News & Events

News & Events of the Society

Naadam Essay Competition 2024

May 15, 2024

In honor of Naadam, the Mongolian Heritage Society, in collaboration with the Embassy of Mongolia, is holding an essay competition. This competition is open to all high school and college students.

Essays will respond to the following prompt:

Naadam is a festival that has been celebrated throughout all of Mongolia, with some sources claiming it to be a 2,000-year-old tradition. In 2010, the festival was added to the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and today, it has become internationally known as cities across the globe take part in Naadam. In a minimum of 500 words, discuss a brief history of Naadam and why it still holds importance today.

Contest Information

Three essays will be recognized and will receive prizes:

• First place - $1,000 

• Second place - $500

• Third place - $300

Essays must be written in English and include a reference list (this will not count towards the word count).

The submission deadline is 11:59pm EST June 15, 2024. Results will be revealed on July 11, 2024.

For more details and submission information, please see the Mongolian Heritage Society website.

The Society’s President, Ambassador Michael Klecheski (Ret.), Presents a Lecture on Mongolia’s Independence

March 1, 2024

Ambassador Michael Klecheski, the U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia from 2019 to 2022, presented a Mongolia Society lecture, “Mongolia’s Third Neighbor Policy in Practice: A Case Study from a former U.S. Ambassador’s Years in Mongolia,” on February 20, 2024. Lecture attendees–students, faculty, and Mongolia Society members–gathered around a large discussion table at the Global and International Studies Building on the campus of Indiana University, Bloomington, or watched via a Zoom link.

The Ambassador discussed the challenges and successes that helped strengthen Mongolia’s independence “in a tough neighborhood.” In response to the question, “How does Mongolia, landlocked between China and Russia, maintain its independence and democratic system?,” he pointed to the nation’s so-called “third neighbor” policy, which seeks out good ties with other countries, the United States in particular, as being one key factor in maintaining its independence. As the U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia, Michael Klecheski was instrumental in that policy’s implementation and he shared his own personal experiences with this process.

A video recording of this lecture is available here: YouTube

Michael Klecheski retired from the U.S. State Department after his years as Ambassador to Mongolia. That was the last assignment of his over 35 years as an American diplomat, during which he served abroad in Russia, Kazakhstan and elsewhere, and in Washington D.C. on the Department’s 24-hour Operations Center and the NATO Desk. He also served as Director (and for a time, Acting Senior Director) for Russia at the National Security Council. 

Currently President of The Mongolia Society, the Ambassador has a M.A. and M.Phil from Columbia University in political science and a BSFS (Bachelor of the Science of Foreign Service) from Georgetown University. He also has an honorary doctorate from the Mongolian National University. 

Urgent Request for Funds to Support Mongolian Families in Need

April 2, 2024

The Friends of Mongolia in partnership with People In Need is currently raising funds to provide relief to over three hundred Mongolian herder families currently facing a natural disaster caused by extreme winter weather and snow.

Nearly eighty percent of Mongolia has been dealing with deep snows this winter, which has caused over 500,000 livestock to perish as of mid-March. The snows have also blocked access by herder families to supplies, medicines, and food for survival. The situation is especially dire for many families in the Eastern provinces.

People in Need is running a large-scale disaster relief program in cooperation with the Mongolian government and a host of international donors. The Friends of Mongolia is seeking to support these efforts by raising $5,000 before May 1, 2024, to support this relief program.

You can help by clicking the link below and donating $50 or more to this effort!

https://www.friendsofmongolia.org/become-a-friend/donations

Winners of the 2022-2023 Best of the Next Generation of American Mongolists Competition

June 7, 2023

­­The Mongolia Society and the Embassy of Mongolia are pleased to announce the winners of the 2022-2023 Best of the Next Generation of American Mongolists Competition.

Funded by the Embassy of Mongolia to the United States and conducted by The Mongolia Society, this competition recognizes the top three individuals whose combination of thoroughness and quality of research, knowledge and use of primary sources in original languages, and scholarly promise and commitment to advancing the field of Mongolian Studies best exemplifies the Next Generation of American Mongolists.  The competition was open to master’s- and doctoral-level students and new PhDs. Materials submitted were judged in a “blind” review by a panel of judges with proven academic credentials in Mongolian studies. 

Overall, the quality of the seven (7) essays submitted was outstanding and the Society hopes to publish many of them in the Journal of The Mongolia Society.

First Place (with a cash prize of $2,500):  Dr. Dotno Dashdorj Pount (2023 PhD, University of Pennsylvania); Visual and aural translation of Buddhist culture from Tibet to Mongolia: Dating two texts from the Cult of Chinggis Khan textual corpus

Second Place (with a cash prize of $1,500):  Dr. Samuel H. Bass (Visiting Assistant Professor, Indiana University/Bloomington); On kitad (Chinese) as a Pejorative and in Mongolian Slavery Terminology

Third Place (with a cash prize of $1,000):  Dr. Kenneth E. Linden (Visiting Scholar, University of Tartu, Estonia); Veterinarians, Vaccines, and Hybrids: Veterinary Science in the Mongolian People's Republic

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order):

Anton D. Ermakov (Master’s Candidate, Indiana University)

Stephen Garrett (PhD Candidate, University of Pennsylvania)

Kristen R. Pearson  (PhD Candidate, Harvard University)

Dr. Jessica Madison Pískatá (Visiting Assistant Professor, Oberlin College)   

The Society announces its Naadam Fundraiser 2023

April 23, 2023

The Mongolia Society will once again organize a fundraiser set to coincide with the Mongolian Naadam Festival in July 2023. At the center of our Naadam Fundraiser 2023 will be an online silent auction in which visitors will be able to bid for items or services that have been donated to the Society.

We are now welcoming donations from anyone willing to donate. While we prefer donations related to Mongolia or Mongolian culture, we will consider anything of value for this event. These can include: physical objects, such as books, artwork, furniture, musical instruments, and so on, or services, such as offers of a dinner at a local restaurant or for language translation work up to a certain amount of dollars. Please note we may require legal documentation for donations of antique or historical items.

If you’re interested in donating to this event, please email our Executive Director Susie Drost (monsoc@indiana.edu). Include your name, phone number, a description of your donation and its estimated value and we will contact you. Those who donate physical items will need to send them directly to the Society and to cover the shipping costs (which will then be added to the overall value of their donation). 

All donations made to The Mongolia Society are tax-deductible, and the Executive Director will provide a letter of affidavit that can be filed with your IRS income tax return.

All proceeds for this year’s fundraiser will go towards important medium- and long-term goals, including:

• Office expenses: supporting our office staff and offsetting the rising costs of office expenditures, including postage, bank fees, and printing publications; 

• Outreach: developing our website and social media outreach to new and diverse audiences, including Mongolian students and scholars; and

• Publications: supporting the work of our journal editor, facilitating much-needed changes to the ways in which our publications are produced, disseminated, and marketed; and funding 3 new translations of books by important Mongolian historical figures.

The Mongolia Society greatly appreciates the financial support of its members and everyone else who contributes to its success. It is your collective support that makes the work of The Mongolia Society possible.

Report from the Society’s 61st Annual Meeting & Conference, October 2022

November 7, 2022

The 61st Annual Meeting & Conference of The Mongolia Society was held jointly with the Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS) on the Indiana University, Bloomington campus, October 20-23, 2022. The meeting and conference were well-attending, both in-person and virtually. The conference, held at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, featured the participation of 27 panelists on 7 different panels. The conference schedule is available here: Webpage or PDF.

The Society was honored to have Ambassador U. Batbayar, Ambassador of Mongolia to the United States, attend the event, during which he met with administration officials at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and Indiana University-Bloomington (IU). Together they discussed educational cooperation in the framework of the March 15, 2022, "Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation" between Indiana University and the National University of Mongolia. The Ambassador delivered the Opening Remarks at the General Meeting & Conference and visited with members.

The Society remembers Dr. György Kara

October 19, 2022

As we end 2022, we reflect on those dear friends and colleagues we lost this year. In particular, our Society remembers Dr. György Kara, or Khar Dorj, as he was known to his many students, friends, and colleagues. A long-time member of the Mongolia Society and long-time Chairman of the Board, Dr. Kara was a much-beloved instructor, mentor, and colleague. The following is a brief summary of his life and contributions to our field. 

Dr. Kara’s Career Achievements

Dr. Kara was Professor of The Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies and Professor emeritus of ELTE University in Budapest, Hungary. From 1970-2000, he served as chairman of the Department of Inner Asian Studies at ELTE and from 1973-2005, as head of the Research Group for Altaic Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. For several years, he also served as chairman of ELTE’s Department of East Asian Studies and director of its Institute of Oriental Studies.

He was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and of the Committee of Oriental Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. From 1958-2005, he taught Mongol, Tibetan and Tungusic language courses at ELTE University in Budapest. He did the same at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he was invited, in 1986, to teach a broad range of subjects, including Altaic linguistics, Classical Mongol, Buriat, Manchu, Ewenki, Chuvash, Old Turkic structure, Old Turkic in various scripts, Mongolic languages and dialects, Shamanism and folk religion of the Mongols, their traditional civilization, literature, folklore, writing systems and phonetic history as well as several new courses for Department of Central Eurasian Studies. He continued teaching at Indiana University until his last stay in the hospital in April 2022.

Dr. Kara was an internationally respected scholar in his field. Expert in Mongolic languages and cultures, Altaic philology and Inner Asian cultural history, he contributed more than 400 publications on Mongolic, Turkic, Tungusic and Tibetan studies.

Dr. Kara was a member of the editorial board of professional journals and serials in Hungary, Russia, the United States, and China. He did field work and research, edited several important documents of Mongol language, cultural and literary history, translated old and new Mongol literature, recorded and analyzed oral texts, and described some hitherto unexplored dialects. He was a guest in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; spent a year as senior researcher in Europe’s largest collection of Mongol old books and manuscripts in St. Petersburg, Russia; was visiting scholar in Japan, between the 1970s and 2002 did regular research work in the Turfan Collection of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences in Germany.

He was recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Forschungspreis, the Pole Star Order and Labor Merit Order of Mongolia, the Gold Medal of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference, the Alexander Csoma de Kőrös Prize, the Europa Publishing House Prize (Budapest), and diploma of honor from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia. He was an honorary member of the Central Eurasian Studies Society (USA), the International Association of Mongolian Studies (Ulaanbaatar), and the Turkish Language Society (Ankara). Some of his anniversaries were honored with six collections of papers. No less than seven Festschrifts have been published in his honor.

The following statements were made by several of Dr. Kara’s colleagues. They were posted to the Facebook page of the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. A forthcoming issue of the Society’s journal Mongolian Studies will honor Dr. Kara’s contributions to our field.

Öner Özçelik, Central Eurasian Studies Chair: “I feel very fortunate that, last Spring, I was able to audit his course 'Old Turkic',” said Özçelik. “He was truly devoted to his field; he could have hours of discussion about the origins of a single word, and in doing so, he could take you on a trip from one end of the world to another. He cared a lot about his students, who meant the world to him. He even tried to continue his three classes this semester even through hospital stays, in heroic Professor Kara fashion. Beyond his scholarship and teaching, despite his deep knowledge about the field, he was a very humble person, and always added some humor to his conversations. He will be truly missed."

Dr. Jamsheed K. Choksy, CEUS Distinguished Professor: “While I was chair of the department, every summer he would visit Hungary for research. He would always ask me if there was anything he could do to further IU or the department while in Hungary,” Choksy shared. “He always placed the students first, right to the end. Professor Kara’s knowledge will be impossible to replace.”

Professor Christopher Atwood, University of Pennsylvania: “A life can’t be summed up in the printed word, but my teacher … could be captured in his voice,” said Atwood. “That slight frown, that quiet laugh, that distinctive accent, that eccentric vocabulary full of amusing witticisms and insights — that was him. No one who learned from Professor Kara would ever denigrate precise and exact knowledge … but remembering his living voice, I know its limits. Amurlingui noirsooroi, bagsh aa.”

 As our Society grieves for our friend and colleague, Professor György Kara, our hearts go out to his family during this difficult time.

The Society sponsors the premiere of Echoes of the Empire

May 9, 2022

The Mongolia Society proudly to sponsored the Washington (DC) premiere of the documentary film, Echoes of the Empire, directed by Robert H. Lieberman. Through wide-ranging interviews and stunning cinematography, this documentary addresses the challenges facing contemporary Mongolian society as it seeks to retain the historic and nomadic legacy of Genghis Khan at a time of rapid urbanization and globalization.

The 73-minute film premiered on June 3, 2022, at the E Street Cinema in Washington, D.C. For more information, please see the Cinema's website: https://www.landmarktheatres.com/washington-d-c/e-street-cinema/info.

The following text comes from the press release about the film, which was released in 2020:

“In this stunning cinematic view of Mongolia’s past and present, film director & novelist Robert H. Lieberman and long-time creative collaborators PhotoSynthesis Productions take us inside this vast but little-known land. New York Times best-selling author Jack Weatherford (Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World) delves into the extraordinary life and times of Genghis Khan. His Mongol Empire, which encompassed all of Asia, much of the Middle East and Europe continues to affect us even today. The film’s rich soundtrack weaves from ancient throat singing to Russian-influenced opera to contemporary Mongolian rock. Intimate stories told by Mongolians, from nomads to city dwellers, provide a rare insight into their psyches and the challenges they face in their post-Soviet world.​”

Karsten Kastelan of the German Film Critics Association said of the film, “Starting with the personal and intimate origin story of Genghis Khan, Lieberman weaves a rich and close-knit tale of the entire history of the Mongolian people—effortlessly mixing past, present and future in its entire epic splendor.” And U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia Michael Klecheski wrote, “Far more than a visually magnificent film capturing Mongolia’s remarkable natural beauty, Echoes of Empire reveals a people proud of their traditions, their independence, and the freedoms they cherish. As the United States and Mongolia grow ever closer, this film highlights much of what brings our countries together.”

Virtual screenings of the film are available for just $12.00 at the film’s website, www.echoesoftheempire.com.

A Report on the Society’s Annual Meeting from September 2021

By Delgerjargal Uvsh, January 6, 2022

The 2021 Annual Meeting and Panels of The Mongolia Society was held on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021, in the Basile Auditorium at Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. It was the 60th anniversary meeting and was jointly sponsored by The Mongolia Society, Herron School of Art and Design, Department of Central Eurasian Studies (Indiana University, Bloomington), Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center, and IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute. The panels were held in person with opportunities for participants to attend online.

The event started with a formal opening of an exhibition of art by Herron School of Art and Design’s Mongolian artist-in-residence, Tuguldur Yondonjamts (website). The exhibition was named “Separated Geography from a Poem.” Mr. Tuguldur gave a public lecture in Eskenazi Hall on Friday, Sept. 17, at 5:30 p.m., followed by an opening reception until 8 p.m. And interesting note is that Tuguldur Yondonjamts's exhibition was based on the translation of the Mongolian epic Khan Kharangui by American linguist John Hangin Gombojab and published by the Mongolia Society in 1989.

In her remarks, Dr. Tsultem of IUPUI noted that this exhibition allowed active engagement between the artist and the students and that she was finally able to offer a course about Mongolian art at the Herron School. This was in fact the first time in the U.S. that a course focused on Mongolian art has been offered.

Saturday’s activities started with remarks by the Mongolia Society President Amb. Pamela Slutz, Prof. William Potter, Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, Herron School of Art and Design, and Mr. Telmuun Bayarsaikhan, Third Secretary for Education, Culture, Science, and Environmental Affairs at the Mongolian Embassy. Dr. Zayabaatar Dalai, Director of the Institute for Mongolian Studies at National University of Mongolia, addressed the audience through a video greeting.

Dr. Manduhai Buyandelger, Professor of Anthropology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, delivered the keynote speech, “Time and Transformation of Mongolian Women: Revolutions, Representations, and Experiences.” In her speech, Prof. Buyandelger posited that our understanding of what it means to be a proper man or woman – that is, gender – is temporal, contested, and heterogeneous. She asked how the notion of what a women is has transformed throughout the last century in Mongolia under local as well as international influences. Her talk weaved together larger histories of revolutions, local and global feminisms, and capitalism with individual stories of women to illustrate this change in a plurality of representations and lived experiences.

• For more on this story please see our Mongol Survey, Issue 42 (PDF).

• A livestream recording of the meeting’s Academic Panels is available here: Annual Meeting Livestream.

• The meeting schedule, including panel and speaker information, is available here: Annual Meeting Schedule.