Introductory Interview

This schedule pertains to semi-structured interviews to be held with all core participants (herders) in this research project. The basic objectives of this brief interview are to:

Prepare a general biographical statement summarizing the participant's biographical experience (e.g., where they grew up, their primary economic activities), which will be of use in situating further conversations;
Gain a general sense of the participant's perceptions of the political, ecological, and economic issues affecting pastoral resource use, and of the pastoral sector in general;
Obtain an understanding of the participant's contemporary resource-use practices.

Overview of topics

Biography. Basic biographical information. Ask about childhood and collective-era pastoral experiences if applicable, probing about differences from the present.
Material Resources. Ask about the types of natural resources and livestock used. Probe about where the resources come from, and how their access is controlled.
Social Resources and Organization. Who lives in the domestic unit and xot ail; what types of kin and non-kin actors help out; how production is organized. Probe about the nature of perceived obligations and expectations, and the boundary between legitimate and illegitimate use of resources.
Knowledge Resources. Learning and education; probe as to the limits of knowledge concerning market and ecological factors, and strategies for accommodating this uncertainty. Also discuss technical innovation and improvisatory/entrepreneurial strategies.
The Future. Ask about subjective wellbeing and expectations or aspirations regarding the future.

Introductory script

This interview will last approximately 1½-2 hours. If necessary, the interview can be broken into two or more parts to accommodate your schedule. As many of the questions pertain to the entire household or xot ail, you are invited to participate in this interview in groups.

The general topics I hope to discuss with you are (1) your general experiences as a herder, (2) how you use natural resources, (3) how your pastoral activities are shaped by social organization, (4) how you manage economic or environmental change and uncertainty, and (5) your ideas about the future of pastoralism (extensive livestock production) in Mongolia. I am particularly interested in learning what you think personally about your experiences as a pastoralist. I expect that your comments will help in contributing to a better understanding of how to improve herders' livelihoods and improve social-ecological resilience.

You are free to end the interview at any time, or to decline answering any of the questions, without any negative consequences.

During this interview the interviewer will take notes on your responses, which will be used in preparing a summary of the interview. You will be invited to review and correct this summary prior to its use in the research. This summary may be shared anonymously with other researchers or participants in this project, with sensitive personal or financial information edited out. The original notes will not be made available to anyone other than the researcher and his assistants, and will be destroyed at the conclusion of the research project.

Introduction: individual, household, xot ail

Personal Introduction: To begin, could you please tell a few things about yourself and how you became a pastoralist? (Where are you from? How long have you been keeping livestock? Have you done other types of work in your life? Is everyone in your family a herder?)

Household and xot ail: Please describe your household and xot ail. Who are the members of your household? Is there anyone staying here right now who is not registered here, or who doesn't always/normally live here? Is there anyone who normally lives in your household/xot ail but isn't here right now? How are you related to the other families in this group? Have other families joined or left the xot ail in the past few years? Do you stay together year-round?

Complete a diagram showing all members of the household / xot ail, and the relationships between them. Include each individual's name, date and place of birth, and gender.

Material resources and production

Livestock: What types of livestock do you keep, and in what proportion? (How specialized is your herd?) Where did you originally get these animals? Do you keep any "improved" breeds? Why or why not? How and why has the size and composition of your herds changed since you became a herder? Have you changed your herd structure in the past 5-10 years?
Grazing areas: Whereabouts do you graze your livestock in summer, autumn, winter, and spring? (How far do you travel?) What are these grazing areas like, and why did you choose them? To what extent has your selection of grazing areas—and distance travelled—changed over the years? How often do you move in a year? (Do you engage in otor and tuuvar? If so, when and how do you organize this?) Have you experienced competition or conflict with other herders over the use of seasonal grazing areas? Has there been any conflict with non-pastoral resource users? (If so, could you please describe an incident of this type?)
Other natural resources: Do you cultivate any wild plants or berries? If so, when and for what purpose? How often do you hunt wildlife? Do you use any local plants, wildlife, minerals, or spring water for health or medicinal purposes? (If applicable: are there any protected areas or other restrictions on resource access?)
Sacred natural sites: Do you ever worship natural sacred sites (e.g., sacred mountains, springs) or earth/water spirits (lus savdag)? If so, how?

Social relations

Coordination of pastoral production in the xot ail: How do you make decisions regarding issues of importance to the entire group (e.g., when and where to move)? What types of activities do you share or pool among households? (Shared or rotational herding, collaborative activities such as shearing or felt-making, taking products to market...) Can you describe any disagreements that arise within the xot ail? There has been some discussion among policy experts about whether pastoral production would better be organized in non-kin groups such as cooperatives, associations, or private companies. What do you think—is the xot ail is an ideal form of organization for herding? If you herded for a socialist-era collective or state farm: how do you think the social organization of herding at that time compares to the way things are done today? (What was better, and what was worse?)
Extended kinship network: What types of assistance have you received from non-pastoral kin in the past year? (Which kin? How are they related?) In what ways have your non-pastoral kin received help from you? Do you have similar relations with non-kin (friends, neighbours, people from the same birthplace)? Do you ever find kinship obligations to be a burden, or unreasonable? Can you describe any cases where you have felt the victim of corrupt practices (for example, government officials making decisions that benefit their own kin, at the expense of others)?
Market exchange: What types of commodities have you sold in the past year? (Consider: livestock, hides, meat, milk, dairy products, airag, wool, cashmere, felt, leather, etc.) When and how did you sell these products? Why did you sell these particular products, in that way? How did you enter into relationships with merchants? How trusting are your relations with merchants? (Are there issues of deception, concealment, product adulteration?)

Knowledge resources

Sources of technical knowledge: In your opinion, what types of knowledge make an effective herder? Have you had any formal training? Have you participated in any workshops or projects organized by the government or by development organizations? If so, what did you learn? Has this knowledge had any concrete applications in your herding practice? If you grew up in a pastoral household, in what ways did you contribute to household activities when you were a child? Can you think of things that you have learned recently from other herders? Are there any examples of practical information that you share within the xot ail?
Ecological change and uncertainty: "Rangeland degradation" has been identified as a major problem in Mongolia. Do you consider the grazing areas you use to be "degraded" to any extent? If so, what are the signs of degradation? Conversely, what are the signs of a "good" grazing area? What do you consider to be the local causes of degradation? Is overgrazing an issue? Have you observed any signs of climate change? In what ways have you changed your herding practices to adapt to ecological change? Did you suffer losses in the most recent zud? Do you think there is an effective way to mitigate these losses?
Economic change and uncertainty: In your view, how unpredictable are markets for pastoral commodities (e.g., demand, prices)? How do you adapt to economic uncertainty, so as to reduce risk? Have you engaged in any type of entrepreneurial production?

The future

Wellbeing: Overall, how happy would you say you are? Why? How do you think pastoralism compares to other forms of work? (Living in the city?) Would you like you children to become pastoralists? Why or why not? (What are the best and worst aspects of the pastoral life?)
The future: What do you think lies in store for the future of pastoralism in Mongolia? What do you think needs to be done to improve the pastoral sector (herders' livelihoods/sustainability of resource use/food security)? If you could make one recommendation to the Government of Mongolia, what would it be?

Closing script

Thank you for your participation. Your comments will provide a useful background to our ongoing discussions, and will be helpful in comparing the experiences of different herders here and in the second field site. I intend to prepare a summary of your comments, which I will leave with you when it is ready.

Is there anything you would like to ask, or to add?

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