Buryat Wrestling, Archery, and Horse Racing

Using the example of the traditional sports of the Buryats, a Mongolian ethnic group mainly settling in Russia, this study shows that sports do not only reflect values, world views, normative demands, and rules existing in a society but can also create new ones and thus produce social change. The book provides overviews of the anthropological study of sports, Buryat culture and history, and the development from the ancient origins of the sports through their various utilizations by changing political and religious leaders to the present commixture of simultaneously re-traditionalizing and modernizing them.

Stefan Krist is a social anthropologist, Assistant Professor at Inner Mongolia University in Hohhot, China, focusing on indigenous population groups in Siberia, Mongolia, and China. He researches processes of cultural transition and social change, both past and present.