Mongolia is situated in between the world's superpowers: China and Russia. The lecture looks at traditional and contemporary cultures of Mongolian peoples in Mongolian Democratic Republic, People's Republic of China and Russian Federation. During the lecture listeners will be introduced to the particularity of Mongolian traditions – languages, folklores and mythologies, religions and today’s beliefs. The lecture will also discuss specific features of the development of Mongolian societies, their roles in contemporary relations of Inner and Central Asia and ways of dealing with modern local and global challenges.

The speaker Alevtina Solovyeva (PhD) is a researcher at the Institute of Cultural Studies at the University of Tartu. She is also a research fellow at the Centre of Typological and Semiotic Folklore Studies and a leading research fellow at National Research University Higher School of Economics. From 2007 till today she has been conducting a number of projects based on fieldwork research in various parts of Mongolia and China, investigating traditional and contemporary cultures, folklores, religious traditions, intercommunal relations and other topics.

Webinar series "Contemporary Asia" is organized by University of Tartu Asia Centre