Fast' and 'Slow

Abstract Thinking and 'Real Experience' in Two Mongolian Non-Pastoral Modes of Travel

Bibliographic Data

ID5000792
AuthorsCaroline Humphrey (0009-0008-7005-4924, Mongolia & Inner Asia Studies Unit, University of Cambridge Cambridge UK)
Year2020
Volume22
Issue1
Pages6-27
Publication date2020-04-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInner Asia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-8172 • E-ISSN: 2210-5018
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/22105018-12340133
OpenAlexW3021738994
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited20

This paper discusses two non-nomadic modes of transport in 1930s-60s Mongolia: the horse relay system and the goods caravan. It suggests that each of these should be seen as a 'mobility constellation' involving entanglements of mobility, narrative and practice, and implying different social relations and experience of the environment. It is argued that the relay system in particular involved abstract distance-speed calculation and that this enabled the conception of extensive cross-border geographies. The paper also explains why herders who took part in (fast) relay and (slow) caravan duties greatly preferred the latter

Archaeology · China · Constellation · Economic geography · Geography · Inner mongolia · Linguistics · Narrative · Physics · Relay · Sociology · China's Global Influence and Migration · Cultural Identity and Heritage · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Philosophy