This article argues that memories that come from contexts that are adversarial, and that are not always based on communication and sociality, should be better integrated within the existing theories of social memory. Shamans in postsocialist Mongolia claim that previously suppressed origin spirits demand that their descendants become initiated as shamans in exchange for ceasing to harass them for forgetting and abandonment. Some clients refuse to become initiated as shamans and thus choose to sever their relationship with their past. In this article I explore one such refusal, which led to a disintegration of existing social ties, while also yielding unexpected memories. These memories are different from the shared memories that emerge in the context of organized shamanic rituals. Circulated through rumour and supposition instead of positive sociality and sharing, these ‘asocial’ memories also act as a particular kind of ‘poisonous knowledge’, prompting each individual to withdraw from the network as a way of avoiding the alleged harm from unattended spirits. Owing to divergent subject positioning, where one person's remembering is another's forgetting, the haunting by unwanted memories continues, as resolution through unifying communal ritual is not possible.

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What can a study about women parliamentary candidates contribute to our understanding of democratic elections, gender transformation, and contemporary neoliberal self-making?Elections and electoral campaigns in particular, have penetrated the public and private spheres, and continue to shape new subjects and subjectivities. In addition to the neoliberal capitalist demand for self-entrepreneurship and self-renovation, elections in Mongolia further push the candidates to engage in an in-depth self-polishing that speaks to the gender and class identities of the country's political leadership. The comprehensive self-making into eligible parliamentary candidates is especially notable in case of female parliamentary candidates in Mongolia. That is because, unsurprisingly, women candidates must ght to gain recognition and respect in a society where the default politician is male, and where gender roles and identities continue to transform.. Self-polishing Since 2006, I have shadowed numerous female candidates for months leading up to as well as during the parliamentary elections of 2008 and 2012. During non-election times I also researched the impact of campaign preparations on everyday life.Besides their formal campaign preparations, the female political candidates also engaged in longterm self-polishing and "self-developing" activities that were meant to shape them into fully "prepared" political candidates. "Self-development" was already a part of their high achieving careercentered lives even before they run for parliamentary seats. However, their e orts were also fueled by the 2007 parliament's repeal of the candidate quota that stated that all political parties must 

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