Contexts of School and Herder Family Communication in Mongolia: A Conceptual Framework

Many nations around the world are engaged in pastoralism, including cattle herding among Maasai and Fulani groups in West and East African grasslands; desert camel herder groups in Arabia, North Africa, and South and Central Asia; goat and sheep herders in the Middle East; horse nomad Kazakhs in the Central Asian steppe; yak herder Tibetans in the Himalayas; and reindeer pastoralist Tungus and Chukchi groups in Northern Siberia and the Arctic Circle (Fratkin & Meir, 2005). Mongolia is one of these geographical locations in Central Asia, which is extensively engaged in mobile pastoralism or nomadic herding. Mongolia’s case could be special in at least two respects: Mongolian herders herd five types (horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and Bactrian camels) of mixed livestock, and they own the largest number of livestock head in the world. In fact, “Hardly any state is so heavily associated with nomadism as Mongolia” (Stolpe, 2016, p. 20). When talking about herders, there are some common issues, such as marginalization, sedentarization and boarding schools, discussed over time. “Pastoralists today are facing tremendous pressures on their former way of life” (Fratkin & Meir, 2005, p. 5). States take little care and attention of pastoralists who, as a result, find themselves marginalized. While the pastoralists in Gujarat, India face difficulties of shrinking pastures, the pastoralists in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East are viewed as lawless, and hard to administer, tax, and control (Fratkin & Meir, 2005). On the other hand, it is also argued that access to formal education has required nomadic families to sedentarize (Dyer, 2010), and boarding schools have introduced sedentary lifestyle to nomadic children (Dyer, 2001). A study in a Tundra school in Yamal (Laptander, 2013) discussing one of the negative aspects of boarding schools stated that nomadic Nenet children were away from home at boarding schools for nine months. Mongolia’s case is exceptional in respect of schooling for herders (Stolpe, 2016). According to Finke, 2004 (as cited in Stolpe, 2016, p. 22),