A Magpie’s Tale : : Ethnographic and Historical Perspectives on the Kazakh of Western Mongolia / / Anna Odland Portisch.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2023
• VerfasserIn: Portisch, Anna Odland,
• Place / Publishing House: New York; , Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Series: Lifeworlds: Knowledges, Politics, Histories ; 1
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (282 p.)

Telling the story of the author's time living with a Kazakh family in a small village in western Mongolia, this book contextualizes the family’s personal stories within the broader history of the region. It looks at the position of the Kazakh over time in relation to Tsarist Russian, Soviet, Chinese and Mongolian rule and influence. These are stories of migration across generations, bride kidnappings and marriage, domestic violence and alcoholism, adoption and family, and how people have coped in the face of political and economic crisis, poverty and loss, and, perhaps most enduringly, how love and family persist through all of this.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations, Figures and Maps -- Notes on Transliteration -- Introduction -- Part I. First Introductions -- Chapter 1. Beginnings -- Chapter 2. Relations -- Chapter 3. Ölgii Town -- Chapter 4. Drive to Soghakh -- Chapter 5. First Days with the Family -- Chapter 6. Two Horsemen -- Chapter 7. Night-Time and Morning Rituals -- Part II. Transitions -- Chapter 8. The Young Accountant -- Chapter 9. The Letter -- Chapter 10. The First House in the First Street -- Chapter 11. Thinking about the Past -- Chapter 12. The Age of the Market -- Chapter 13. Thick as Cream -- Chapter 14. Saving Graces -- Part III. Decisions -- Chapter 15. Living Arrangements -- Chapter 16. The People Who Move -- Chapter 17. The Winter Slaughter -- Chapter 18. Silver Flower -- Chapter 19. French Extraordinaires -- Chapter 20. Daughters-in-Law -- Chapter 21. The Young Uncle -- Part IV. Into the Past -- Chapter 22. The Shaman’s Son -- Chapter 23. The Closure of the Steppe -- Chapter 24. The Mongols of the West -- Chapter 25. New Year’s Eve -- Chapter 26. Kazakhs and Western Mongols -- Chapter 27. Night-Time Walk -- Chapter 28. Cossack Warriors and Settler Pioneers -- Chapter 29. A People Frozen in Time -- Chapter 30. Four Brothers -- Part V. New Futures -- Chapter 31. Across the Border -- Chapter 32. A Scar Necklace -- Chapter 33. A New Homeland -- Chapter 34. Family Ties -- Chapter 35. Kazakh Rebel Fighters of the Altai -- Chapter 36. One Hundred Per Cent Kazakh -- Chapter 37. The Red Terror -- Chapter 38. Kurban Ait -- Chapter 39. Mongolia’s Rich Cradle -- Part VI. Broken Ties -- Chapter 40. Stuck -- Chapter 41. The Strong-Willed Girl -- Chapter 42. Dimpled Bakhytbek -- Chapter 43. A Short Break -- Chapter 44. Broken Crown -- Chapter 45. The Visitor -- Chapter 46. Journey to Kazakhstan -- Part VII. New Worlds, Old Ties -- Chapter 47. Two Worlds -- Chapter 48. Brave New World -- Chapter 49. A First Wedding -- Chapter 50. Elnara’s Journey -- Chapter 51. An Autumn Wedding -- Chapter 52. Conclusion: A Magpie’s Tale -- Bibliography -- Index