Slavery in Eighteenth Century Mongolia

Abstract

This paper investigates moments of transition in which people were forced into dependency, or had to change from one relationship of asymmetrical dependency to another. It is argued that these transitions were backed by state law, but were rooted in practices which predated the establishment of the Qing dynasty (1636–1911). In order to understand the social, legal and economic constellations in which people were recruited or transferred to other dependency relationships, the study draws on a micro-historical approach based on records from a local archive in Inner Mongolia (China). On the basis of these findings, it develops categories of transition, and discusses the meaning of property rights in settings of multi-level dependencies.