Building Merit: The Moral Economy of the Illegal Wildlife Trade in Rural, Post-Socialist Eastern Mongolia

Abstract

This article describes the development of the moral economy of merit among the fishermen and rural poor of Dalai Village, Magtaal soum, Mongolia. In 1971, the historian E. P. Thompson used the term “moral economy” to describe a popular consensus on what was considered right and wrong in economic behavior, arguing that its provocation motivated the eighteenth-century English poor to engage in crowd-based political action. In contemporary, post-socialist eastern Mongolia, the rural poor have constructed a pervasive local discourse on what is considered legitimate (“merit-making” or buyantai) versus what is illegitimate in economic behavior that morally-condones their illegal wildlife procurement, selling, and smuggling activities. The political contexts of these case studies are compared in order to detail a similar political-economic progression: (1) the recent market liberalization of the commons, sparking moral outrage amongst those classes newly disadvantaged through this shift to the market; and (2) the formation of an anti-profiteering moral discourse among these classes, designed to limit the ability of others to economically capitalize off of these circumstances. Comparing the case studies, the moral economy is manifested as exchange practices involving commons-marked goods that distribute their benefits among the participants, envisioned as thereby promoting group wellbeing rather than the uneven accumulation by individuals.

Shown by the Marron’s Claw: Ecological Receptivity as Mindful Praxis

“…Yet, whilst this attitude was common among urban lay Buddhists that I spoke to, killing animals, which was a core part of rural economies and a necessity for survival, was often not negatively viewed at all. Indeed, in the eastern region of Mongolia, Hedwig Waters (2022) has explored how the illegal hunting and killing of wild animals is framed as generating good karma (buyan khiikh) as it generates much needed income for the severely economically depressed community with whom she lived. The merit generated by economic prosperity, if shared with the community, was celebrated, even though the money was generated from killing (Waters 2022).…”