The endogenous development of pastoral society: an anthropological case study in East Ujimqin Banner in Inner Mongolia

Abstract

Abstract Through empirical research on the social development of pastoral society in the East Ujimqin Banner, this study puts forward that within the government’s “passive development” discourse, local herders would prefer to consciously practice “active development”. This method both respects local culture and traditions, and triggers a shift from exogenous to endogenous development. My study shows that only by cultivating the self-development mechanism of ethnic minorities and the initiative to participate in development can we realize the social development of pastoral areas. The survival practices constructed by the local society according to its traditional mechanisms are not only connected with the external market and the state as modes of production, but also enable the local society’s modes of livelihood to be maintained and the traditional social culture to continue amid the continuous transformation taking place under the impact of pastoral modernization.

Keywords

• East Ujimqin banner
• Pastoral society
• Livelihood
• Endogenous development