Ancestral Spirits Love Mining Sites

Abstract

In recent years, Mongolia has been enjoying rapid economic growth thanks to the development of its enormous natural resource deposits of copper, coal, gold, petroleum, and so on. However, due to the consequent social instability, the number of shamans has increased dramatically over the last 10 years, especially in the capital city Ulaanbaatar and mining towns. In this paper, I will explore shamanic activities around the Oyu Tolgoi mining site in South Gobi, examining what kinds of people are actually becoming shamans and how they become shamans, as well as what activities they are involved in with relevance to the dramatic socio-economic and environmental changes.

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