Dügersüren
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990013
Name: Dügersüren
Parent's name: Luvsanrenchin
Ovog: Barga
Sex: m
Year of Birth: 1951
Ethnicity: Halh
Additional Information
Education: tusgai dund
Notes on education:
Work: Santehnikch jijuur - Academy of Sciences
Belief: Buddhist
Born in: Ih-Uul sum, Zavhan aimag
Lives in: Sühbaatar sum (or part of UB), Ulaanbaatar aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: herder
Themes for this interview are:
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cultural campaigns
education / cultural production
work
illness / health
new technologies
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To read a full interview with Dügersüren please click on the Interview ID below.
Summary of Interview 080504A with Dügersüren
Dügersüren was born on 1 July 1951 in a place called Muhar of the Huyagt brigade in what is today Ih-Uul sum in Zavhan aimag. His parents were herders. Dügersüren finished six years of secondary education in Tosontsengel before returning to his parent's ger to help them with livestock breeding. Then he served in the army and worked as an auto mechanic in a timber factory in Tosontsengel. During that time he also completed his full secondary education and then studied at a technical college. He has four children. At the time of the interview Dügersüren was working at an institute as a doorkeeper.
In his interview, Dügersüren tries to divide his narrative into two main parts: the first part is about his preschool memories and the second one is about his school-related as well as adulthood memories. His preschool memories include the cultural campaigns (literally: 'cultural attack' - soyolin dovtolgoo) when households were inspected for cleanliness and tidiness. He recalls a woman called Soyollham, a local party activist, who volunteered to wash other people's clothes. During the 'cultural campaigns' it was compulsory that children over eight years of age be sent to school. Another early memory of his preschool childhood is the collectivisation of private livestock. His parents had to give away most of their livestock to the collective farm. Dügersüren recounts how people lived, what did, what believed in, and what ate. For example, in the summer people rarely killed animals, but consumed instead milk products or sometimes dried meat (borts). The main source of fresh meat was animals killed by a lightening or wolves. Children were barefoot throughout summer until October. People used to carry their own cutlery- a bowl, a chop stick and a knife- with them. The notion of 'ten sins and ten goodnesses' was important for people. For instance, to sit in a respectable place while older people were around, to listen to the conversation of grown-ups, or not to help the neighbours were all considered as sinful acts. In the second part of his narrative, Dügersüren tells about how he as a pupil participated in the daily maintenance of the school building by gathering fire wood, fetching water, etc. He studied Russian for two years in the fifth and sixth grades. In retrospect, although he thinks that 'leaping over the capitalist phase of development straight into socialism' was a mistake, he still has warm feelings towards the brotherly Soviet Union that defended Mongolia from the Japanese invaders in 1939. The two most important people to influence his life were Mr Tsend, the director of the factory where Dügersüren worked, and Mr Chuluunbaatar, a co-worker. Both of them taught Dügersüren various trade skills. He remembers Mr Tsend particularly for being a wise man and a good director.
Dügersüren is a religious person, and believes in the 'power of doing goodness to other people'. He practises traditional massage treatment and can tell fortune using 'nine coins'. He attributes his ability to heal people as well as his religiosity to his 'genes'. His parents were religious too: his father knew several mantras, and his mother circumambulated their ger holding the Altangerel sutra in her hand.
