The Making and Remaking of a National People’s Hero and Exemplar in Mongolia’s Socialist, Nationalist and Democratic Mobilisations

Abstract

This paper examines the case of Ard Ayush [the commoner Ayush], a widely recognised national hero constructed in the socialist movement and an exemplar who survived the post-socialist rejection of socialist heroes and was reconstructed within the post-socialist democratic and nationalist movements. The paper’s title borrows the notion of a ‘national people’ from David Sneath and the notion of the ‘exemplar’ from Caroline Humphrey. Extending Sneath’s discussion of ard [commoner and/or people] and ard tümen [national people], this paper shows how the concept of ard that was constructed through the use of exemplars has become ard tümen. Then, extending Humphrey’s discussion of the moral influence of exemplars, this paper shows how some exemplars constructed during socialism helped the socialist government shape and govern a national people.