Gobi Futures: Navigating and Anticipating Change in a Transforming Desert
19 Days ◦ 2 Instructors
This field course offers an opportunity for participants to learn about transformations unfolding in the Gobi Desert. Historically the cultural and economic crossroads of Asia, the Gobi has recently emerged as the epicenter of Mongolia’s mining boom. Within a short period, new mining, infrastructure, and trade activities have generated unprecedented social and environmental changes in the region. This has given rise to excitement about the economic and development potential of the Gobi and its role in Mongolia’s national growth, as well as concerns about the future of the Gobi as a viable place to live and herd livestock, as a geopolitically strategic border zone between China and Mongolia, and as an ecologically vital arid landscape sensitive to climate and land use changes.

Course Overview
This field course offers an opportunity for participants to learn about transformations unfolding in the Gobi Desert. Historically the cultural and economic crossroads of Asia, the Gobi has recently emerged as the epicenter of Mongolia’s mining boom. Within a short period, new mining, infrastructure, and trade activities have generated unprecedented social and environmental changes in the region. This has given rise to excitement about the economic and development potential of the Gobi and its role in Mongolia’s national growth, as well as concerns about the future of the Gobi as a viable place to live and herd livestock, as a geopolitically strategic border zone between China and Mongolia, and as an ecologically vital arid landscape sensitive to climate and land use changes.
Participants will travel to Omnogobi (“South Gobi”) Province and meet with different groups of people – such as herders, small business owners, government officials, and mining company representatives – to examine how they are variously navigating processes of change and anticipating and planning for different kinds of futures. Excursions to the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine complex, the Gurvan Saikhan National Park, herding areas, and the site of a controversial railway project will illuminate divergent and sometimes contentious perspectives regarding the ways in which the Gobi should be developed and protected. Students will grapple with these differences and consider how they shape resource use and governance practices, planning and design initiatives, social and livelihood dynamics, and broader political concerns.
During the course students will learn ethnographic research methods and scenario building techniques to explore possible futures for the Gobi in light of contemporary factors and forces such as climate change, groundwater depletion, economic booms and busts, herder-mine conflicts, and increased connectivity with China due to the Belt and Road Initiative. An anticipated outcome of this course is the creation of a “Scenarios for Gobi Futures” multimedia report that can be used as a resource for participants, policymakers, and other stakeholders interested in the future of the Mongolian Gobi.
This is an interdisciplinary course that draws insights from the fields of anthropology, geography, development studies, and other disciplines. It aims to instill in students an awareness of the social and environmental dimensions of resource extraction in arid landscapes and an understanding of the varied meanings and experiences of development. Participation does not require previous knowledge of Mongolia.

Anticipated Course Activities
New mining, infrastructure, and trade activities have generated unprecedented social and environmental changes in the Gobi desert region in southern Mongolia. The Gobi has great economic and development potential, but concerns surround the fate of livelihoods, ecosystems, and geopolitics in the region. This course explores what the future may hold for the Gobi, focusing on the experiences of local people and the plans and projects that have been put forward to address concerns and support development efforts.
Day 1-4
July 27-30
Day 5
July 31
Day 6
August 1
Day 7
August 2
Day 8
August 3
Day 9
August 4
Day 10
August 4
Day 11-12
August 6-7
Day 13
August 8
Day 14
August 9
Day 15
August 10
Day 16-18
August 11-13
Day 19
August 14
Instructors

Dr. Lauren Bonilla

Munkh-Erdene Gantulga


