Category Archives: Pop Culture

Guest Post: Reflections of my visit: Change, Challenges and Resilience

By Bolormaa Purevjav  This is a part of our series on “Change in the countryside.” After living in Vancouver, Canada, for six years while completing my PhD, I returned to Mongolia in the summer of 2024. This visit was an … Continue reading

Posted in Air Pollution, Bolormaa Purevjav, Change, Countryside, Demography, Economics, Environment, Herding, Inequality, Pop Culture, Public Opinion, Reflection, Society and Culture, Younger Mongolians, Youth | Tagged | 1 Comment

Guest Post: Mongolian Hoops Dreams — Creation of Soft Power Through Basketball

By Benjamin Nuland Basketball was introduced to Mongolia in the 1960s by the Russians and Chinese.  More recently, basketball has become Mongolia’s most popular sport, but Mongolians’ associations are primarily American. This fascination lives under the halo of the NBA … Continue reading

Posted in Benjamin Nuland, Curios, Pop Culture, Sports, United States | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Mongolian Participation in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

By Zorig Bat-Erdene Mongolia completed its participation in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games from July 26 to August 11, 2024. A total of 32 athletes competed in 9 different sports:   Sport Number of athletes Men Women Athletics 1 2 … Continue reading

Posted in Author, Corruption, Fashion, History, Olympics, Pop Culture, Public Opinion, Social Media, Society and Culture, Sports, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene | Leave a comment

Charting a New Path: Understanding the Effects of Generational Shift on Politics and Economics

By Bulgan Batdorj  Mongolians born in the 1970s and 80s experienced the country’s transition from communism to democracy in 1990 at a relatively young age. This is a generation that grew up during shaky economic times and a shifting cultural … Continue reading

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Guest post: Mongolia’s Success in Team Sports

By Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene  On April 1, 2023, the Mongolian male basketball team repeated their historic success by winning the 3×3 Asian Cup, defeating the Australian team twice, the first time being in 2017. This remarkable achievement has sparked widespread celebration … Continue reading

Posted in Cultural Diplomacy, Demography, Diaspora, Mining, Pop Culture, Population, Public Opinion, Society and Culture, Sports, Tokyo 2020, United States, Younger Mongolians, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene | Leave a comment

New to Ulaanbaatar, Feb 2022

By Bulgan Batdorj  After four years, I finally got to go to Ulaanbaatar in February 2022. Although I was in regular contact with my family and friends, I was overjoyed to see them in person. The home welcoming of UB … Continue reading

Posted in Air Pollution, Bulgan Batdorj, Change, Food, Pop Culture, Reflection, Social Change, Ulaanbaatar | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Mongolian Olympic Team in Tokyo 2020

By Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene  A Mongolian National Olympic Team of 43 athletes participated in the 2020 Summer Olympic Game in Tokyo, Japan in ten different sports.  Mongolian athletes have been participating in every Summer Olympic Games since 1964 in Tokyo, except … Continue reading

Posted in Cultural Diplomacy, London 2012, Nationalism, Olympics, Pop Culture, Society and Culture, Sports, Tokyo 2020, Wrestling, Youth, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene | Leave a comment

Voting with Enthusiasm

By Julian Dierkes There was a lot of enthusiasm on display early on June 24 as the polls opened. Expressions of enthusiasm built in part on the very active өглөө campaign that had been part of a bring-out-the-youth-vote effort.   … Continue reading

Posted in Curios, Ikh Khural 2020, Pop Culture, Social Media, Younger Mongolians | Tagged | Leave a comment

Fascist Symbolism in Mongolia

By Niels Hegewisch and Julian Dierkes Recent attention to ethno-rock sensation The Hu has revived concerns about the (seeming) use of fascist iconography in Mongolian politics. While fascist symbols are immediately distasteful to Western observers, in Asia such symbols need … Continue reading

Posted in Music, Music, Nationalism, Niels Hegewisch, Politics, Pop Culture, Populism, Protest, Social Issues, Society and Culture | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Hip Hop in Politics

By Paweł Szczap With hip-hop culture being often highly saturated with political and social commentaries, so far I have mostly concentrated on the presence of nationalist discourse within the Mongolian hip-hop scene. There are loads of material for research and … Continue reading

Posted in Ikh Khural 2016, Music, Music, Party Politics, Paweł Szczap, Politics, Pop Culture, Presidential 2017, Ulaanbaatar, Youth | Leave a comment