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Since the early
20th century,
Chinggis Khan
has become an
object of desire
and repulsion to
many nations and
individuals in
the world. He
has been
identified by
the Japanese as
the 13th-century
tragic hero
Minamoto
Yoshitsune, and
recognized by
the Chinese as
'the only
Chinese who has
ever defeated
the Europeans'.
His virtue and
vice are equally
captivating, as
exemplified by
the designations
'Chinggis Khan's
Mongolia', or
'Genghis Bush',
a nick-name for
American
president George
W. Bush acquired
in 2003 as a
result of his
decision to
invade Iraq.
In this
presentation, I
explore the
transnational
transfiguration
of Chinggis Khan
through the
mimetic
appropriation or
disavowal of
Chinggis Khan by
Japan, China,
Russia, and
Mongolia in the
long 20th
century. I argue
that Chinggis
Khan has now
become the
fantasy
structure, the
scenario,
through which
each of the
nations involved
here perceives
or defines
itself as a
meaningful
entity. His
value as a
national and
racial signifier
derives not only
from local or
national setting
and dynamics,
but more
importantly from
a wider racial,
ideological and
historical
context.
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