Day 1: 22 July

2015

Social Science Baha organised The Fourth Annual Kathmandu Conference on Nepal and the Himalaya in partnership with Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, Britain-Nepal Academic Council & Centre for Himalayan Studies-CNRS.

Abstracts 

Panel: Dukha At Home and Abroad: Nepali Transnational Labor Migration
Panel Organizer: Tina Shrestha and Tristan Bruslé
Chair: Gérard Toffin, CNRS
Discussant: Tristan Bruslé, Centre for Himalayan Studies, CNRS 

Panel Abstract: Why are stories worth telling about Nepali experiences of labor migration necessarily focus on suffering (dukha)? Studying the XXth century Nepalese diasporic literature, Michael Hutt (1998) has demonstrated the pervasiveness of dukha in many novels or short stories about the flight and settlement of poor Nepalese in India. Recent research, documenting diverse experiences of Nepalese migration to India, the Persian region, and the West, increasingly centers on discourses about pain, dilemma, and hardship abroad. These migration narratives of dukha are widely spread in the form of poems, popular songs, amateur films by Nepali migrants and their families at home and abroad. The cultural production and circulation of these migration narratives in the Nepalese society and in popular media, however, has not been fully understood. Migrants themselves, on Youtube for example, are amateur films producers who stage their own lives as migrant workers, depicting the daily difficulties they face and the pain of being abroad (bidesh). If, on social media, Gulf migrants mainly post flattering pictures of themselves (in a brand new shopping mall, having fun at the beach, etc.), they usually speak about their daily life as painful and boring. How do we explain the apparent contradiction between both types of representation? How are migration narratives transmitted to song-writers and producers? Is there any expected discourse by music producers (i.e. why life abroad equals only pain?)? In this panel, we are interested in the making and the propagation of Nepali migration narratives, which seem to be homogeneous in the way they depict dukha abroad despite drastically different socio-cultural and political contexts where migrants live and work. How is pain heuristically productive in understanding labor migration? Why are such discourses so prevalent? What migration narratives about suffering can tell us about contemporary Nepali society? What, after all, is at stake in identifying suffering in labor migration? The papers explore the specific ways in which dukha is depicted through the circulation of dohori songs among Nepalis in the UK, US, and Bahrain; how dukha is conceptualized as a site for the production of asylum testimonials among Nepalis in the US; where tracing dukha sheds light into structural inequalities within which Nepali labor migration to India rests.

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Paper 1: Bodies in Search of Freedom: Suffering, Structural Violence and Symbolic Violence Amongst Marginal Nepali Migrants
Jeevan Raj Sharma, Lecturer in South Asia and International Development, University of Edinburgh  

Abstract: Despite recurrent stories of exploitation, ill-health, suffering and death amongst Nepali labour migrants, widely circulated in literatures, media and NGO discourses, young men’s aspiration to out-migrate from rural Nepal has never been higher. In their attempt to escape the regimented and constrained life in rural Nepal, most migrants go through a considerable debt and hardship to organize their mobility only to find themselves in the midst of difficult and exploitative working and living conditions in their destination. Migrants’ lives are also characterized by fun, excitement, adventure in the form of drinking, cinemas, use of gadgets such as mobile phones, images of high rise buildings and wide roads amongst others that offer powerful avenues through which these migrants maintain sense of purpose despite the difficulties they face. Reflecting on my own work with poorer Nepali male labour migrants from western hills to India, this paper attempts to uncover linkages among suffering, structural violence related to inequalities and symbolic violence of stereotypes and prejudices.

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Paper 2: Mediating the Migrant Experience: Dukha, Viraha, and Nostalgia in Nepali LokDohori Songs
Anna Stirr, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies, University of Hawaii-Manoa 

Abstract: Nepal’s Lok Dohori industry is based on migration. The majority of performers, arrangers, producers, investors, and even most of its audience are rural-urban migrants within Nepal, and many have spent time working abroad. Song production is a collaborative process involving many different individuals, most of whom will have personal experience engaging with popular songs as migrants themselves. Based on ethnographic research in Nepal’s music industry and among migrant performers and fans in the UK, US, and Bahrain, this paper examines how artists in the music industry contribute to shaping the experience of migrant life by highlighting particular emotional states, particularly those of suffering, longing, and nostalgia, in the songs and music videos they produce. I suggest that modern Nepali popular songs about migration draw on poetic tropes of dukha (suffering) and viraha (longing) that are hundreds of years old, and that these poetic tropes and the musical and visual tropes used along with them emphasize a particular structure of feeling around the dialectic of home and away. Yet to argue that all migration songs are only about dukha would not be accurate – the equally popular narrative of the migrant’s triumphant return home is one counter-example, and the popularity of humorous improvised couplets juxtaposed with sad refrains in live Dohori performance, underscored by the fast danceable beats that characterize many of these songs, shows that a greater range of emotion is present. Grounding my analysis of migration songs in the idea of sharing dukha and sukha that undergirds the tradition of songfests in Nepal’s rural areas, and Georgina Born’s ideas about music and mediation, I argue that the process of producing and further engaging with these songs is a way for migrants and their families to manage this bittersweet range of emotions.

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The Politics behind Indigenous Rhetoric in Nepal
Prem Chalaune, Lecturer, Central Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur

Abstract: In this paper, I will uncover the politics behind the use of new label- the indigenous as an umbrella category to denote former ethnic groups of Nepal. The former ethnic groups known as ethnic nationalities (Janajati) shifted into indigenous nationalities (Adivasi/Janajati) in 1991 on certain global historical process. As Adam Kuper(2003) states, that it is not a bad idea to call people by the name they recognized themselves, but some discredited old arguments are lurked behind new names. As culture is a euphemism of race, the word indigenous is a euphemism of primitive. The term Indigenous is a fancy word used in the place of what we call ancient, hunting gathering, tribal, native and aboriginal peoples etc. For Kuper(2003), the politics behind the construction of indigenousness is no more than a justification for claiming special rights to land, place, and resources for certain groups on the basis of descent and a Nuremberg principle of-who came first and when and to provoke the idea that real citizenship is a matter of blood and soil. He reveals the fact that UN agencies and some of the international NGOs have been heavily implicated in identity politics and the myth making of indigenousness after the end of colonial rule and apartheid regime in South Africa after 1980s, to construct the divisions among people into indigenous and non-indigenous which was likened to return towards new kinds of apartheid and racism.

In the view of Bihari Krishna Shrestha(2011), the indigenous made its way from India as like the term Dalit. Shrestha reveal the fact that after 1947 since when India became independent from British rule the term indigenous taken a root. As it has been used during and after India’s independence, in Nepal it has been used after the restoration of democracy of 1990s. Shrestha reveals that the politics behind indigenous rhetoric is that the Janajati peoples are the sons of the soil and other upper caste Hindus are just migrants.

Chaitayna Mishra (2011) argues that at an age that time space compression that globalization and expansion of capitalism generated, within a powerful global design the former ethnic groups and their umbrella organization-Nepal Federation of Ethnic Nationalities (NEFEN) undergone in global renaming ceremony in 1991 from global push and it came to be designated as Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), together with implementation of UN declaration of indigenous peoples rights in 1992 and picked up ILO convention 169(1989).  In Mishra’s opinion the politics behind the claim of indigenousness is much more powerful than that of the ethnic: the former has been construed to award an unassailable first-right over the late comers and new comers while the latter merely stresses diversity and specificity. Mishra leaves the clue that the politics behind indigenousness by lending categories, resources, information, and legitimacy is to create a global cocktail circuit from various groups and elites around the world to manage statecraft.

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Social Space of Indigenous Peoples in Forestry Sector Public Discourses in Nepal
Jailab Rai, Lecturer (Anthropology), Central Department of Sociology Anthropology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal 

Abstract: The concept and practices of community forestry (CF) in Nepal is known as one of the successful intervention in forest resources management. It was introduced as a response to the massive deforestation occurred during 1950s and 2070s. More than 18 thousands Community Forestry Users Groups (CFUG), covering more than 23% of total forest area, has been formally registered across the country. The studies show that the success of CF is due to the participation of local communities in all level of activities such as decision making, conservation, utilization, benefit sharing. It is also claimed that the concept and practice of CF in Nepal is one of the most democratic and deliberative process of forestry resources management in Nepal.

The number of programs – supported by different agencies – have been formulated and implemented across the country for the promotion of CF as a core of the forestry program in Nepal. Different forms of institutions (formal and informal, government and non-government) have been formed to facilitate the promotion of CFUGs in Nepal. Number of policies and laws have been formulated and enacted. Recently, the 10 year (2013-2023) Multi Stakeholder Forestry Program (MSFP) is under implementation in more than 43 districts (during first phase, 2013-2015) and expected to expand into other districts (during second phase) of the country.

Though the concept and practice of CFUGs in Nepal is one of the successful forestry programs, there are some questions from the perspectives of the rights and issues of indigenous peoples. First, whether the concept and practice of CF is able to address issues and concerns of indigenous peoples; second, to what extent the policies, laws and practices of CFGUs have recognized and promoted the customary laws and practices of indigenous peoples on conservation and management of forest resources; and third, whether the concept and practices of CF in Nepal is able to comply with the international policy frameworks on the rights of indigenous peoples.

The preliminary review and analysis of the policies and practice of CF in Nepal indicate that the participation of indigenous peoples and their organizations such as National Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) very little and limited to only the numeric inclusion of some representative individuals in the executive committees. Moreover, the development of the ownership feeling of indigenous people upon the concept and practice of CF is very poor and hence the leaders of the indigenous communities and their organizations are reluctant to support and promote the concept and practice of CF in Nepal. In this context, this paper, based on the desk review (literature, national and international policies and laws) supplemented by a case study of the indigenous community in MSFP intervention area (in Bhojur district) tries to understand this issues from the theoretical perspective of “Social Space” by Henri Lefebvre. By doing this, the paper also tries to develop critical knowledge in understanding the future implication of the exclusion of indigenous peoples and possible avenues for mainstreaming the issues, concerns and actors in CF interventions in Nepal.

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Adolescent “Mass Hysteria” in Post-Conflict Nepal: Ethnographic Impressions
Aidan Seale-Feldman, PhD Candidate, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Abstract: In the wake of economic and political instability, high rates of unemployment and outmigration and the decade-long violence of the “People’s War,” increasing cases of “mass hysteria,” also known in Nepali as chhopne rog, among adolescents have been reported in government schools throughout Nepal. Investigating the phenomenon of mass chhopne rog, which affects mainly female adolescents in rural Nepal, this paper traces connections between new forces of social change which have taken shape in the post-conflict period, and the psychocultural dimensions of people’s lives. Why are adolescent girls disproportionally afflicted by chhopne rog and how might this be connected to relations of power? What is the public discourse on “mass hysteria” in Nepal, and how do families, healers, and psychiatrists understand, explain, and treat this illness? What is the nature of the experience of chhopne rog for people themselves, and how does it relate to the sociocultural and economic conditions in which they live their lives? Through a phenomenological, person-centered approach to ethnographic research, this work contributes towards understanding the ways in which subjectivity, an individual’s intimate, affective, emotional life– thoughts, desires, hopes, fears or dreams– takes form in particular historical, political, economic, and sociocultural contexts.

In Nepal, less than 1% of the total government health budget is allocated to mental health, with one psychiatrist per one million people (WHO and Ministry of Health 2006). Recent studies have identified suicide as the leading cause of death among young women of reproductive age in Nepal (Suvedi et al. 2009). While this study does not directly examine the problem of suicide, research focusing on adolescent chhopne rog will necessarily explore the cultural and social contexts of psychological distress among girls under the age of 18 and will contribute detailed ethnographic material regarding the psychocultural dimensions of adolescents’ lives in rural Nepal.

The contribution of this paper to anthropological theory lies in its overarching goal of exploring the relationship between new forces of social change and the psychocultural dimensions of adolescents’ lives through the examination of “mass hysteria,” a form of mental illness that has been understudied in the anthropological literature. In order to examine this relationship ethnographically, I draw from theoretical work in psychological anthropology to examine the subjective and intersubjective, relational dimensions experience; from medical anthropological studies of subjectivity; from interactional linguistic methods and forms of analysis; and from studies of gender, power, and resistance in sociocultural anthropology. By bringing person-centered research on subjective and intersubjective experience into conversation with discussions of gender, power, and resistance, this research contributes a new approach to the study of the relationship between mental health and gender, and broadens and builds bridges between psychological/medical anthropology and sociocultural anthropology. Additionally, by analyzing the multiple discourses, experiences, diagnoses and treatment of chhopne rog and “mass conversion disorder” in Nepal, this paper will advance further understanding of the cross-cultural translation of psychiatric categories, and the gender dimensions and hierarchies of knowledge and power present in processes of diagnosis.

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Bullet Vs “Bullet”:  An Ethnographic Study of the Perceptions of Youths in Transition Nepal
Ravindra Palliyaguruge, Lecturer, Political Science, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka

Abstract: This research is going to study future expectations of youths at Kathmandu in Transition Nepal. Nepal has experience on ten years long armed conflict from 1996 to 2006. During the war, youths (Both side) expected to wing through the “Gun Bullet”. After ending the war, Nepal has being passing transition period. In this context, future expectations of youths in Bachelors and non- Bachelors level and their contribution in socio-cultural and political- economic development is very important. Therefore, this research is going to explore youth’s perceptions on their future. Why they expect “Bullet Motor-Bicycle” as their future aspiration instead of country development? This is the research problem of this study. The name of “Bullet Motor-Bicycle” is served as a symbol to represent youth’s expectations on migration to abroad or to achieve western oriented life instead of country development.  What are the perceptions of non-Bachelors youth and Bachelors youths on their future and their impact on the betterment of the Country? Are there co-relations between the perceptions of non-Bachelors and bachelors youth in Kathmandu or not? How their perceptions effect on the sustainable peace? These are the research questions of this study. This is a qualitative research which is based upon Ethnographic Research Methods. Case Study and Participatory Observation Method are applied to collect data. In the case of Case Study, purposively selected ten Bachelors and ten non – Bachelors in Kathmandu are used to as respondents. Apart from that, one year long Participatory Observations are used to explore research findings. Conflict Dynamic Approach and Johan Galtung’s Analysis of Incompatibility and “J Curve Theory” of James C Davies are applied.

Key Words: Youth Expectations, Developments, socio-Cultural, Political-Economic, Youth Migration.

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Gari Khana Deu – Let us Live! How transnational youth navigate a provisional Nepal
Heather Hindman, Associate Professor, University of Texas at Austin, USA 

Abstract: This paper explores several emergent social movements in Kathmandu; these movements draw most of their membership from an elite group of internationally experienced young people.  “Bipals” or Bideshi Nepalis (Foreign Nepalis) return from study or work abroad with high expectations, both their own and their communities’, for success and contributions to building a better country.  Yet, most quickly find barriers to their progress, whether in the form of entrenched bureaucracies and hierarchies or physical infrastructure limitations. Whereas overseas experience once guaranteed a high-paying and secure job, this is no longer the case in contemporary Kathmandu, and many returnees must forge a new narrative of success. For some, this has taken the form of involvement in entrepreneurship organizations that encourage the creation of independent businesses and advocate for a more productive climate for entrepreneurship.  Others seek to disrupt the status quo through music and radical activism. In the end, I suggest that these disparate organizations share some ideas about the appropriate role for the state in Nepal, ideas that run contrary to many assumptions about neoliberalism and failed states.

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“Buddha was Born in (Secular) Nepal: Claims and Counter-Claims of Nepali National Identity”
Dannah Dennis, American Anthropological Association, Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies 

Abstract: The slogan “Buddha was Born in Nepal” can be seen on taxis and t-shirts throughout the streets of Kathmandu and is pervasive in popular discourses of Nepali national pride. In the formerly Hindu, newly secular state of Nepal, why does it matter so much where Buddha was born? Who makes this claim, and for what purposes? In this paper, based on research conducted during 18 months of anthropological fieldwork, I will investigate the ambivalent tensions surrounding the claim that Buddha was born in Nepal through discursive analysis of personal conversations and observations, along with media artifacts and unfolding events.

On the one hand, the claim is frequently deployed as an assertion of a unified and proud Nepali national identity. Nepal’s ownership of Buddha’s birthplace gives it a unique status among the nations of the world, and thus serves as a source of symbolic capital, akin to Nepal’s possession of Mt. Everest. In particular, the Buddha claim is often linked to descriptions of Nepal as a land of peace and religious harmony. Moreover, it illuminates an important facet of Nepal’s complicated diplomatic relationship with India, as it is often used to offer a display of resistance against perceived cultural domination and potential territorial encroachment by India.

On the other hand, the claim that Buddha was born in Nepal has also been used to disrupt and subvert hegemonic notions of Nepal as a peaceful land of religious harmony and social inclusion. In one type of this subversive usage, the claim highlights and calls into question the dominance of the Hindu majority over members of marginalized religious and ethnic groups, thus permitting those groups to argue for greater social inclusion or other political goals. Regional activists such as Dr. CK Raut have also used the rhetoric of Buddha’s birthplace to draw attention to the oppression of Madheshis and even to challenge the territorial integrity of the Nepali state itself.

All of these dynamics exist in tandem with ongoing discussions of Nepal’s newly-adopted state secularism and with campaigns by various groups to return Nepal to its discarded status as a Hindu state. Some opponents of secularism argue that it is irrelevant and unnecessary, since, in their view, Nepali society has historically been characterized by its peacefulness and tolerance toward people of all faiths. However, not all citizens agree with this rosy account of Nepal’s past and present treatment of religious and other minorities. By focusing on the claim that “Buddha was born in Nepal” and analyzing the multiple ways in which it is leveraged for divergent political purposes, I will shed light on the larger debates over secularism and Nepali national identity.

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“Religion and Modernizing Imperatives of the Nepali State”
Ram Tiwari, Program Officer, The Asia Foundation, Nepal 

Abstract: In the 1950s, Nepal not only became a democratic state, but also entered into the international community of nations with its much celebrated membership in the United Nations and other regional and international forums. This was a time when the state, in a fairly celebratory mood, tried to become like other states. Its projection to the outside world was of a Hindu state claiming to have embraced the global values of “modernity”, such as human rights and democracy. In the 1960s, when it constitutionally adopted Hinduism as its religion, this did not change Nepal – as the discourses show – from claiming its adherence to the modern global values. The state’s modernization efforts during all the 30 years of Panchayat were deemed to be compatible with its Hindu identity. After this “first round” of Panchayat modernity was overthrown in 1990, Nepal became democratic state with a constitutional monarchy. New discourses of democracy and modernization emerged in this “second round”, yet the state continued to be a Hindu state. Eventually, after a popular movement in 2006 and the ensuing unfolding of political events, in 2008 Nepal was declared a federal democratic republic and a secular state. In this “third round”, secularism was claimed to be the right value compatible with modernity, and secular values became the dominant modernizing discourse.

In this line, this paper will attempt at making the comparative analysis of discursive shifts in three different junctures of Nepali history: the mid-1950s, mid-1990s and mid-2000s, in connection to linkages between the state and religion built on the undergirding values of modernity and progress. In addition to mainly depending on the archives of the state-owned Gorkhapatra and The Rising Nepal dailies, the paper will also analyse the speeches given by the state/government officials in these particular junctures of Nepali history – all in an attempt understand how the state constructed its self vis-à-vis the modernizing imperatives drawn from global actors and global audience.

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Agents of Other States: Contesting Secularism and Negating Agency in Nepal
Luke Wagner, Department of Sociology, Yale University

Abstract: Substantively, the debates about secularism in Nepal are over the proper place and role of religion in a modern, heterogeneous nation-state. The manner in which these debates take place, however, reveals much about how democracy can be made to operate and how particular democratic ideals are constructed. In this paper, I examine how political agency is conceived of, employed, and negated in the secularism debates.

Political agency is a concept and concern central to the work of sociologists interested in how states function. Most studies are concerned with agency from one of two directions: topdown and bottom-up. The top-down approach focuses on how states or other corporate bodies facilitate or suppress the agency of individuals and groups. The bottom-up approach focuses on how individuals and groups express or self-suppress their agencies vis-à-vis the state or organized body of which they are a part. Many studies employ both approaches in order to understand the reciprocal relationships between the two directions of agency and power.

An under-studied aspect, however, is how agency functions and circulates at the middle level, between individuals and groups. This middle ground is critical to democratic settings, as this is the space in which democratic deliberation occurs. I focus here on one aspect of agency at this middle level: the manner in which agents discursively negate or deny the agency of their opponents by claiming that their opponents are under the control or manipulation of exogenous forces. Although this tactic is effective in mobilizing supporters, it undermines the democratic ideal of public debate amongst political equals. The use of this tactic is widespread in even the most stable democracies. It is, however, particularly problematic for the long-term prospects of secularism, which requires a far greater degree of empathy than is commonly acknowledged.

While there are many layers to the debates over secularism in Nepal, I focus in this paper on the issue of the constitutional definition of Nepal as a secular state. An argument often used by both those in favor of defining the state as secular and those in favor of defining the state as Hindu is that their opponents are under the sway of foreign powers. Hindu nationalists are portrayed as the vicarious carriers of Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aspirations. Supporters of a secular state, meanwhile, are cast as the puppets of either Western embassies or Christian missionaries, or both. Either way, the implication is that the opposition does not need to be taken seriously, because the agents do not actually speak for themselves. As a result, both camps effectively absolve themselves of any responsibility to compromise. Regardless of the ultimate decision on the constitutional definition of the state, the establishment of this type of norm suggests a dangerous precedent for the future of democratic debate regarding religion and politics in Nepal.

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Application of Appropriate Technology and Practices for Food Security and Livelihood Improvement
Tara Nath Pandey, Advisor, Women and Environmental Development Organization (PWEDO) 

Abstract: Nepal is one of the world’s poorest countries with a per capita GDP of $427, ranking 163 out of the world’s 179 countries. Most of Nepal’s population, over 80%, is rural and involved in agriculture, mostly subsistence, with limited educational and economic opportunities. In the national level, over 60% of men and 45% of the women are literate. Among farming households, over 60% of the poor smallholding women and men are illiterate and are struggling for enough food to eat. Save the Children acknowledge and supports that all the people, especially children, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life. Realizing the food insecurity situation and vulnerability in the Mid-Western Nepal, Save the Children Nepal, with grant assistance from EU in partnership with Mission East (ME) and International Development Enterprises (IDE), and five other implementing partners namely- CEAPRED, SDF, RSDC, DECOS and KIRDARC, have piloted the “Food Security Initiatives (FSI) Project” in 36 VDCs of 5 districts namely Banke, Humla, Mugu, Rukum and Rolpa during the period January, 2010 to October, 2011.

By all counts, the Food Security Initiative (FSI) project has successfully achieved its main purpose,  for reducing vulnerability of 6839 families and their children, including  3187 (47%) from others group mainly Brahmin and Chhetri, 2220 (32%) Janajati/Madhesi, and 1432 (21%) Dalits to soaring food prices and food insecurity through the opportunity of increased food production, improved nutrition for children and families, and increased household incomes. In addition to these, other 11400 neighboring Households of the selected VDCs were also benefited from the project. The significant change resulted in increased agriculture production, improved dietary nutrition and access to useful services, systems, and structures for sustainable agriculture by responding to innovations in technologies and practices.  The cereal crop, especially wheat and maize production of the beneficiary household increased by more than 50%, and the fresh and off-season vegetables were produced by almost all program Households. These changes has improved household food and nutrition security, and increased household income.

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Deliberative governance on vulnerability to climate change: voices from Madhesi farmers
Floriane Clement, Researcher, Institutional and Policy Analysis, International Water Management Institute (IWMI-Nepal), Kathmandu 

Abstract: In Nepal as elsewhere, the design of climate change policies and programmes is based on the assumptions that policy-makers, scientists and development practitioners make about what constitutes and causes the vulnerability of others.

On the other hand, there is little space for Nepali farmers to voice their perceptions and experiences of their multiple vulnerabilities in the policy arena. This research explored the concept of deliberative governance as a process to build a common understanding of problems and issues and develop a basis to develop solutions (Fischer 2003; Leach et al., 2007).

This action research first started with of a one-year participatory video project where farmers from Dhanusa District produced twelve films on different facets of vulnerability, interviewing around 50 farmers from different social groups in their VDC. Each film was shown by journalists from NEFEJ to two experts / government officials in Janakpur and Kathmandu and the latter had to respond to the issues raised by farmers in their films in a video interview. The twelve films and policymakers’ responses were compiled into a 35’ documentary. This documentary was used as a basis for discussion in a series of public dialogues organized in 2014 in Janakpur and Kathmandu, gathering farmers from Dhanusa, district and central level government officials and representatives from the civil society. Some of the dialogues were recorded and broadcasted on the radio.

Combining critical discourse analysis with participatory deliberative practices, the study evidenced the gap between farmers’ and policymakers’ framings of vulnerability and how these are constructed. It calls for using storylines and narratives on what ‘is’ rather than top-down arguments on what ‘should be’ to facilitate dialogue and governance processes.

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Climate Change, Food Sovereignty, Crops, Livestock Production Among the Lobas of Nepal
Man Khattri, Ph.D Scholar at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu 

Abstract: In this paper, I will discuss how agricultural system and food sovereignty are associated with close interaction among human beings, livestock and crops in the socio-cultural and ecological system of the Loba people of Lo-manthang, Nepal. Whether the access and ability to choose their food has threatened? Do they continue sustain agro-biodiversity relations based on their indigenous knowledge for food sovereignty? For this purpose I will describe what the Loba people have experienced in relation to changing local climate and dynamic adaptation as tradition in agriculture. I will analyze these context specific relations, but cumulative, dynamic and derived from the web of interaction with the ecological system of the area. This paper includes value of food. Food has multiple values in Loba community. Food is produced to fulfill nutritional requirement of the people. Food constitute not only grain from crops also includes production of livestock such as meat, milk, butter that contains large proportion of dietary requirement of the Lobas. Food and drink production process, processing, preparation and consumption is social. The amount of grain production, land holding and owing livestock means the social and economic position in the community. It also implies the food security of the households. The food produced in Lo-manthang was traded to Tibet in the past. They followed salt and grain circuit. They carry grain to Tibet and they exchanged with salt and salt was again exchanged with grain in Lower Mustang and brought grain to Tibet using pack animals such as sheep, goat, horse and donkey. In this condition good amount of grain production was possible due to availability of water, large number of livestock that produce enough fertilizer as well as work in the field during plantation and harvest time and polyandry marriage system. At that time people were food sovereign. But these days the reverse circle has happened in food supply. The Loba buy various kind food including drinks (rice, wheat flour, sugar, salt, noodles) from Tibet and the government of China donate food to them. This situation was unthinkable about 40 years ago. People would not be able to think about salt coming from south and grain coming from North, Tibet. In this paper I will focus on varieties of crops and livestock produced. Furthermore, I present basic features of agriculture, water availability, irrigation management, productivity of crops, labor management, migration, landownership, land abandonment, sakaluka, ritual for beginning of cultivation among the Lobas of Lo-manthang.

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Writing Gendered Citizenship: Rights and Tactical Alliances in Nepal’s Constitution Drafting
Surabhi Pudasaini, Founder, GalliGalli 

Abstract: A woman’s right to grant Nepali citizenship to her spouse and children has been a contested issue in both the first and second Constituent Assemblies.  By exploring in detail the different dimensions of the numerous intersecting issues in the apparently simply issue of women and citizenship, this paper seeks to reveal the difficulties during Nepal’s transition period in  generating sustained critique and changes of patriarchally structured rules and laws.  It is argued that the specific history of exclusionary politics of the state vis a vis various excluded groups and the sexist and the regional/racist environment in which women’s groups and Madhesi groups in particular are embedded, mitigate against the forming of strategic alliances.

This paper will be divided into three main sections, each exploring a different aspect of the debate on citizenship through the mother. The first section will unpack the citizenship law as it appears in the Citizenship Act of 2006, the 2010 agreement on citizenship in the first CA, and drafts of the language around citizenship as proposed in the second CA.   The consequences of these clauses on women and children will then be discussed as well as the demands for the rewriting of these clauses.  The paper will then focus on the naturalization sub-clauses which create and reinforce gendered and patriarchal notes of citizenship; in both CA’s, the decision on citizenship through mothers has hinged on the naturalization sub-clauses.

A discussion of the socio-political context in which the text of the law circulates is then discussed. Key here is the language of national security used to give further weight to the gendered legal understanding of citizenship. A distinct mistrust of the open border and Madhesis is built into this argument. The bogeyman is an Indian takeover of Nepali politics in the form of Indian men marrying Nepali women from the Madhes – a common and longstanding practice in the Terai-Madhes. As per the gendered understanding of the Nepali state and citizenship, the children of these couples would necessarily also be Indian – commonly referred to as “bhanja-bhanjis” of Nepal. This section will seek to unpack both exclusionary urges of the law – against women and against Madhesis.

The third section of the paper will locate the political negotiations and compromises on these citizenship sub-clauses within the broader discussion on inclusionary politics in Nepal. This section will look to analyze the practical/political implications of the post-2006 rhetoric of placing together Madhesis, Women, Dalits and Janajatis in a single ‘marginalized’ category, without any further differentiation. While this practice is theoretically sound, the divide between women MPs and groups (most of them hill women) and Madhesi leaders on the issue of citizenship demonstrates the very real practical/political difficulties in forging alliances within the different streams of the ‘marginalized’ category.

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Educating Women for Men’s Sake: Discourses of Female Education in Late Rana Nepal
Lokranjan Parajuli, Program Coordinator, Democracy and Governance Research Unit, and Editor, Publication Program, Martin Chautari 

Abstract: While the Ranas who ruled Nepal for a more than a century (1846-1951) in general barred their “subjects” from having access to formal education, there was a policy turnaround especially after the assumption of power by Padma Shamsher in 1945. From the erstwhile policy of controlling the access to education, the new policy sought to craft the minds of the masses by providing them “appropriate” education. With this change in policy, Nepali girl/women in principle were able to have access to education.   This opened the floodgate and eventually and paved the way for the education of women.

Chiefly through archival research for the period 1933-51 AD, this paper examines the discourses on stri-shiksha (female education) which ensued in the then existing controlled and limited public sphere following the new education policy.  The paper argues that the idea of female education befitted the state project of “crafting the mind” of people according to its definition of “appropriateness.”  More specifically, there were key concerns that education have no detrimental effect on the “modesty” and “good character” of Nepali women.

The paper begins with an overview of the landscape of female education during the above mentioned period.   It then examines discourses of female education that ensured following the opening of education for women. There were multiple views and opinions on the virtue as well as the need for educating women and other related questions e.g., subjects to be taught, merits and demerits of co-education, and so on.  An analysis of views from the vantage point of men and women documents the very different views of that time and their rationale.  In more specific terms, on the whole men on the surface welcomed the idea of female education, especially given that it was officially sanctioned the autocratic Rana ruler.  However, this paper argues that men were also terrified of the potential consequences of educated women.  The saw the latter as potential threats to their power and authority.  Consequently, while voicing support for the education of women, they sought the opportunity to further “domesticate” the women by engineering the female minds through “appropriate” education.   Thus education as a means to keep women in the private sphere in gendered roles of good mothers and wives were a key concern for the men.  Women on the other hand viewed education as emancipator and sought to break the chain of confinements within the household.   By playing the parity card-they wanted to be equal to men and at par with the “foreign” women. They also wanted be equal partner in the nation building effort and lead from the frontline.

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The Hindu State, Women’s Activism and The Cultural Coding of Sexual Violence and Impunity in Nepal
Seira Tamang, Director of Research, Martin Chautari 

Abstract: In the past few years, there has been an increase in attention to violence against women and especially the responsibility of the state in Nepal. As others have pointed out, despite various political and social campaigns including the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV), and the “One Billion Rising” campaign to end GBV, violence against women in Nepal is rampant, as is impunity for perpetrators. As noted Indian feminist activist Kamla Bhasin stated at the 2013 Kathmandu launch of the “One Billion Rising” campaign, “Violence is everywhere because patriarchy is everywhere.” Much was made by Bhasin of the significance of launching the South Asia programme in Nepal. A list of the progressive and empowering laws won by Nepali women over the years — laws and rights not yet obtained by Indian and other South Asian women — was recited to loud applause. The list portrayed Nepal as a progressive light in the patriarchal darkness of the Indian sub-continent.

Nepal has made great advancements in the promotion and protection of women’s rights including anti-sexual violence measures such as the historical marital rape law of 2006.  However, an analysis of sexual violence in Nepal requires an understanding of the systematic and societal structures that promote or allow sexual violence and impunity to exist.

This paper offers an insight into these structures through an analysis of the legal vocabulary as they relate to women’s bodies and sexual violence and impunity. State elites in Nepal have historically been concerned with the regulation of the sexuality of the population.  On third of the Muluki Ain of 1854 centered on the regulations of sexual relations  including state regulation of inter-caste sexual, marital and commensal relations.  The amended MA promulgated in 1963 deleted the language of caste distinctions and hierarchies and laws applied to all uniformly regardless of sex and “caste.”

However, deeper analyses of legal changes – including those in the very recent past – reveals the continuation of central cultural codings.  Underlying the latter has been assumptions of the male ownership of women’s bodies, the sexual purity of women and the honor associated with women’s bodies.  This paper seeks to uncover the cultural codings embedded in various laws as they relate to women and their bodies. These includes analyses of laws and regulations on marriage, divorce, jari and rape and its punishments in all its legally disaggregated categories.  It is argued that such cultural codings have been historically utilized to legitimate sexual violence against women, categorize such crimes within the judicial system as being of minor importance and enable impunity to perpetrators.

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Panel: Water Security, Ecosystem Services and Livelihoods in the Himalayas
Panel Organizer: Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies, Nepal, Centre for Ecology, Development and Research, India and University of Cambridge- Department of Geography, UK
Chair: Hari Dhungana, Executive Director, Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS)
Discussant: Ajaya Dixit, Executive Director, ISET-Nepal 

Panel Abstract: Small towns in hill and mountain regions of South Asia depend on springs, streams, lakes and rivers in their surrounding catchments for the supply of water. Such towns in India and Nepal have grown rapidly with little planning for infrastructure needs more generally, and for water supply in particular. While demand for water is increasing, there is growing pressure on available supplies, which has created several issues relating to water management and governance, interaction among stakeholders (particularly upstream and downstream communities in hydrologically-connected catchments), and the sustainability of supplies, due to the competing demands of water from different sectors.

Through this panel, we will share our preliminary insights from our ongoing research from the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and in the hill regions of Nepal. The three papers will highlight the hydrological dependence of these small towns on water flows from the surrounding landscape, and the areas that are critical to securing these water flows (‘critical water zones’). Further, the papers will discuss existing patterns of resource and land use in these critical water zones, and challenges to sustaining water supplies from these areas to meet the needs of local and non-local stakeholders. Institutional arrangements and local governance for water supply management systems for small towns in the Himalayas are also analysed, as are the processes of negotiation and bargaining between stakeholders to secure their water needs.

This Panel will be a two-hour panel, involving three paper presentations and an open discussion among panelists and participants. Through focused insights from our comparative research in Nepal and the Indian Himalayas, this panel will draw attention to the wider challenges of water security and livelihoods that face the region, and will be of considerable interest to scholars, practitioners and policy makers.

Discussion : An important part of this panel will be a discussion on the unique opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in the context of rapid urban expansion, climate change and political transition particularly in Nepal. The discussion will draw attention to the complex processes and issues around water security and livelihoods in the fragile Himalayan environment, and the frequently overlooked communities that live there. This panel will not only present the current environmental and urbanisation situation of the Himalayas, based on our detailed field research, but will launch and contribute to a public conversation around the ‘sustainable’ development of strategies to cope with the emergent pressures – both human and natural – that impact the Himalayas and other mountain regions.

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Paper 1: Sustainability of Water Supply in Hill Towns in the Himalayas
Devendra Chauhan, Vishal Singh, Anvita Pandey and Rajesh Thadani,  Centre for Ecology, Development and Research (CEDAR), India; Ngamindra Dahal, Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS), Nepal 

Abstract: The Himalayas are often referred to as the ‘Third Pole’. This appellation acknowledges the fact that after the two poles – North and South – the Himalayas with their snowfields, glaciers and perennial rivers are the largest reservoir of freshwater on this planet. Reassuring as it may seem, this appellation pales when one looks at the paradox of water supply in towns and cities across the Himalayas.

Traditionally water supply in hill towns has been based on supply from natural springs, streams fed by springs, lakes and rivers. Over a period of time, increasing population, loss of forest cover, lower water availability from springs and streams have ensured that hill towns and cities face water stress especially during the summer season. Leakages in the distribution system and a drop in production efficiencies also contribute to water stress. Erratic supplies and leaky networks also result in system contamination during periods of zero or negative system pressure, thus compromising water quality. This is compounded by the fact that access and the distribution of water is extremely uneven across the Himalayan region. Lack of natural storage capacity in the case of towns located on ridges is also a limiting factor. Several hill towns are located at higher altitudes, whereas the natural water sources flow at a much lower altitude. The difference in altitude is sometimes so great that multistage pumping is required to lift water from the source to the towns.

Sustainability of water supply in hill towns is a function of both source sustainability and demand. Source sustainability itself is a function of bio-physical as well as socio-ecological factors that mediate the recharge of the natural water sources. This is controlled among others by a number of factors – duration of rainfall, residence time of snowpacks, forest degradation, landuse, protection afforded to the „critical‟ water zones and geology. Skewed seasonal availability and increasing demand impose severe strains on the water supply systems. More often than not the summer season, March to June, is one of extreme water stress. This imbalance is dealt with by lowering the water supply pressure, the duration of piped water supply and rationing. One of the technical fixes to deal with this has been to obtain water from new and more distant sources, often through the implementation of energy intensive pumping schemes, which where possible, pump up water from rivers. These schemes have high capital costs and lead to an increase in the cost of water which can potentially be unaffordable for small towns.

This paper presents the water supply scenario from six Himalayan towns in India and Nepal, which are the focus of collaborative research funded by the ESPA programme. The paper examines the drivers for the altered regimes of water supply in these towns and the mechanisms to deal with it. It focuses, especially, on current pressures on critical elements of the landscape which have the potential to alter hydro-geological regimes in the region.

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Paper 2: Negotiating Water Security: Dynamics of Up and Down Stream Water Management in Two Small Towns in Nepal’s Himalaya
Kamal Devkota and Hemanta Ojha, Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS), Nepal; Bhaskar Vira and Eszter Krasznai Kovacs, University of Cambridge, UK 

Abstract: The supply and management of drinking water to small towns of the Himalayas is a critical challenge. Around half of the urban population in the Western Himalayas, covering Nepal and the two Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, live in small towns of less than 100 000 people. These small towns rely on springs, lakes and rivers for drinking water with supply systems managed and governed through a variety of approaches and institutional arrangements. Across the Himalayan region, widespread urbanisation and reports of decreasing spring water flows have increased pressures on water supplies. This paper aims to draw insights about institutional arrangements and local governance for water supply management systems for small towns in the Himalayas by drawing on six case study towns – two from Nepal and four from India (two each from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) – which are the focus of our on-going research in the region, funded by the ESPA programme.

In Nepal, governments and communities both share the responsibility for the management of water, while private sector management practices and interventions are increasing, as are donor supported projects, especially in the case of small towns. In the two Indian states, government agencies are responsible for the management of water sources and its supply and distribution, also frequently aided by international donor projects. In this paper, we analyse how state-, community-led and more hybrid water management practices have evolved in the region over the past three decades. Specifically, we cover three key aspects:

how processes of decision-making occur and vary across these contexts, including how and when voices of the poor and marginalized groups are represented in such decision processes; b) the role of donors in shaping institutional interventions, and how these interact with pre-existing state and community systems; and c) identifying the “winners” and “losers” from specific forms of water management and delivery, including opportunities for more equitable water governance.

Our preliminary insights reveal that the institutional structures and mechanisms, as well as the sources of drinking water in Nepal and India, are undergoing a period of rapid change with a number of shared contextual characteristics and trends. Trade-offs between different water uses and users, such as between drinking water or irrigation needs, between urban and rural populations or up- and down- stream communities, are prevalent across all case study towns, wherein respective stakeholders are affected by changing provisions for water in different ways, and with highly differential abilities to negotiate and affect management structures or outcomes. New institutional forms, and delivery and distribution systems, are being planned and implemented, often with donor support, and these are likely to result in new challenges for existing stakeholders within these systems. The paper concludes with a wider discussion of the prospects for water (in) security in the region, in light of these emergent governance regimes.

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Paper 3: Water Catchments and Water Users: Zoning, Negotiations and Other Mechanisms for Water Security in the Urbanizing Himalayas
Chetan Agrawal, Centre for Ecology, Development and Research (CEDAR), India; Tikeshwari Joshi and Kaustuv R Neupane, Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS), Nepal

Abstract: Himalayan towns showcase a variety of institutional, regulatory, and technology led arrangements for sustaining the flows and quality of water. These arrangements and approaches are largely aimed at mitigating concerns related to alternate land uses in and around water-supply catchments, and their potential impacts on water quality and availability. Recently, incentives for controlling landuse through Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) type arrangements have attracted some attention in the region, along with numerous other approaches. These include negotiated settlements between up- and down- stream water users, or between international donors and local communities; the enactment of zoning regulations; and the promotion of tree planting and forest protection in water supply catchments. These efforts are largely guided by perceptions and science regarding the benefits of such actions on sustaining water flows. 

In addition, alternate uses of water often compete with urban water supply needs and include irrigation, abstraction of water for hydropower and rural domestic use. Other water users may be upstream or downstream of the source of water, around the source, or enroute. They may be prior users, or subsequent claimants, and may have the support of the state in some cases (hydro projects) or just their community in others (irrigation users, washermen). Negotiations between urban water providers and these alternate users typically revolve around the relative volumes required by different users, driven by perceptions over the legitimacy of their competing claims, and their ability to mobilise support for their water needs from regulatory and management authorities elsewhere in the system.

There are numerous drivers for these diverse arrangements. The specificities of towns and their socio-political contexts influence the extent and types of demands around water and in large part the engagement and intervention possibilities around management strategies. The types of sources (such as springs, streams and rivers), the relative altitude of the source to the town, combined with communities‟ relative standing and bargaining power, their distance from the source, the presence of other users (especially hydropower or agricultural users) all have an impact on water supply and demand, and the eventual arrangements that are negotiated within these landscapes. The presence of local institutions, as well as forest and water tenures, and the existing legal / political framework of water management also exert their own influence over the nature and effectiveness of such arrangements.

This paper examines negotiated reciprocal watershed agreements in two specific towns in the Western Himalayas: Palampur (Himachal Pradesh, India), and Dhulikhel (Nepal). Both towns have entered into formal long term agreements for the supply of water with identified upstream communities, which have been supported and facilitated by external agents and donor projects. The paper compares the dynamics of these negotiated settlements, and their current status, as well as the ways in which they are perceived and understood by both upstream and downstream stakeholders. Despite their different histories and trajectories, these case studies provide complementary insights into the political economy of water in the Himalayan region.

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Between Synergy and Co-optation: Dalits and Maoists before, during and after the ‘People’s War’
Richard Bownas, Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Northern Colorado; and Ratna Bishokarma, Sociology student, Tribhuvan University

Abstract: This paper explores the ambivalent relationship between Dalits and Maoists in the Nepali Civil War (1996-2006) using three field studies of villages in western and eastern Nepal. The aim is to investigate whether this period of social upheaval brought about lasting changes in caste discrimination practices in rural Nepal and through this investigation to ask larger, critical questions about the type of transformation achieved by Maoism in Nepal and its relation to the aspiration for ‘modernity’ in subaltern populations.

In order to address these questions three village cases were selected: two in Kalikot District in western Nepal (Malkot and Manma) and one in eastern Nepal (Kubinde in Sindhupalchok District). Malkot was selected because it was a Maoist ‘model village’ during the war period and was well known as a center for Dalit empowerment activities before and during the war. Manma shares Malkot’s demographic and socio-economic characteristics but was not a ‘model village’ during the war due to the presence of an army barracks in the town. Kubinde was an area of high Maoist social power, but not a model village and was selected to give an indication of how Dalits interacted with Maoists in eastern Nepal where Dalits comprise a lower percentage of the population. In each village we conducted extensive field interviews (in Summer 2014) and attempted to measure levels of caste discrimination in each village. Our aim was to find out whether discrimination practices (such as separate taps, excluded temple entry, denial of home and hotel entry and caste based economic practices) had changed during or after the ‘People’s War’.

Our main finding is that where Dalits had been able to infiltrate Maoist power structures before hostilities began a ‘synergy’ was created which enabled them to build on consciousness raising activities and bring about some enduring changes in caste practices. This was the case in Malkot. In the other two cases a relationship of co-optation (of Dalits by Maoist leaders) or indifference to Dalit issues appeared to be characteristic.

We conclude by exploring the implications for our understanding of Maoism as a social and political movement; what kind of ‘modernity’ did it try to bring about and what kind of local aspirations for modernity did it work with or against? In particular, local Dalit leaders appear to have wanted ‘locally embedded’ forms of modern development, that were arguably in tension with the Maoists’ ‘abstract’ and state-power directed goals. We also ask what implications these case studies have for the Dalit social movement in Nepal and look ahead to further field research (in Summer 2015) that will try and pinpoint more generally the legacies of Maoist ‘model villages’ on social transformation.

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Elections and Under-representation in Democratizing Nepal: Electoral laws, party system and patronage, and weak mobilization of marginalized groups
Mahendra Lawoti, Professor, Department of Political Science, Western Michigan University 

Abstract: This study examines why under-representation of marginalized groups continued in Nepal during the 1990s even after repeated competitive elections. Democratization is supposed to include more people and groups progressively when polities become more competitive (Dahl 1971). Periodic competitive elections are said to increase representation of previously under-represented groups as electoral competition pushes political parties to recruit more groups for support and votes, or new political parties emerge to represent the previously under-represented groups. Recent studies have pointed out that repetitive periodic elections have led to democratization in Africa (Lindberg 2009; Gyimah-Boadi 1999) and elsewhere (Eisenstadt 1999; Schedler 2002). Countries like India went through further democratization through increased representation of formerly under-represented ethnic/caste groups after repeated elections (Yadav 1999; Jaffrelot 2003). However despite universal adult franchise and three competitive parliamentary elections during the 1990s, marginalized groups continued to be under-represented in Nepal (Lawoti 2005), depriving them from having effective participation in political decision-making processes, which, many argue, is a necessary condition for a polity to be truly democratic (Dahl 1989).  While relative powerlessness of elections for further democratization in Latin American countries where democracy was introduced before the Second World War has been pointed out (McCoy and Hartlyn 2009), the Nepali case will shed light on why and how under-representation of marginalization group can continue despite periodic elections. The Nepali case is interesting methodically because representation of marginalized groups increased after a regime change in 2006 brought about by the decade long Maoist civil war and a subsequent popular movement in 2006 against the monarchy.  Representation of marginalized groups increased after the country became a secular republic and introduced electoral reform, and the marginalized groups’ mobilization sharply increased. Thus, Nepal allows reflexive comparison to arrive at more robust findings. Different representation level in the two epochs with different electoral methods (plurality versus mixed proportional), different party systems (two versus multi-party), and different level of mobilization of marginalized groups (weak versus heightened) will allow us to examine whether electoral method, mobilization level, and party system contributed in the under-representation during the 1990s. The paper will examine the role of ethnic patronage (Chandra 2004) by examining if higher level of control of major political parties by the dominant caste group (indicated by control over leadership) led to lower representation of marginalized groups by comparing the status of major parties as well as individual party over time.  Likewise, I will also compare internal democracy (high or low level of local influence in parliamentary candidate selection, in a context where many national minority groups are dominant and more influential at local levels) across the major political parties over time to see if under-representation of marginalized groups is starker in parties with lower internal democracy. I collected electoral data of five elections to analyze ethnic/caste representation and conducted archival search, interviews, and secondary literature review to analyze leadership structure and internal democracy of major political parties, mobilization level of marginalized groups and the evolving party system across the years.

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Mediating the migrant experience: dukha, viraha, and nostalgia in Nepali Lok Dohori songs
Anna Stirr, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies, University of Hawaii-Manoa 

Abstract: Nepal’s Lok Dohori industry is based on migration. The majority of performers, arrangers, producers, investors, and even most of its audience are rural-urban migrants within Nepal, and many have spent time working abroad. Song production is a collaborative process involving many different individuals, most of whom will have personal experience engaging with popular songs as migrants themselves. Based on ethnographic research in Nepal’s music industry and among migrant performers and fans in the UK, US, and Bahrain, this paper examines how artists in the music industry contribute to shaping the experience of migrant life by highlighting particular emotional states, particularly those of suffering, longing, and nostalgia, in the songs and music videos they produce. I suggest that modern Nepali popular songs about migration draw on poetic tropes of dukha (suffering) and viraha (longing) that are hundreds of years old, and that these poetic tropes and the musical and visual tropes used along with them emphasize a particular structure of feeling around the dialectic of home and away. Yet to argue that all migration songs are only about dukha would not be accurate – the equally popular narrative of the migrant’s triumphant return home is one counter-example, and the popularity of humorous improvised couplets juxtaposed with sad refrains in live Dohori performance, underscored by the fast danceable beats that characterize many of these songs, shows that a greater range of emotion is present. Grounding my analysis of migration songs in the idea of sharing dukha and sukha that undergirds the tradition of songfests in Nepal’s rural areas, and Georgina Born’s ideas about music and mediation, I argue that the process of producing and further engaging with these songs is a way for migrants and their families to manage this bittersweet range of emotions.

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Nepalis without Nepal: Migration, Livelihood and Identity
Tanka Subba, Vice-Chancellor, Sikkim University 

Abstract: The lecture deals with the three inter-related concepts of migration, livelihood and identity from the perspective of the Nepalis without Nepal, located mainly in India’s Northeast. It tries to show how their identity as migrants from Nepal has been a bane for them in India’s Northeast, how it influences their orientation towards Nepal and India, and how it affects their livelihood pursuits in the latter country.

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