Scientific article
UDC 394
DOI: 10.3792/3033-6015-2026-1-78-88
“MONGOLIAN WORLD” OR “WESTERN CIVILIZATION”:
THE CENTURY-LONG DIALOGUE OF THE BURYAT INTELLIGENTSIA
Meng Gencang – PhD, Associate Professor of the Center for Research on National Communities, Inner Mongolia University (Hohhot, China). E-mail: jinmgc@126.com.
Garri Irina Regbievna – Doctor of Historical Sciences, Leading Researcher at the Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science, Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Ulan-Ude, Russia). E-mail: ira.garri@yandex.ru. ORCID: 0000-0003-2484-653X.
Based on an analysis of a series of scholarly articles by prominent Buryat scholars Tsyben Zhamtsarano, a native of the Aga Steppe, and Mikhail Bogdanov, a native of the Irkutsk region, published in the journal “Siberian Issues” in 1906–1907, this article examines local nation-building projects and shows how Buryat intellectuals reinterpreted traditional culture and awakened ethnic national consciousness.
Keywords: Tsyben Zhamtsarano, Mikhail Bogdanov, ethnic discourse, religious culture, language education.
“MONGOLIAN WORLD” OR “WESTERN CIVILIZATION”:
THE CENTURY-LONG DIALOGUE OF THE BURYAT INTELLIGENTSIA
Meng Gencang – PhD, Associate Professor of Research Center for the Chinese National Community, Inner Mongolia University (Hohhot, China). E-mail: jinmgc@126.com.
Garri Irina Regbievna – Doctor of History, leading researcher of the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Ulan-Ude, Russia). ORCID: 0000-0003-2484-653X. E-mail: ira.garri@yandex.ru.
Based on an analysis of a series of scholarly articles by prominent Buryat scholars Tsyben Zhamtsarano, a native of the Aga Steppe, and Mikhail Bogdanov, a native of the Irkutsk region, published in the journal “Problems of Siberia” (Sibirskie voprosi) between 1906 and 1907, this article explores local nationality-building projects. It demonstrates how Buryat intellectuals reimagined traditional culture and awakened ethnic national identity.
Keywords: Tsyben Zhamtsarano, Mikhail Bogdanov, ethnic discourse, religious culture, language education.
For citation: Meng Gencang. “Mongolian World” or “Western Civilization”: The Century-Long Dialogue of the Buryat Intelligentsia / trans. from Chinese by I. R. Garri // Eastern Azimuth: Economics, Sociology, Ethnology. – 2026. – No. 1(4). – Pp. 78–88. DOI: 10.3792/3033-6015-2026-1-78-88
