Moving from East Europe to Mongolia: Lessons from “Nomads” Relational Perspective of the World in a Time of Change

The article focuses on some aspects that concern groups defined as "nomads" relating to their relationship with the environment, the unexpected and the uncontrollable. Without an intention to make comparisons, the reader is therefore invited to follow the gaze of the researcher, who moves from post-socialist Romania to post-socialist Mongolia (on which she focuses), in the context of research among families who were once or are currently “nomadic”, and involved in the processes of “transition” and change. Far from a world of things, to be with the "nomads" it is necessary to re-establish one's vision to place oneself within a world of relationships and connections. With the "nomads", we experience a world that is light in matter, made of events and relational "entities", and experiential learning such as the embodied presence. Accepting the challenge of a present and a future of nomadic cultures requires a work of mutual sustainability of the cultural transformation between "nomads" and "non-nomads", for which the former require a close and daily dialogue with the most difficult aspects of neo-liberal economies and climate change; the latter, a radical change of perspective, towards an incorporation of the interdependence and abandonment of the "absolute" to think in terms of relative properties.