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I read this book this weekend in preparation for my Peace Corps stint in Mongolia (Leaving June 2009). This book gave me a great insight into what I will soon be facing and what obstacles I might run up against. This book was written in 1996, but I believe that the scenes of struggle are still very relevant today. In this book, you are introduced to women of every different background: professional, government, herder, street sweeper, single mother, etc. This is a great book and I highly recommend it whether or not you plan on traveling to Mongolia. I think it should be recommended for college sociology courses.
Probably it's a bad case of nosiness, but I like to find out about other peoples' lives. You get vivid impressions, but the interviews are not particularly complex, hard-hitting or deep. I believe she was there to help the Mongolian media begin to develop a life of its own and was employed by the Soros Foundation. The reader finds nothing out about why Avery did these interviews or what her purpose in Mongolia was. Mongolia's economic struggles since the end of Soviet dominance are highlighted. Martha Avery conducted interviews with a wide variety of Mongolian women, from street sweepers to ambassadors.
This book is the result. You can find recipes for marmot, learn how to put up a ger, or yurt, or learn about the difficulties of doing paleo-anthropological studies in a poor country or what it was like to be the first female student sent to do higher studies in Russia. I enjoy books like this one. This statement resembles the only map---which is basically illegible---though she interviewed people all around the country and mentioned many provinces or geographical features. The book might be described as "Mongolia Lite", pleasant but not highly-informative. Some respondents did open their personal lives to the author, however, she did not speak Mongolian, making the authenticity of the results somewhat murkier in the cases where the women did not speak English. This would be an attractive present for somebody interested in Mongolia, or just back from the country.
Perhaps therein lies my reluctance to award this book more than 3 stars. When such stories are combined with attractive black and white photos, well, that's all the better. The book lacks a defined aim and reference to other works on the country. WOMEN OF MONGOLIA is clearly and simply written. Readers with little knowledge of Mongolia's past or present will not finish the book much the wiser, though the vignettes may arouse their curiosity. "I am in Mongolia for other reasons." is the very oblique single sentence about herself. While stressing that this is a very attractive book for curious people like me, it is also rather superficial.
Avery presents these interviews as short first person monologues. The author was apparently in Mongolia in the early 1990s to conduct archeological research. This book is a series of short interviews with Mongolian women about their wives. Many of the stories are accompanied by photographs. While she was there, she talked to women of all walks of life about their jobs, their families, and their dreams. Included in this collection are talks with diplomats and doctors, camel herders and street sweepers. I found the book quite fascinating, and wished that the photographs could have been printed in color. This book will be of interest to anyone who wants to learn about the conditions of Mongolian women shortly after the fall of communism.
Although Mongolian culture has always been nominally patriarchal, there are many examples of capable women heading households and even governments. She draws her portraits from women of all walks of life, rural and urban, educated and uneducated. One woman described her husband as having come from Inner Mongolia. All of these women are educated or at least value higher education and seek it for their daughters.
Avery shows her women working side-by-side with their men, equitable and outspoken partners in their relationships.In some ways Avery.s book presents a limited and somewhat simplistic portrait of Mongolia. There is a strong sense of continuity with previous generations, as women describe what their mothers and fathers have done and relate it to their own goals. Mongolian women do not have the same history of male dominance that we find in Chinese culture. Martha Avery has, in this fascinating collection of autobiographical accounts from Mongolian women, presented a unique and varied perspective on the dramatic changes affecting this country in transition toward democracy and a capitalist economy. One major asset of the work is the exceptional collection of photographs that add intriguing cultural details like the storage of tools in a yurt or the variety of tribal costume. From the tractor driver who still reveres Lenin to the Buddhist grandmother, from the new mother the the cabinet minister, each woman has a vision for herself and for her family and all share a common sense of active control in their own lives.An interesting view of history also arises from these women's stories.
She then amends this noting that, in fact, it was the husband.s ancestors who had immigrated over 200 years earlier; making it apparent that to this couple a sense of tribal history and of belonging to the tribe trancends the generations. Woven into each woman's tale are some details on Mongolian life and culture: how to set up and arrange a yurt, the making of buttered tea, traditional Mongolian painting styles, the making of felt.
Avery sees herself primarily as a reporter, limiting her own interpretations to her preface, preferring to question and observe her subjects and let their responses speak for themselves. And, while Avery does not draw any sociopolitical conclusions from these brief biographies or claim any unique vision of Mongolia through these women, an overall pattern does emerge of women intensely involved with their own destinies and with the destiny of the Mongolian People's Republic, its land and people.Avery has chosen women from a broad spectrum of educational backgrounds and professions: archaeologists and artists, craftswomen and camel herders, social worker and street sweepers.
The individual stories are quite short, a feature that, although frustrating to the reader seeking a more comprehensive look at these women, does allows her to include over forty women and yet not overwhelm the more casual reader. This sort of potential comes through clearly in Avery's portraits.
These are resourceful dynamic women who are active participants in the current climate of ongoing changes that affect Mongolia. She has carefully selected these women with an eye to diversity of both background and opinion.
The benefit of Avery.s collection of stories is nothing specifically stated in the text, but rather the overall view, of these various Mongolian women as vibrant, hardworking and self-reliant individuals who choose to be active participants in their society and their own futures.
Ms Avery has written a wonderful book filled with beautiful photographs. She was one of the first Westerners to bring to us a glimpse of what life is really like for women and their families in modern Mongolia. As I read about these women and look at their pictures I find myself really caring about them and years later, still wondering how they are faring.Do yourself a favor and buy this lovely, thoughtful book.
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