Cover Page
The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/62739 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation.
Author: Fraser, R.A.
Title: Skill, social change, and survival in postsocialist Northern Mongolia
Issue Date: 2018-05-16
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Curriculum Vitae
Richard Fraser was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1981. He studied social anthropology at Sydney University, earning a Bachelor of Arts (BA, honours) degree in 2007. Between 2008 and 2009 he completed a Masters degree (MA, cum laude) in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University, the Netherlands, based on fieldwork with Evenki reindeer herders in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. After receiving a Toptalent scholarship from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), he began his PhD on skills, social change, and postsocialism amongst herders and rural residents in Northern Mongolia. This dissertation is the result of this research.
Richard is a Research Associate at the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit,
Department of Social Anthropology, Cambridge University (UK), and will take up a new position in 2019 at the Collaborative Innovation Centre for Security and Development of Western Frontier, Sichuan University (China). He has carried out fieldwork with Evenki, Orochen, and Mongol communities in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang province since 2007, as well as with Mongolian (Darhad and Duha) communities in Mongolia since 2009. His regional specialisation is Northern and Inner Asia, specifically China and China’s minorities, Mongolia, and Siberia. His research interests span human-environment relationships; economic and phenomenological- existential anthropology; pastoralism, hunting and land-use; skills and learning;
technology and work; ethnic minorities and the state; displacement and resettlement;
mining and resources; renewable and non-renewable energy; climate change; human- animal relations; shamanism and animism; tourism; and socialism and postsocialism.
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Acknowledgements
This dissertation has been a long time in the making, and many people have contributed greatly to its completion. First of all, I would like to thank all of my friends and
interlocutors across Mongolia, who allowed me to participate in their lives with such hospitality, patience, and a willingness to cooperate. Without them, this work would never have been possible. In particular, I express my heartfelt gratitude to Ogi and Gogi in
Ulaanbaatar, who hosted me during my first visit to Mongolia and who provided invaluable support and advice. In Ulaan Uul, I especially thank Davanjaam, who set up many initial introductions out of which this project developed. I would also like to thank Judith Hangartner from the University of Bern for her time and assistance.
The final version of this dissertation has been much influenced by the invaluable comments and critique of my PhD supervisor, Peter Pels, who offered wide support and patience both before undertaking fieldwork and especially during the long writing-up phase. He has always shown a great willingness to read my material with exceptional care, challenge my thinking, and support me to realise my academic goals. I have greatly enjoyed the support and companionship of my colleagues at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology in Leiden, and I am grateful for their many suggestions and encouragements and for providing me with a stimulating academic environment. In particular, I thank my fellow PhD cohort members, notably Christoph Rippe, Marlous van den Aaker, Annemarie Samuels, Maarten Onneweer, Metje Postma, Andrea Cerda Pereira, and Zane Kripe. I also greatly benefited from excellent teaching and guidance from Bart Barendregt, Erik Bahre, Jan Jansen, Sabine Luning, Gerard Persoon, and Dorien Zandbergen.
I also very much thank the members of my PhD committee, whose careful reading of the manuscript provided new critical perspectives and very much influenced the final version.
The moral support and practical assistance I received from my family have been invaluable for the completion of this dissertation. In particular, I thank my parents, Bruce and Sylvie Fraser, for their enduring love, and for always supporting my ambition to becoming a professional anthropologist. It is to them that I dedicate this dissertation.
Finally, I must also thank my two dogs, Naida and Zora, who sat beside me throughout the writing-up of this research, and who regularly took me away from the computer on much- needed long walks in the countryside to clear my head and provide a necessary balance to my life.
