From the Countryside to the City

Since the end of socialism in Mongolia, migration processes have dramatically increased. The lack of investment in the rural infrastructures and the repetition of zud have pushed the most vulnerable herders towards the capital Ulaanbaatar and its outskirts. They encounter tremendous difficulties in having access to private property and seem condemned to move relentlessly from enclosure to enclosure ( hashaa ) in the hope of finding a less precarious place to settle in the city. The main purpose of this article is to show how difficult it is for some families of herders to leave their homeland and settle in another place. These difficulties are first described from the point of view of the relationships women and men entertain with the spirits of the land ( savdag ) after migrating to a new place. I will try to show how the realisation of homeland paintings ( nutgyn zurag ) help, to some extent, to maintain relationships with these spirits and the homeland as a whole. Finally, I describe the impossibility for some new migrants to settle permanently and to get used to the city of Ulaanbaatar, dasah .