When a humanitarian crisis is “over,” what happens to the people who are relocated or left behind?  This paper investigates how the interactions between refugees and humanitarian bureaucrats at multiple stages of forced migration create (and undermine) different transnational social ties for refugees.  Findings from this research will contribute to discussions of the social world of refugees and transnational communities more broadly.  It will also contribute a sociological analysis of international refugee protection with implications for policies governing refugee camps and resettlement.  The research seeks to promote more effective and fair exit strategies for humanitarian aid organizations at the end of refugee crises that recognize the lived experiences of refugees and the complex social relations that emerge between refugees, humanitarian bureaucrats, and hosts during crisis. In 2014 the United Nations…

Public policies are the outcome of political processes (Hall and Jenkins, 1995) and are usually formulated to represent the political ideology of the party in power (Getz, 2012). Political parties take different approaches to the economy, social development and external relations. Their understanding of culture, leisure, sports and tourism is based on their value sets or party positions, and once in power they execute their vision through public policies. However, in this age of globalisation, political parties and nation states are not absolutely independent and policies are shaped by a considerable number of other influences which originate beyond national territory. As a form of transnational exchange, the international element is undoubtedly prominent in tourism. In the context of developing countries, economic ideology is also informed by international development ‘discourse’ that…

Disaster events and environmental shocks disproportionately affect rural and poor populations.1 A hotspot for natural disasters with over 80% of the rural population dependent on agriculture and home-produced food1, the Nepali Himalayas are especially vulnerable to shocks. Enhancing resilience and adaptive capacity can improve outcomes post-shock for both human and ecological communities2. Here, resilience can be defined as the capacity to buffer change3 or ‘the ability of social-ecological systems to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure/functions’4. Considerable evidence suggests that diversified agroecosystems and agricultural practices are more resilient to economic and climatic variability and change as compared to monocrop systems that rely heavily on external inputs and market demand.5 Previous research finds that diversified farming systems protect natural resources, maintain or even increase agrobiodiversity, and strengthen farmer resilience to climate variability…

Human rights organisations draw on the language, institutions and norms of international human rights law. They invest considerable time, expertise and resources to monitor, screen and document cases of torture and ill treatment. The documentation of torture and ill treatment is challenging not only because of limited political space available for this work and the lack of protection for survivors as well as human rights workers, but also because the very practice of documentation is not straightforward. In their attempt to gather reliable and persuasive evidence that are often used for ‘naming and shaming’ strategies, human rights organisations have to make decisions on where to focus, how to identify and document cases of torture and ill treatment. This gets pronounced in the context of low-income countries that have a few…

The proposed paper is an inquiry into the psychology of caste and identity in Nepal. It asks whether inter-caste marriage can change the way in which people think of caste, and if so, how and to what extent. The vast majority of people in Nepal view caste and ethnicity as categories of identity which are acquired at birth and which remain stable throughout an individual’s life course. This way of thinking represents a striking display of “psychological essentialism”, a cognitive bias well-known among psychologists (e.g. Gelman 2003), and which has come under recent anthropological scrutiny (e.g. Bloch, Solomon, and Carey 2001; Astuti et al. 2004; Regnier 2012). Endogamy is believed to play a central role in the emergence of psychological essentialism (Gil-White 2001). Caste endogamy, therefore, likely forms an important…

In this paper I will examine the most commonly cited reason for Christian conversion in Nepal – healing – and place it in the context of ethical and theological understandings in churches; I will also relate it to wider social and cultural developments. Prayer-based healing in Bhaktapurian churches does not tend to happen in a single moment; rather, it is a process which involves not only the person healed but also the wider church community. Much of church practice in Bhaktapur is oriented towards building supportive relationships with and praying for those who are physically or mentally afflicted. This is evident in healing crusades, medical work, and group prayer in house fellowships, and it reflects ethical understandings of suffering that are distinctive in the context of Bhaktpaur’s traditional culture. I…

This paper investigates the effects of the lack of state recognition of Tibetan medicine in Nepal. Although scholars have investigated the relationship between Tibetan medicine and state institutions, discussions on the different trends of modernization of Tibetan medicine induced by the lack of state recognition is missing. It is based on the ethnographic study (participant-observation) of three Tibetan clinics and a 10-day training course in Tibetan message therapy (called Kunye) in Boudha, Kathmandu, conducted from the second week of February until the last week of April in 2015. A total of 17 interviews were conducted with the doctors and the clinic staff, and other relevant actors—local and foreign patients and officials of the organizations promoting Tibetan medicine in Nepal. The interviews were based on structured, semi-structured, and unstructured questions as…

The British army remains one of the most attractive career paths for young men in Nepal. Recruitment for first the East India Trade Company in the 1800s, later the British Imperial Army and today, the British and Indian armies has long provided an economic incentive that has shaped the way that young men in Nepal make decisions about their career paths. Following World War II, however, as the number of Nepalis in the British army has declined, the selection process has become more challenging. Furthermore, the promise of British citizenship for anyone who serves more than six years has swelled the number of applicants. In 2015, out of 6,000 applicants between the ages of 18 and 22, only 230 were selected. In the hope of improving their chances, thousands of…

We are concluding two years of DFID and Wellcome Trust-funded disaster mental health intervention research in Nepal, having worked with over 700 persons in five earthquake and flood affected communities throughout the country. We describe this innovative mental health integrated disaster preparedness intervention, share research results, and consider lessons learned. Preliminary data outcomes indicate that the 3-day community intervention increased disaster preparedness behaviors and preparedness self-efficacy, decreased symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress, and increased mental health related help-giving and help-seeking. In addition to quantitative data based on a randomized controlled trial and cluster comparisons, we share qualitative feedback from focus groups emphasizing firsthand accounts from local community members about the impact of natural disasters on well-being and reactions to the intervention. We hope to encourage discussion about how to…

How do people use public spaces in big cities in Nepal? The capital city, Kathmandu, has grown very fast since the eightees. Since 2010, a big program of widening of roads has changed the urban scape. In 2015, whereas the works were in progress, two big earthquakes destroyed houses, infrastructures and heritage. In April and May 2015, the two earthquakes of more than 7,8 on Richter scale destroyed a big part of the UNESCO world heritage sites (almost 80% of some sites). In this difficult period, Nepalese are demonstrating a tremendous resilience despite the situation is getting worse since the blockage of supplies coming from the indian border. This contribution propose to give a new lighting on urban sociology in Nepal in a globalised context. Through an ethnographic description of…