Beyond Jajmani: The Complexity of Indigenous Labor Relations in Western Nepal (original) (raw)

This dissertation examines the logic of exchange and power in agrarian Nepal. The society in Jajarkot District is researched through an examination of labor exchange. Researchers have examined the jajmãni system, known throughout South Asia as a ritualized system of reciprocal rights and duties among castes. Yet many other labor exchange practices exist in Jãjarkoë District, western Nepal. Therefore, this dissertation asks, “Is jajmãni a self-contained system of productive social relations?” I conclude that jajmãni is one small part in a larger system of productive social relations. This dissertation explicates rules of practice for the range of management strategies used in Nepali farming and livestock herding. This dissertation focuses on work strategies known as khalo, jajmãni, hali, ãdhiyå, baure, parimã, and sahayog. These translate as "artisanship," "Brãhman priestly services," "plowing services," "sharecropping," "daily labor," "reciprocal exchange," and "labor gifting." Together, these practices constitute a system of ethnomanagement essential for small-scale production in Nepal. The method of ethnography used involved both qualitative and quantitative data collection. Conversational interviews were used to understand the cultural construction of labor relations. Socio-economic surveys were administered in Jãjarkoë District and two hundred and sixty households were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment correlations. The data support the hypothesis that combinations of named labor practices enhance elites’ social control over non-elites. Thus, using all of the labor practices, and not simply jajmãni, elites engage in negotiated labor exchanges which are often structurally unequal. Structurally unequal exchange is part of an economic system labeled “paternalism.” Paternalism is marked by unequal exchange; patron-clientism (e.g., jajmãni); land ownership as a primary marker of social status; prominent barter and labor exchange systems; and workers continuing to control their own means of production. In summary, Nepalese indigenous labor relations solidify Nepali social caste and class hierarchies; employ paternalism as a mechanism of unequal exchange; continue as viable strategies despite intrusions of capitalism; and form a network of labor strategies rather than one monolithic jajmãni system.