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Department of Social Anthropology

 
Read more at: MIASU Seminar with Grégory Delaplace (University of Cambridge, MIASU)

MIASU Seminar with Grégory Delaplace (University of Cambridge, MIASU)

Tuesday, 24 February, 2026 - 16:30 to 18:00

MIASU Seminar with Grégory Delaplace (University of Cambridge, MIASU) Weddings, funerals, and social critique in contemporary Northwestern Mongolia This paper looks back at a few weddings witnessed for over twenty years in the north-westernmost province of Uvs in Mongolia. Commenting on what appears to have changed and...


Read more at: MIASU Seminar with Ruiyi Zhu (University of Cambridge)

MIASU Seminar with Ruiyi Zhu (University of Cambridge)

Tuesday, 10 February, 2026 - 16:30 to 18:00

Translation as Slippage: Mediative Labour and Contested Hybridity at a Chinese Mine in Mongolia Ruiyi Zhu (University of Cambridge) Since the economic liberalisation in the 1990s, Mongolia has experienced a significant influx of Chinese investment and labour, which has been a source of social tension. In particular...


Read more at: MIASU Seminar with Uradyn Bulag & Odbayar Ganbaatar (University of Cambridge & MIASU Visiting Scholar)

MIASU Seminar with Uradyn Bulag & Odbayar Ganbaatar (University of Cambridge & MIASU Visiting Scholar)

Tuesday, 10 March, 2026 - 16:30 to 18:00

Uradyn Bulag & Odbayar Ganbaatar (University of Cambridge & MIASU Visiting Scholar) Khalkha Mongols and Kazakhs: Chinggisid Recognition and Anti-Dzungar Cooperation This presentation examines a relationship largely overlooked in Inner Asian historiography: the connections between Kazakh polities and Khalkha Mongols...


Read more at: MIASU Seminar with Christian Luczanits (SOAS, London)

MIASU Seminar with Christian Luczanits (SOAS, London)

Tuesday, 27 January, 2026 - 16:30 to 18:00

MIASU Seminar with Christian Luczanits (SOAS, London) Researching Monastery Collections in Mustang: Background, Procedures and Discoveries In this presentation, I will first introduce the background of my project, Tibetan Buddhist Monastery Collections Today, and provide an overview of its achievements since 2012. I then...


Read more at: MIASU Seminar with Jenny Tang (University of Cambridge)

MIASU Seminar with Jenny Tang (University of Cambridge)

Monday, 11 March, 2024 - 12:00 to 13:30

Jenny Tang, Sigrid Rausing MIASU Doctoral Student in the Social Anthropology of Inner Asia, University of Cambridge ‘Mongolian time or German time?’: Rethinking the ‘nomadic’ through an art residency This Lunchtime Seminar explores the ideas of time and nomadism ethnographically through my doctoral fieldwork conducted with...


Read more at: MIASU Research Seminar with Eugene Simonov (University of New South Wales Canberra)

MIASU Research Seminar with Eugene Simonov (University of New South Wales Canberra)

Tuesday, 12 March, 2024 - 16:30

The fate of transboundary river ecosystems in times of conflict and cooperation Local communities, indigenous people and humans in general are dependent on healthy river ecosystems, which are becoming a scarce resource. Sizeable free-flowing rivers have been reduced by two thirds globally, mainly due to dam building for...


Read more at: MIASU Research Seminar with Kaori Horiuchi (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science & Visiting Scholar, MIASU, University of Cambridge)

MIASU Research Seminar with Kaori Horiuchi (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science & Visiting Scholar, MIASU, University of Cambridge)

Tuesday, 5 March, 2024 - 16:30

Moveable Boundary: Governing methods in Mongolian Nomadic Society during the Qing Period This study aims to provide a fresh perspective on the delineation of boundary in Qing-era Mongolia, revising the conventional understanding. Previous studies have demonstrated that in Khalkha Mongolia, the boundaries of leagues were...


Read more at: MIASU research seminar with Mark Aldenderfer (University of California Merced)

MIASU research seminar with Mark Aldenderfer (University of California Merced)

Tuesday, 27 February, 2024 - 16:30 to 18:00

What exactly was ancient Zhangzhung in far western Tibet? Variously called a state, empire, civilization, and the foundation of an indigenous Tibetan identity, Zhangzhung remains poorly understood despite more than two decades of systematic archaeological research. In this presentation, I will offer a reconstruction of the...


Read more at: MIASU research seminar with Dr Charlotte Ramble (University of Cambridge)

MIASU research seminar with Dr Charlotte Ramble (University of Cambridge)

Tuesday, 23 January, 2024 - 16:30 to 18:00

Figures of their time: what ‘convict officers’ in a rural district prison can tell us about state-making in Nepal More details are available: https://www.miasu.socanth.cam.ac.uk please email if you would like a Zoom link


Read more at: Onon Prize lecture with Professor Manduhai Buyandelger (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Onon Prize lecture with Professor Manduhai Buyandelger (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Monday, 2 October, 2023 - 16:30 to 18:00

Onon Prize lecture with Professor Manduhai Buyandelger (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Crisis in Animal Rescue: Rethinking Urbanization in a Multispecies World All animals are sentient beings, Mongolian Buddhism teaches, and humans are believed to have been dogs in their past lives. Yet the unregulated breeding...