An Examination Of State Formation And Its Relationship To Mongol Identity

This paper problematizes the concept of Mongol historical identity and attempts to overturn simplified and monolithic notions of Mongol identity by examining the complicating effects of state formation on Mongol identity.Mongol identity has often been treated as something which is assumed or self-evident in the research literature from the Mongol empire to the Qing dynasty.However,during this period both the political formations to which the Mongols belonged and indeed the ethnic composition of both the Mongols as a distinct groups as well as the polities to which they belonged changed greatly over this period.This essay borrows heavily from the theory of Fred Spier and Virginia Tilley as well as anthropological theory and political science theory in regard to state formation.Spier's concept of "regime" is used specifically to provide a conceptually framework which allows seemingly contradictory or incompatible versions of Mongol identity to coexist without privileging one over another,or essentializing one particular aspect to overshadow the whole.The anthropological(mostly borrowed from Nikolay Kradin and Tatiana Skrynnikova)as well as Tilley will be used to connect specific evolutions and variations of polities with which certain groups of Mongols were associated alterations in their patterns of identity.The essay will thus show that politogenesis or state formation are key events which both build on extant identity matrices while creating new aspects.This essay is divided into three case studies to examine the effects of state formation on Mongols groups under differing historical and political circumstances.The first case study takes the formation of the Mongol state up until the formation of the Mongol Empire as it temporal parameters.In this section it is shown that contrary to previous historiography on the formation of the Mongol state,kinship can not the sole defining factor in Mongol ethnic identity at the time.This section examines how the politogenesis of the Mongols,or formation of the first Mongol polity,engendered a change in the relevant peoples macroscopic identity:those tribes now subsumed within the new polity were identified as "Mongols" primarily,as opposed to other politonyms.However,this did not wipe the slate clean of previous identity formations.The names of the various tribes are preserved as well as lineages which lost out in the power struggle(Tay'ici'ut).More importantly,the previous political formation which controlled the Mongol steppe,the Kereyit,provided the basis for the new political identity of the Mongols and was not simply erased.The next case study takes those Mongols who surrendered and served the Ming state as its object.This section shows that Mongols who associated themselves with a non-Mongol polity had distinct alterations in their identity matrix.This chapter attempts to specifically show that the Ming functioned like many other early modern states in its attempts to categorize,taxonomize and regulate the administration of those peoples which fell within its purview.This had a direct effect on those Mongols who decided that they would throw their lot in with the Ming.They were given a bureaucratic identity reflected in the nomenclature as"?" which marked them as both Mongol and Ming.However,even this state imposed identity was fungible,as there existed a range of identities ranging from hu,lu,fan,kou,and dada,to intermediary identities such as menggu.dada(at times)and finally the fully loyal servants of the dynasty designated by the character"da".One could further cross these identification boundaries depending on one's behavior.This chapter further shows that the military household registration system reflected and reinforced this new identity and that Ming Mongols did act as corporate bodies as defined by their state imposed identity.However,research on the Niangxia Mutiny is used to show that the identity accrued by the Ming Mongols was fungible,and could be used as a means to an end.Despite this,it is concluded that Ming Mongols formed a distinct and visible group in Ming society and possessed an identity matrix which in terms of their relationship with the Ming,differed from those Mongols still in the steppe.The last case study analyzes the Eight Banners' Mongols.Whereas the previous chapter emphasized the importance of the bureaucratization of the early modern state and its effect on certain groups of Mongols associated with the Ming,this chapter looks at the effect of Qing imperial ideology and the Eight Banners' institution on Mongol identity.This chapter first starts with an examination of the underlying cultural and political commonalities between Manchu and Mongols that underwrote their alliance in the days before the conquest of China.The specific traditions of qishe and hunting as well as a common Inner Asian political tradition provided bridges in identity.However,after the conquest of China,Mongols in the Eight Banners became subject to an increasingly defined imperial ideology which attempted to regulated the ethnic constituencies of the empire and govern them in accord with perceived native traditions.The Mongols of the Eight Banners were a unique case in that they fell within the purview of a Manchu institution,but were still administered as Mongols.This created a situation where the Mongols in the Eight Banners developed a specific banner identity just like their Manchu confederates,but still maintained a distinct Mongol identity centering on martial traditions as mentioned above,language as well as an awareness of Mongol history and descent.This is shown definitively through Mongol involvement in the imperial examination system.Here it is shown that banner,Mongol,and elements of Han identity(read "sinicization")existed simultaneously for Eight Banners' Mongols.The last section of this chapter then addresses a more macroscopic aspect of Qing Mongol identity in general which effected the Eight Banners'Mongols:the Qing regime coopted the use of two key sources of Mongol identity:Tibetan Buddhism and the cult of Genghis Khan as part of an imperial ideology that made the emperor rule within the terms and traditions of each ethnic constituency.Tying these essential elements of Mongol identity to the person of the Qing emperor thus created a situation where Mongols developed a further level of identity:Qing Mongols.The paper then offers a final conclusion which indicates that essentializing historical identities for huge populations are inaccurate and that the identity of a particular group must be addressed in terms of the particularities of historical circumstance.In this case,the lens of state formation has demonstrated that alterations in groups' involvement with different polities in different historical periods have enormously important consequences for those groups',here Mongols,identities.