Adventure is out there...
- Megan
- Jun 22, 2016
- 3 min read
Welcome to our blog! This site will be used by the Western Washington University Mongolian Ambassadors 2016!
The Trip and the Research
The study abroad program lead by Karen and Holly will be exploring some themes including: global citizenship, women, and social change. This is an exploratory, descriptive, qualitative study (primarily interview based) examining Mongolian women's leadership identity development and the support they provide for other women's leadership development. The interviews collected will be the primary "texts" for future courses in addition to other readings.
Mongolian women have historically been and currently remain important leaders in their culture. Most of those in Western cultures and communities know little of Mongolia beyond basic facts and assumptions, primarily related to Genghis Khan. But as our book identifies, Genghis Khan entrusted his daughters more than his sons with the ruling and administration of his empire, which eventually became (if only for a short while) the largest contiguous empire in human history. He gave them ruling status of territories, created laws supporting their leadership, and integrated them into cultural rituals from which they had previously been excluded. The book also identifies that this empire helped form many business practices and processes that laid the foundation for modern corporations and governmental administration. But once Genghis Khan died, these daughters and granddaughters were, for the most part, slaughtered by their male relatives to regain power. The largest contiguous empire in the world disintegrated quickly after this sororicide. Other strong female descendants emerged as leaders over time and helped the empire regain some of its lost power and renegotiate relationships with countries in the region.
Today, one traveling to Mongolia can quickly see the impact of women's leadership politically, economically, culturally, socially, and environmentally. This is most readily apparent with high percentages of women attending university and holding administrative positions in the capital of Ulaanbaatar (where we will be staying for a portion of our trip) and in the fact that Mongolia is the only country in the world where women earn, on average, more than men.
This research study (and international excursion) seeks to uncover lessons from Mongolian women about their leadership identities and leadership styles that help scholars understand how political and social history impact the state of current leadership in Mongolia. Further, this study might provide insight regarding personal leadership practices and values in the Western cultures, as well as discover contradictions and stresses that modern Mongolian female leaders experience. Narrative research emphasizes the study of stories as a means of understanding, which includes auto-ethnographic approaches to understanding the data being collected and analyzed. This enriches the intercultural research process and provides a deeper level of learning for all of us. The two faculty and eight students traveling to Mongolia will be updating this blog regularly to share our experiences, reactions to the information learned in interviews as well as information gathered while in the country.
The Site Disclaimer
This website was created by Megan with assistance from Wix. This blog is intended to be a diary of the trip. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employers, Western Washington University, its students, funding agencies, or staff. Please direct any questions, comments, concerns to Megan. Contact information is viewable on the CONTACT tab.
The References
Links to share with you all:
The official site for study abroad through Western Washington University!
Information about the Weatherford book we may be referencing, a great read; informative and entertaining!
The quasi-official soundtrack to our trip (aka Spotify playlist created by Holly)! https://play.spotify.com/user/1215490817/playlist/6ma2eRtxx94rrJrx4lcqNF
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