased focus is put on: indigenous placemaking, shamanic activity in the city, new temporalization and local politics of memory. As a consequence of these processes, new senses of urban space, time and history are established. The study presents the results of ethnographic fieldwork in Mongolia and Eastern Siberia 2018–2020.

Keywords

Inner Asia, Ulaanbaatar, Ulan-Ude, Mongolia, Siberia, Huns, placemaking, public past, urban shamanism, urban anthropology, post-socialism

Huns, placemaking, public past, urban shamanism, urban anthropology, post-socialism, Inner Asia, Ulaanbaatar, Ulan-Ude, Mongolia, Siberia

References

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Information

Information: Ethnographies, 2021, Vol 49 Issue 1-2, pp. 145 - 167

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/22999558.PE.21.010.14132

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

Huns on the Ruins of Socialism: Public Past in Inner Asian Cities

English:

Huns on the Ruins of Socialism: Public Past in Inner Asian Cities

Authors

Zbigniew Szmyt

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6658-0317

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

Published at: 2021

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Percentage share of authors:

Zbigniew Szmyt (Author) - 100%

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English

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