The Altargana's Roots Run Deep: Buryats between Russia, Mongolia, and China

The aim of this book is to shed light on the processes and mechanisms by which the national identity of Buryats (their homeland split by state borders, their diaspora scattered far and wide across Russia, Mongolia, and China) has been shaped under contemporary social conditions and within international political systems. The volume at hand constitutes an attempt to analyze 21st century transformations in the functioning of the Buryat ethnos as both an imagined and conscious community. Examined more closely is the process by which new symbols are born, how their denotations change, and how they are interwoven into a new whole - all while dynamic shifts are taking place in the world around them.