Creative destruction: Articulating ideology in the urbanscape of Ulaanbaatar

Lecture by Orhon Myadar, Assistant Professor of Geography and Development at University of Arizona. The lecture is organized by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) and the Central Asia Initiative at Leiden University set up by Asian Modernities and Traditions. 

Followed by drinks. All welcome!

The lecture

Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, has seen profound changes in the post-socialist years. The city space has been used as canvas upon which shifting state ideologies are continuously inscribed. The state’s ideological shift is easily “readable” throughout the cityscape of Ulaanbaatar, including the central square which has been recently renamed Chinggis Khaan’s Square. As evidenced by this change, Chinggis Khaan has been used as the most prominent marker of Mongolia’s new identity and has been rampantly appropriated to articulate the new post-socialist identity. This project examines the visual articulation of the state through an analysis of the city’s symbolic landscape and iconography.  It also illustrates that the past is both "remembered” and “forgotten" and the state is instrumental in projecting which versions of history are invoked or which are silenced at any given period.

The speaker

Orhon Myadar is an Assistant Professor of Geography and Development at University of Arizona.  Her research interests lie within the intersection of politics and geography. She has written in the areas of post-colonial studies, land politics, nationalism and political identity. Her work has appeared in Journal of Inner Asia, Toronto Studies in Central and Inner Asia, Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal and Eurasian Geography and Economics.

Registration

The lecture is free of charge but seats are limited. If you would like to attend, please send a message to Ms Heleen van der Minne at: h.m.van.der.minne@iias.nl

Inline photo © Marco Fieber (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)