The Oral History of Twentieth Century Mongolia project ran from 2007-2012, and lead to the creation of an on-line, dual-language database with over 600 interviews on a variety of themes and about a wide range of life experiences during Mongolia's turbulent twentieth century, which saw Mongolia move from being a part of the Qing Empire to an aristocratic theocracy to Soviet-style socialism and democracy. The interviews range from about one hour in length to over five hours long and were conducted all across Mongolia. The oldest person interviewed was born in 1911, the youngest in 1980. Some have PhDs, some have almost no education.
The Oral History of Twentieth Century Mongolia was a collaborative project between the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit (MIASU) of the University of Cambridge and the National University of Mongolia with funding from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The goal of the project was to create new understandings of people’s memories of how they understood, reacted to and even attempted to pre-empt experiences of state transformations, such as collectivization, education and hygiene campaigns. It not only documents individuals’ engagements with the state, but sheds light on the larger processes whereby people’s social, political, cultural and economic contexts inform their memories of such responses.
Project website: amantuuh.socanth.cam.ac.uk