Romanticism

I wonder to what extent anthropologists can actually escape romanticization, despite all pretensions to the contrary. We might define "romanticism" with reference to an excessive, even hypocritical praise of a simple way of life, which from its position of urban comfort overlooks the day-to-day struggles of the rural or "rustic" lifestyle; but we can also look, as Wordsworth did in the Lyrical Ballads, for a universal humanity and emotive passion that should not merely be associated with the primitive (read: savage) but survives in all that is denied by nature-conquering, sterilizing technology. Poetry in praise of the rustic might indeed give some people the idea that technologification is not the only road to wellbeing.

One of the major points that arises from this research is the difference in perspectives on "rustic life" (and "nature") from the city and from rural Mongolia. The romantic position is, in some respects, an imperfect yearning for a more simple and "natural" life than is possible in urban settings, expressed–and perhaps satisfied to an extent–in symbolic rather than in material terms. Romanticism can amount to extolling the virtues of a relatively harsh way of life without experiencing its discomforts; it can present an aura of paternalism with regard to the "simplicity" of people, activities, and–by extension–knowledge, beliefs or understandings, and aspirations. But the romanticization of rural life, or something close to it, can also serve the interests of rural people when it is used as a tool to maintain acceptance of the value of rural experience. Specifically, to the extent that the songs, poetry, festivals, foods, stories, and other cultural products of a country such as Mongolia reflect and elevate the rural experience–through eulogies of the race horse, the sacred mountain, pure milk, the yurt, etc.–the rural experience is, on a discursive level, superior to the urban. What I think we need to explore in this area is the potential for exploiting such symbolic value to tangible ends.

To continue...

• Racehorses and wrestlers
• The morin xuur

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