Inner Mongolian poetry and song as a form of resistance

Against the backdrop of cultural assimilation policies taking place in Inner Mongolia and associated with a political regime geared to economic expansion, this article seeks to explore in which ways Mongolian poetry and song are being mobilized as a tacit and non-violent mode of resistance. Resistance in this paper does not only refer to challenging an immediate power structure with the objective of changing the status quo. Defined through a wider epistemological lens, it represents actions that continually empower the individual and the group to have autonomy over their history and future. We argue that by providing a means to contest, or reject the sanitized, stripped, and depoliticized Mongolian identity pushed by the Chinese state, poetry and songs serve as acts and spaces of resistance and emancipation, upheld by the continuous co-creation, and defense of collective memories. • Indigenous knowledge has long maintained nature's balance in the Mongolian grasslands. • Poems & songs challenge official narratives and preserve Mongolian collective memories. • Poems & songs spotlight conflicts from developmentalism and threats to Mongolian rights. • Mongolian poetry & songs emphasize deep-rooted connections to land and nature. • China's growth approach reshapes Mongolian culture and traditional identity.