Herd Agency: Rethinking herd-herder relations in Mongolia and Qinghai, China

Abstract

In this article, we draw upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Mongolia and China to develop understandings of herd-herder (mal-malchin) relations further. We focus primarily on horse-herding practices and related divisions of labour, and the three concepts of herd intuition (zön), serenity (taa) and fortune (buyan, khishig, zaya), to present additional interpretations of human-animal relations in Mongolia. Through this exploration, we develop the concept of herd agency and examine how it relates to specific horse-herding knowledge and techniques, as well as the cosmological significance of human-animal relations. All three concepts reveal the importance of cosmological agents with herd-herder relations. We conclude by emphasising the changing nature and politics of human-animal relations in these regions.