Saranchimeg
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990424
Name: Saranchimeg
Parent's name: Hüühen
Ovog: Buural
Sex: f
Year of Birth: 1969
Ethnicity: Halh
Additional Information
Education: incomplete secondary
Notes on education: This most likely means 7 years of schooling.
Work: Herder, cultural center music teacher
Belief: [blank]
Born in: Manlai sum, Ömnögovi aimag
Lives in: Manlai sum (or part of UB), Ömnögovi aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: [blank]
Themes for this interview are:
(Please click on a theme to see more interviews on that topic)
childhood
family
education / cultural production
privatization
herding / livestock
Alternative keywords suggested by readers for this interview are: (Please click on a keyword to see more interviews, if any, on that topic)
education
parents
collectivization
socialism
hooliganism
siblings
Tsagaan sar
sexuality
democracy
privatization
To read a full interview with Saranchimeg please click on the Interview ID below.
Summary of Interview 080823A with Saranchimeg
Saranchimeg is one of five children in her family. She has eight years of formal education. After finishing the 8th grade she became a member of Komsomol and volunteered to become a herder. After herding goats for twenty years, she became a music teacher in the cultural club in Manlai sum.
She discusses a broad variety of topics: her understanding of the collectivisation, how Tsagaan Sar was celebrated in her childhood, what was it like studying in secondary school, what cultural activities there were in the country-side, films that she saw in her childhood, hooliganism in her sum, democracy in Mongolia, and how privatization was carried out. An interesting memory from her secondary school years is connected with drills carried out among schoolchildren in anticipation of bomb attacks by the United States. The schoolchildren were instructed on how to find shelter, how to transport the injured, and so on. She also recalls that films in her childhood were supposed to be without any sexual content or hint. If in the film a couple was about to hug each other, the mechanic immediately used to cover that episode with his hat. Another vivid memory from her secondary school years is connected with hooliganism. In the dormitory where she stayed there was a boy regarded as the alpha male. Other boys in the dormitory were supposed to pay him money. There was also a group of boys who served and catered for him. Not only was there an on-going hostility between the dormitory boys and those studying in the Technical College, but also the local youth regularly fought with the soldiers from the nearby garrison.
According to her, socialism was a harsh, dictatorial society. Everyone obeyed the rules. In comparison, today there is less order and more freedom.
