The Steppe, Nomadism, The Xiongnu, and the Mongols

• *David Christian, "Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History," Journal of World History 11/1 (2000), pp. 1-26. A sweeping overview of the importance of the world of the steppe and steppe cultures for east-west exchange down through the millennia.
• *K. Gronbech, "The Steppe Region in World History," Acta Orientalia 23 (1959), pp. 43-56; 24 (1959), pp. 15-28; 25 (1960), pp. 1-14. The thrust of this is similar to that of Christian's more recent treatment above. The author was a very prominent Turcologist.
• *Owen Lattimore, "The Geographical Factor in Mongol History," The Geographical Journal, XCI/1 (1938); reprinted in idem, Studies in Frontier History. Collected Papers 1928-1938 (London etc.: Oxford UP, 1962), pp. 241-258. While this is framed in a now rather antique-sounding academic debate, Lattimore brings to the subject valuable personal experience on the ground and a lot of common sense; his ideas are still of some value. You can find similarly valuable insights interspersed in his classic book, Inner Asian Frontiers of China (Boston, Beacon Press, 1951; 1st ed. 1940), especially the first sections of each of Chs. IV-VI. Unlike some more recent scholars (e.g., Khazanov), he believes that nomadic societies can in some circumstances be quite more self-sufficient than sedentary ones.
• *Lawrence Krader, "The Ecology of Pastoral Nomadism," International Social Science Journal XI/4 (1959), 499-510. Although the ending now is slightly dated, this is an excellent introductory overview of the ecological side of nomadism. His article is part of a special section of that issue of the journal devoted to "Nomads and Nomadism in the Arid Zone."
• Denis Sinor, ed., The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambridge; NY: Cambridge University Press, 1990), Esp. Ch. 1 (Introduction: the concept of Inner Asia), Ch. 2 (The Geographic Setting).
• V. M. Masson, "The Environment," in History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. I, Eds. A. H. Dani, V. M. Masson (Paris: UNESCO, 1992), Ch. 1, pp. 29-44.
• Some additional articles relevant to the relationship of nomads to their natural environment, the nomadic role in Eurasian history and nomadic culture are:

  David W. Anthony and Dorcas R. Brown, "The Origin of Horseback Riding," Antiquity 65.246 (1991): 22-38.
  *Denis Sinor, "Horse and Pasture in Inner Asian History," Oriens Extremus, 19/1-2 (1972): 171-183.
  David Stronach, On the Antiquity of the Yurt," The Silk Road (newsletter of the Silkroad Foundation), 2/1 (2004)

  
  Note that various other numbers of The Silk Road (all on-line) contain as well several other articles on nomad archaeology and traditional culture of the pastoral nomads today.
• *On the culture of pastoral nomads, a good starting point is Daniel Waugh and Elmira Kocumkulkizi, "Traditional Culture," a set of nicely illustrated essays intended for a general audience on the very rich "Silk Road Seattle" website: Some of the material is drawn from the medieval accounts about the Mongols even though the focus of the examples is the Kyrgyz today. These essays include sections on animals, housing, food, and religion, and many photos taken by Prof. Waugh on his travels in Central Asia. You also have links here to Kyrgyz epic in Ms. Kocumkulkizi's translations. Her translation of selections from "Manas" is a project sponsored by the Silkroad Foundation. You might note that "Silk Road Seattle," a project which Prof. Waugh directs, is also home to various historical sources and a wonderful virtual "Art of the Silk Road" exhibit, which includes sections on the Mongols and their nomadic predecessors and successors.
• *The best short book on pastoral nomadism is by anthropologist Thomas J. Barfield, The Nomadic Alternative (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1993; ISBN 0136249825 for "facsimile" ed.), where the Introduction and Conclusion and Ch. 5 on the horse-riding nomads are of particular interest.
• *For a beautifully illustrated and very informative treatment of nomadic culture, see Vladimir N. Basilov, ed., Nomads of Eurasia (LA: Natural History Museum of LA County; Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press, 1989). The first half of the book has short historical essays on Scythians, Huns, Turkic peoples and Mongols; the second half is a topical exploration of nomadic culture. Used copies of this book, which accompanied a museum exhibit, are inexpensive and readily obtainable.
• A concise introduction to nomads and the sweep of their early history in Eurasia is Peter B. Golden, Nomads and Sedentary Societies in Medieval Eurasia. Essays on Global and Comparative History (Washington, D. C.: American Historical Association, 1998). Golden is one of the leading authorities on early Inner Asian history; compared to most of what he writes for specialists, this pamplet is quite accessible.
• Many consider the authoritative single volume on nomadism to be that of Anatoly M. Khazanov, Nomads and the Outside World (Cambr.; NY: Cambr. UP, 1984; 2nd ed., University of Wisconsin Press, 1994). He believes that sedentary societies were the prerequisite for the development of pastoral nomadic ones, who cannot do without what sedentary peoples have to offer. This question is still much debated, but the subtext here is one of a distinct bias about cultural levels, where the nomads are insufficiently appreciated in their own terms.
• Anatoly M. Khazanov and Andre Wink, eds., Nomads in the Sedentary World (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2001), is a valuable collection of specialized articles by noted scholars covering primarily pre-modern nomadic-sedentary relations. Khazanov has a general introductory chapter; see also, Barfield's chapter listed below.
• Caroline Humphrey and David Sneath, The End of Nomadism?: Society, State and the Environment in Inner Asia (Durham: Duke UP, 1999), is a sophisticated examination of the fate of nomadism in modern Mongolia, NW China and S. Siberia and is based in part of extensive field surveys of land use and other ecological issues.
• Thomas J. Barfield, The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 BC to AD 1757 (Cambridge, Mass.; Oxford: Blackwell, 1989), esp. Chs. 1-3. Argues that strong nomadic federations arose precisely at the time of strong empires in China not in periods of Chinese weakness as others had argued. Di Cosmo's recent book (see below) raises some questions about Barfield's thesis and attributes to the Chinese states a more active role in the southern steppe region. Barfield has also presented his key ideas in articles/book chapters:

  "The Hsiung-nu Imperial Confederacy: Organization and Foreign Policy," Journal of Asian Studies 41 (1981): 45-61
  "Inner Asia and Cycles of Power in China's Imperial Dynastic History," in Gary Seaman and Daniel Marks, eds., Rulers from the Steppe: State Formation on the Eurasian Periphery (Los Angeles: Ethnographics/ University of Southern California, 1991), pp. 21-62
  "Steppe Empires, China, and the Silk Route: Nomads as a Force in International Trade and Politics," in Anatoly M. Khazanov and Andr¨¦ Wink, Nomads in the Sedentary World (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2001), pp. 234-249.

• *Nicola Di Cosmo, Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). An fresh look at what was happening in the northern steppes in the regions adjoining ancient China. Among other things, emphasizes the mixed nature of nomadic economy and the lack of sharp delineation between nomadic and sedentary regions. Incorporates recent archaeological data and suggests new ways to see the world through the eyes of the earliest Chinese sources which wrote about the nomads. Among his articles which anticipated the book, note:

  Nicola Di Cosmo, "State Formation and Periodization in Inner Asian History" Journal of World History 10/1 (1999): 1-40
  Nicola Di Cosmo, "Introduction: Inner Asian Ways of Warfare in Historical Perspective," in Inner Asian Warfare (500-1800), ed. Nicola Di Cosmo (Leiden: Brill, 2002), pp. 1-29
  Nicola Di Cosmo,"Ancient Inner Asian Nomads: Their Economic Basis and Its Significance in Chinese History," The Journal of Asian Studies 53/4 (1994): 1092-1126 (a copy is posted to our Yahoo group site).

• History of Civilizations of Central Asia, 5 vols. in 6 to date (Paris, UNESCO, 1992-). There are various chapters of possible interest for their overview of different nomadic cultures and "states." In Vol. I, note Ch. 20 (pp. 459-472): A. Askarov et al., "Pastoral and Nomadic Tribes at the Beginning of the First Millennium B.C.; among several relevant chapters in Vol. II, Ch. 6 (p. 151-170): N. Ishjamts, "Nomads in Eastern Central Asia."
• *Christopher Dawson, ed., The Mongol Mission (various editions, also published as Mission to Asia), includes accounts by Franciscans John of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruck, who visited Mongols in the 13th century. Rubruck's is the best systematic contemporary description of Mongol life at the time and contains a unique description of the Mongol capital, Karakorum, in the 1250s. The best modern, fully annotated edition of Rubruck is the most recent publication of the text by the Hakluyt Society, edited and annotated by Peter Jackson and David Morgan.
• There is a lot of nonsense published about Mongol and Siberian popular religion or "shamanism." For an antidote, start with the religion essay in the Traditional Culture section of the Silk Road Seattle website (see above) and then consider reading the excellent book by Caroline Humphrey (written with her native informant Urgunge Onon), Shamans and Elders: Experience, Knowledge, and Power among the Daur Mongols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996). Humphrey is probably the most prominent anthropologist specializing today on Mongol culture.
• A thought-provoking study of Islamization of the Mongols of the Golden Horde is that by Devin DeWeese, Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba T¨¹kles and Conversion to Islam in Historical and Epic Tradition (University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994). The book is of particular interest for the way in which it explores features of pre-Islamic nomad beliefs and society as a way of helping us to understand how certain aspects of Sufi Islam would have found fertile ground amongst the nomads.
• Wolfgang Weissleder, ed., The Nomadic Alternative: Modes and Models of Interaction in the African-Asian Deserts and Steppes (The Hague; Paris: Mouton, 1978). Most of the contributions here on the areas of interest to us are by Soviet scholars, whose Marxist interpretations and cultural biases in favor of sedentarism are glaringly evident. Of particular relevance are: A.M. Khazanov, "Characteristic Features of Nomadic Communities in the Eurasian Steppes," pp. 119-126; S.I. Vajnshtejn, "The Problem of Origin and Formation of the Economic-Cultural Type of Pastoral Nomads in the Moderate Belt of Eurasia," pp. 127-133. Khazanov, now in the U.S., is the author of one of the standard books on nomadism (see above); Vainshtein has written valuable studies of Tuvan pastoralists.

Films

• Close to Eden, by the well-known Russian director Nikita Mikhailkov, is set in Mongolia and evoking nomadic life in part through the device of juxtaposing the Mongols' values with those of a Russian truck driver. It is an elegantly photographed and entertaining film.
• *You can thoroughly enjoy and learn from A Mongolian Tale (1997), directed by Fei Xie, set in the stunning landscapes of modern Mongolia. It is a sometimes sad, often uplifting, poetic tale of love and loss, which reveals a gread deal about traditional culture and the changes introduced by the modern world. I have not viewed the following, a documentary taking up some of those same themes: Disappearing World: Herders of Mongun-Taiga, the Tuvans of Mongolia (1994).
• *A must-see is The Story of the Weeping Camel (2004), written and directed by Luigi Falorni and Bayambasuren Davaa and distributed by the National Geographic. It is more than just a cute, child-oriented film with a four-legged scene-stealer (whose image, incidently, graces my desk-top screen). One can learn something here about contemporary herders in a world where none can be isolated from modern life.