Mongolia i Buriatiia: geokul’turnye obrazy prostranstva. Issledovatel‘skii al‘manakh. [Mongolia and Buryatia: Geocultural Images of Space] Ulan-Ude: Izdatel'stvo Buriatskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2006

Abstract

Mongolia i Buriatiia: geokul’turnye obrazy prostranstva is a remarkable book that provides fresh insights into ongoing discussions about various representations of space. It contains ten contributions by undergraduate and doctoral students as well as professors—from various Russian (mostly Siberian) universities and with diverse disciplinary backgrounds—who work together in a research group. Most of the articles are based on recently undertaken field research and offer insights into topics that would not otherwise be accessible. The authors share a fruitful interdisciplinary outlook on their common research topic: the signs and symbols of space and culture in a transnational region inhabited by people with a shared ethnic background. Thus, Mongolia and Buryatia present fascinating cases for the investigation of whether ethnic belonging encourages spatial integration or rather follows the traditional division between taiga and steppe.