The Khotons of Tarialan, Western Mongolia: Ethnicisation, Belonging and the Politics of Difference

Abstract

The article critically examines the fluid and complex processes of ethnicisation among the Khotons of Tarialan, in the Ulaangom region of western Mongolia, a minority historically associated with agriculture, Islam, and Turkic origins within a predominantly Mongol pastoral context. Methodologically, it draws upon a plurality of historical, comparative, documentary, and ethnographic sources to trace the historical construction of Khoton ethnicity, approaching it as an ethnic assemblage in Anna Tsing's sense – an open-ended and historically contingent configuration – and to examine its emergence, the ways in which it is reenacted through everyday interactions, narratives, and myths, and how it is experienced and shaped through practices of belonging. The ethnographic approach is further strengthened by the use of photography as a means of exploration, interpretation, and collaborative engagement with the people encountered during fieldwork. The analysis explores majority–minority dynamics across multiple scales, demonstrating that contemporary forms of recognition produce visibility while simultaneously operating through essentialising logics that reify difference.