Media portrayals, migration, and identity of Mongolian ninja miners

Mongolia's mining sector has boomed over the past twenty years. Along with the growth of formal domestic and foreign-backed gold mining operations an informal, artisanal mining sector has emerged. These "ninja" miners (so-called because the plastic pans slung over their backs make them resemble the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) number around 100,000 and contribute significantly to Mongolia's rural economy. The ninjas' informal status, however, contributes to conflict with local authorities, large-scale mining operations, and herders, often centered around land tenure.;Based on interviews with aid workers in Mongolia and analysis of international media coverage, population statistics, and existing scholarly literature I examine ninja mining and its contexts in Mongolia and the broader world. First, I use media analysis of international coverage of ninja mining to challenge the framework of "tradition" versus "modernity" in which the international media typically situates contemporary Mongolia. I suggest that ninja mining---as a break with perceived "traditional" occupations yet still "undeveloped"---does not fit easily within this tradition/modernity binary. Second, I explore Mongolia's migration history from the Qing-era onward to demonstrate that ninja miners' migrations constitute a new form of movement within Mongolia. Rural-rural migrations were previously rare in Mongolia, but currently form a major characteristic of migrant ninja miners' movement as they travel to new mineral discoveries. Finally, I engage in a theoretical discussion of place-based identity, examining Mongolian national and local identities. I suggest that locals (be they herders or "ninjas," or both) claim rights to the land based on their historical and social ties to the community and locality, whereas outsider "ninja" groups justify their use by their claim to a common Mongolian nationality.;I conclude that ninja mining constitutes a new form of movement and identity in Mongolia which, in turn, constitutes a shift in the ways individual Mongolians claim land. This places migrant ninja miners at odds with local residents, formal mining companies, and the government. Ninja mining did not emerge in isolation, however, and I argue that the national claims to resources made by the latter two groups have contributed to the shifting claims of even some locally-based ninja miners.