Junga Bahadur Bhuda was 33 when he died as a result of a motorbike accident in Jumla. Through a series of ramifications springing from this episode, in this paper I try to reflect on howconsciousness of death manifests itself in the Sinja Valley of Jumla. In such a way death may appear much more present than commonly thought, and the consciousness of it, at first glance so philosophically distant from ordinary life, constitutes a vantage point from which to observe and reflect upon the sense-making of existence as me-in-the-midst-of-others and of death-in-the-midst-of-life. Thus, drawing attention on the existential meaning of death, I present it as the flip coin of life rather than its opposite – a complementary and indispensable aspect of our experience-of-the-world. Albeit being confident that to a certain extent there are some…

Introduction: Assessing and understanding governance is crucial to ensure accountability and transparency and to improve the performance of mental health systems. Using the health system governance framework developed by Siddiqi and colleagues this paper assesses the situation of mental health system governance in Nepal and provides recommendations for improving governance. Methods: In-depth individual interviews were conducted with national level policymakers and district level planners. The interview checklist was developed based on the Siddiqi framework for assessing governance of health system. Data analysis was done in NVIVO 10 using framework matrices. Results: The mental health system governance assessment reveals a few positive developments and many challenges. The facilitating factors include availability of mental health policy, inclusion of mental health in other general health policies and plans, increasing participation of Non Governmental…

Studies on climate change have been dominated by climate science while its impacts are studied by economics, both of the disciplines using empiricist methodologies. Such studies have interpreted the change as environmental, economic and political problems. Studies of climate change from social science perspectives or using humanistic methodologies are still lacking, particularly in Nepal. As a result, social scientists in Nepal are still confined to understand climate change as what the climate scientist tell, and are restrained to accept the impacts of change as what the economists convey. The reality however is that, whatever the lenses: environmental, economic or political is used to look the climate change; the problem is particularly the social. Therefore social scientists should have their own ways of studying climate change, and associated implications and societal…

The present paper is an ethnographic account of the Nepalese migrant workers living and working in the coal mines in Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya. Most of the workers working in the selected coal mining area of the Jaintia Hills hail from Bhojpur district of Eastern Nepal. The paper works on return migration and it argues that, for the majority of the Nepalese migrant workers, working in the coal mines is not temporary; rather an experience of circular migration. Return, here is used as an analytical concept which can both be seen as an imagined and actual return migration of the Nepalese migrant workers. The meaning of home and belonging for Nepalese migrant workers changes overtime. On the one hand, the Nepalese migrant workers continuously complain about the grueling condition of the…

There is a considerable difference between thinking about sex differences with the dichotomous variable and integrating more complex gender analysis in migration research.This paper makes a rigorous analysis of migration from gender perspective that highlights the livelihood contribution of women labour migrants of Nepal and assesses the exploitation and exclusion they have faced during the migration process. The study is conducted in Pokhara Valley with particular focus on the women going to Gulf Countries. The findings are derived from the information collected from 80 respondents selected using the chain-snow-ball sampling. Information was collected through in-depth interviews. The social and educational networks of researchers were used to identify the respondents at first; afterwards, network of already identified respondents was also used. The contribution of women labour migration in household economy is…

India shares 1,751 km long border with Nepal and approximately 275 km of this falls in Uttarakhand state of  India (Joshi, 2010). It have been said that sense of “foreignness” for these Nepali immigrants labours is less in Uttarakhand than the Indian plains. Although immigrant community form vital part of this region’s landscape and inevitable part of informal economy there is an apparent lack of literature on their social status and their role in (re)shaping the region’s politics, culture and economy. Prevalent geopolitical discourse has focused mainly on India's unregulated open borders with Nepal, Nepali Maoist’s claim on the easternmost part of Kumaon region (situated in the Eastern part of Uttarakhand) of India and on the linkages between Nepali labourers in Uttarakhand and the Nepali Maoists. Thus, this study employs…

The power struggle between sufficient class and the insufficient is prevalent since time immemorial. Like any other subjects, this sphere too has its own globe, speciality, and account. It is a natural fact that in a power relationship, the subordinate often has to tender somewhat and sometimes has to make a huge deal endangering his whole needs. It is in such occasions, the subordinates resist the dominants to protect their interest that ultimately leads to the growth of hidden transcripts among the powerless in a society. The resentment of the peasantry and working class against the unjust and a self centred rule began to take shape with the hiddentranscripts. Generally, the hidden transcript takes place beyond instant inspection of the authorities. When the level of suppression reaches its highest watermark,…

Over the last decade, rap and hip-hop have taken the Nepali music industry by storm, and one of its guises is Raw Barz. Raw Barz is a ‘rap battle,’ where two performers ‘battle’ with each other verbally, in generally three to four rounds, and is mostly characterized by bragging, boasting, ragging, and making cunning, clever or even disparaging remarks against each other in an attempt to win the opponent. While the history of rap music reveals that it was actually evolved as a way of expression of frustration against oppression and discrimination among the African-American community in the United States, it is explicit that the battles all over the world currently use themes such as misogyny, objectification, masculinity and violence, and femininity and sexuality. Although many studies have been conducted…

War narratives consist of multiple themes related to people’s recollection of the violent past, imagination of the future and reflection on the present. More importantly, such narratives offer possibilities to explore how victims, perpetrators and ordinary people construct meanings associated with wartime violence, torture, disappearances and other wartime events. By revealing different vantage points to look into a particular event, narratives from different sources offer varying accounts of the war. Hence, narrative research has found a significant position in anthropological studies related to war and peace. The post-conflict period in Nepal witnessed a significant growth in anthropological studies on the decade long war. There are still ongoing efforts to explore various issues related to the war such as participation of men and women in the war, memories of war in…

Integration of immigrants has been a pertinent issue both theoretically and at the policy level in major migrant receiving states. In the case of the United Kingdom (UK), this has been reflected in the rise of extreme right-wing parties and increasing public resistance, who see immigration as a threat to national solidarity as the immigrants are seen as refusing to ‘integrate’ into mainstream society. The Nepali community residing in the UK, majority of which constitutes of families of Nepali men who served or are still serving in the Gurkha Regiment of the British Army, has been no exception to this resistance. However, scant attention has been given to the examination of integration process of this group. Furthermore, like the majority of the migration literature, the gender dimension, i.e. the process…