Identities in the Making: Cultural Pluralism and the Politics of Imagined Communities in the Lowlands of Nepal (original) (raw)

An Exploration of Ethnic Dynamics in Nepal

Journal of Population and Development

This article explores manifold dynamics of demographic presence in Nepal. The polities at large are distinct in terms of culture, class and caste. The study focuses on ethnic differences in the context of the recent political development of Nepal. Demographic changes have profound effects on the society, economy, and people of a political institution. Nepal is a multi-ethnic country with a history of ethnic discrimination over the centuries because of racial differences imbibed in political and social affairs of the Nepalese. Demographic changes in Nepal have occurred under unique circumstances within a both a historical context and a contemporary and comparative perspective against other countries have encountered. The article encompasses the factors such as cultural harmony, integrity, and equity to analyze cultural differences and racial realities in the scenario of the postmodern era. The paper unfolds the pages of underrepresentation of the marginalized communities and overrepr...

Limbuwan is Our Home, Nepal is Our Country": History, Territory, and Identity in Limbuwan's Movement

2017

Many peoples and institutions have unconditionally helped me in research and writing this dissertation. David Holmberg, my committee chair, has been a remarkable mentor and teacher, who not only showed me the way to Cornell but also taught me to think differently about culture. I learned anthropology not only from his classes but also through informal conversations with him over 15 years now. Had he not shown me the way to Cornell I would have ended up elsewhere nor would I have had a valuable perspective to look into societies, including my own. The intellectual product I have at hand here has been possible only because of David's unconditional support and academic guardianship. I shall remain forever grateful to my committee chair, David Holmberg, for all the support he has given me both on and off campus in Ithaca and Nepal. I feel proud and fortunate to be his student and thankful to him for accepting me as his student. My committee member, Kathryn S. March, has been so remarkably helpful both academically as well as in helping me navigate through difficulties with Cornell's bureaucracy as an international student. I learned so much about the conceptual and theoretical differences and similarities between non-Hindu adivasis and Hindu caste cultures in Nepal from her class on Peoples and Cultures in the Himalayas. I would also like to recognise Kathryn for all her support, guidance, and care not only for me but also for my spouse Hema, and my boys, Mukum and Muksam. My committee member, Magnus Fiskesjö, has been a great help in relation to choosing my research topic. During my first semester at Cornell, I took his class on Asian Minorities in which his discussions and readings on the Wa people from the viii borderlands between Burma and China were greatly helpful for me as I looked into Limbu society. Limbu lifeways and customs seem similar to the Wa in many respects. At the Department of Anthropology at Cornell, informal meetings and conversations with Terence Turner were serendipitously helpful in whetting my anthropologically blunt intellectual edge then. To me, Terry's concept of synchronic pluralism is a theoretical capsule that is useful in dealing with the problems facing multi-cultural societies like Nepal. His phrasing of Marx and anthropology together, by "anthropologizing Marx and [the] marxification of anthropology" during his talk on "Indigenous Peoples' Movement and Marxism" in Kathmandu in May 2012, was profoundly helpful in conceptualizing my research. Terry is no more with us now but the anthropological theoretical capsules he has left behind are so useful and perfect for interpreting indigenous peoples movements in particular, and societies in general. I am really grateful to the late Professor Terence Turner for providing me with a uniquely different understanding of anthropology, which helped me to look towards a different horizon. Jane Fajans was the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department when I came to Cornell. It would not have been easy for me in starting graduate school at Cornell without her support and guidance. In my first semester, the proseminar class with Steve Sangren was intellectually stimulating as well as enlightening. I am thankful to Steve not only for that class but also for thoughtful conversations, focusing mainly on politics. I am also grateful to Audra Simpson for her class on the Anthropology of Colonialism. The class mainly discussed native Americans, and The First Nations' historical and political issues in the face of European colonization. Her class really helped me to think through the adivasi Limbu situation in Nepal. ix My travel between Ithaca and Nepal for my research was supported by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and the Graduate School at Cornell. The Department of Anthropology's emergency fund also provided invaluable financial support. I am grateful to these organizations for financially supporting me. While doing my field research in Nepal, many individuals and organizations were generous and helpful. I worked with DB Angbung, a promising student of anthropology but also a scholar in Limbu mundhum, literature and writing as well as a full time activist in the Limbuwan movement. Without his support, this work would not have gotten into this form. Conversations with the leaders of the Federal Limbuwan State Council including Kumar Lingden, Khagendra Makhim, and Surya Makhim were extremely helpful in knowing the history of the Limbuwan based political parties and their movements in Nepal. I am thankful to DB Angbung for all his support. I am grateful to Kirat Yakthung Chumlung's Arjun Limbu, Yograj Wanem and Lila Singak for their time and help for me. I am also thankful to the

Ethnicity as a Historical Process: An Appraisal on Patterns of Ethnogenesis in Nepal

2020

Ethnicity is a social and historical process, which carries changes and continuity simultaneously in different dimension of ethnic identity among the ethnic groups. Historical forces in terms of their social, political and economic dimension shape how ethnic identity is defined and created as well as recreated in contemporary society. Given the discussion this paper focuses on how the members of an ethnic group define themselves as a social group over time according to the social and political field in which they are in. The study has aims to describe the historical chronology of the transformation of Pahari identity over time in Nepal. Further, the paper particularly attempted to see how the political system of the country shapes the creation and recreation of identity among the members of the given ethnic group. The study is based on primarily on number of in-depth interviews of the members of the given ethnic community living in middle hills in and around around Kathmandu valley ...

Ethnicity, Stereotypes and Ethnic Movements in Nepal

Crossing the Border: International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2014

Liberal political environment, globalization, urbanization and migration amid the hectic political process of constitution drafting trapped in the issue of federalism and inclusion made the issue of ethnicity more debatable in Nepal. New ethnic identities were forged, new associations set up, and new allegations made in social, political, geographical and economic sectors for the reorganization of the country. Ethnicity does not always shoot out from antique tradition or nationality, however is fashioned, socially/culturally constructed, adapted, recreated, or even manufactured in the modern society. For that reason, it is necessary to see ethnicity as process i.e. making of boundaries, fluidity of boundaries as well as the stiffening of boundaries, variations in categorization and identification among groups in different times and places. Hence, State reorganization on the basis of capricious ethnic and religious history and so on will lead to confusion, disintegration and mayhem....