article

Rituals of death as a context for understanding personal property in socialist Mongolia

journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute • 8 (1) • Published In 2002 • Pages: 65-87

By: Humphrey, Caroline.

Abstract

Humphrey explores Mongolian ideas about personal property and personhood by examining what happens to the deceased's possessions at funerals. Humphrey distinguishes between two kinds of personal property, valuables and what she calls, 'refuge things.' All valuables are given away when a person is dying as part of their final detachment from the world. However, 'refuge things,' which are most closely identified with the dying person, must be destroyed or buried with the corpse, because the dying person's soul is thought to remain attached to such objects. An excising ritual can also be performed to separate the soul from the object, if it is to be given away to somebody. The identification of persons with particular things persisted under socialism. Humphrey discusses the different notions of personhood based on beliefs in reincarnation and cosmology. She then describes the funeral rite in more detail. In her conclusion, she argues for a more complex way to imagine person-object relations than the simplified Western notions of 'private' and 'collective' property. The personalization of property is not simply an expression of ownership, but an extension of the self, including all its complex relations to the world, others, and personal experience.

HRAF PubDate

2006

Region

Asia

Sub Region

Central Asia

Document Type

article

Evaluation

Creator Type

Ethnologist

Document Rating

4: Excellent Secondary Data

5: Excellent Primary Data

Analyst

Ian Skoggard ; 2005

Field Date

1980

Coverage Date

1980-1989

Coverage Place

Ulaanbaatar and environs, Mongolia

Notes

Caroline Humphrey

Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-87)

LCCN

95660943

LCSH

Mongolia