Hotel Shanker, Lazimpat
24-26 July, 2024
About the Conference
The Annual Kathmandu Conference on Nepal and the Himalaya has been hosted by Social Science Baha since 2012 in collaboration with the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, Britain–Nepal Academic Council, the Centre for Himalayan Studies–CNRS (since 2015) & Nepal Academic Network (Japan) (since 2016). The objective of the conference is to provide a scholarly platform in Kathmandu to scholars working on various aspects of social life in Nepal and the Himalaya from the perspective of social science as well as the arts and the humanities.
Conference 2024
Panel A1 | Borders of Hopes with India and China 9:00 -11:00
Opening Remarks and Chair
Nirmal Man Tuladhar, Chair, Social Science Baha
Discussant
Sanjay Sharma, Independent Scholar
Bade Qunzhu
Lecturer, Qinghai Minzu University, China; Ph.D. Scholar, Ethnography, Qinghai Minzu University, China
Nabraj Lama
Research Scholar, Himalayan Strategic Institute
Wu Di
Postdoctoral Researcher, Assistant Researcher, School of Ethnology and Sociology, Yunnan University, China
Break 11–11:30 am
Panel A2 | Livelihood at the Bottom of the Pyramid 11:30 am–1:30 pm
Chair
Sanjaya Aryal, Lecturer, University of Essex
Discussant
Sadikshya Bhattarai, Research Coordinator, Social Science Baha
Sudhir Shrestha
Knowledge Management Officer, South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication; Visiting Faculty, Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM)
Rajan Binayek Pasa
Assistant Professor, Central Department of Rural Development, Tribhuvan University
Lila Bahadur Bishwakarma
Teacher, Kallery Secondary School, Dhading, Nepal
Lunch Break 1:30–2:30 pm
Panel A3 | Learning and Growing up Experiences of Disabled and Youth 2:30–4:30 pm
Chair
Shiva Rijal, Lecturer in English, Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University
Discussant
Prem Phyak, Associate Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University
Phoenix Kenney
PhD Scholar, University of Cambridge
Anna Hata
PhD Scholar, University College London, United Kingdom
Challenges Faced by Partially Visually Impaired English Language Learners and How they Overcame them
Sujit Maharjan
Researcher, Social Science Baha
Panel B1 | Rising despite the System 9:00 -11:00
Opening Remarks
Mahendra Lawoti, Member, ANHS
Chair and Discussant
Seira Tamang, Editor-at-large, SINHAS
Prem Phyak
Associate Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA
Shak Bahadur Budhathoki
Lifelong Learning Mandala
Mahendra Lawoti
Professor, Department of Political Science, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo
Break 11–11:30 am
Panel B2 | Negotiating Socio-Political Structures in a New Republic 11:30 am–1:30 pm
Chair
Lokranjan Parajuli, Senior Researcher, Martin Chautari
Discussant
Sabin Ninglekhu, Principal Investigator, Heritage as Placemaking, Social Science Baha
Prakash B K
PhD Scholar, Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, USA
Xing Li
PhD Scholar, Department of Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dipak Ghising
PhD Scholar, Rural Development, Tribhuvan University
Lunch Break 1:30–2:30 pm
Panel B3 | Refugees and the Journey of Making a Home 2:30–4:30 pm
Chair
Ramawatar Yadav, Former Vice-Chancellor, Purbanchal University, Nepal
Discussant
Ranu Sherpa, Research Scholar, Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi
Lopita Nath
Professor and Chair of History, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas
Diversity, Multi-Level and Mobility：An Ethnographic Study on Social Networks of the Tibetan in Nepal
HAI Lu
Lecturer & Research Associate, Institute of International Relations, JINAN University, Guangdong, China
Yu Yao
Lecturer, School of International Studies/Academy of Overseas Chinese Studies, JINAN University, Guangzhou, China
Smriti Shreya
PhD Scholar, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
Panel A4 | Folk Music as Expression and Memories 9:00 -11:00
Chair and Discussant
Hari Sharma, Executive Director, Purak Asia
Anna Stirr
Director, Centre for South Asian Studies; Associate Professor of Asian Studies, University of Hawaii Manoa
Michael D. Smith
Researcher, Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute (RYI)
Chitra Rawat
Research and Operations Manager, India Migration Now
Break 11–11:30 am
Panel A5 | Women Stepping Out of the Shadows 11:30 am–1:30 pm
Chair
Sanjay Sharma, Independent Scholar
Discussant
Claire Willey-Sthapit, Assistant Professor, University of Kansas
Lalita Waldia
Field Researcher
Rajendra Sharma
Senior Research Associate, Social Science Baha
Amir Raja
Research Associate, Social Science Baha; Lecturer, Madan Bhandari Memorial College, Kathmandu
Lunch Break 1:30–2:30 pm
Panel A6 | (Un)Neighbourly Influences in Nepal 2:30–3:45 pm
Chair
Jacob Rinck, Postdoctoral Fellow, Asia Research Institute, NUS, Singapore
Discussant
Pranab Kharel, Member, Martin Chautari
Niraj Lawoju
PhD Scholar, School of International Studies, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Rajib Neupane
Research Associate, Social Science Baha
Break 3:45–4:15 pm
Panel A7 | Extremes of Digital Access 4:15–5:30 pm
Chair and Discussant
Sudeshna Thapa, Research Coordinator, Social Science Baha
Rajendra Raj Timilsina
Neo-Sanskritization Explorer
Chhatra Bahadur Limbu
Researcher, Social Science Baha
Panel B4 | Precarity and Possibility: Transnational Migrant Labour, Life-Making & Legalities in Malaya/Sia 9:00 -11:00
Chair
Hema Kiruppalini, Research Fellow, Asia Research Institute, NUS, Singapore
Discussant
Slesh Shrestha, Independent Researcher
Sampreety Gurung
PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University
Hema Kiruppalini
Research Fellow, Asia Research Institute, NUS, Singapore
Jacob Rinck
Postdoctoral Fellow, Asia Research Institute, NUS, Singapore
Break 11–11:30 am
Panel B5 | Histories of Education in the Nepali Cultural World 11:30 am–1:30 pm
Chair and Discussant
Pramod Bhatta, Member, Martin Chautari
Rukh Gurung
Assistant Researcher, Martin Chautari
Pratyoush Onta
Research Director, Martin Chautari
Lokranjan Parajuli
Senior Researcher, Martin Chautari
Lunch Break 1:30–2:30 pm
Panel B6 | Impacts of Constructing and Practising Beliefs
Chair
Sondra Hausner, Professor, University of Oxford
Discussant
Richard Bownas, Professor, University of Northern Colorado
Sabin Bahadur Zoowa
Lecturer, Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences
Akshay Balan
Field Representative, Worker Rights Consortium
Anisha Maini
Research Associate, StepChange
Avantika Jhunjhunwala
Researcher; MA Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
Avita Singh
Guest Faculty, University of Bhopal
Bibhuti Malla
Consulting Senior Associate, ERM India Pvt. Ltd
Srinjit Venkatesh
Research Analyst, Square Panda Education India
Break 3:45–4:15 pm
Panel B7 | Identity in Political and Literary Representations 4:15–5:30 pm
Rahul Ganguly
PhD Scholar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi, India
Ranu Sherpa
Research Scholar, Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India
Panel A8 | Gurkhas in a New Light 9:00 -11:00
Chair
Pratyoush Onta, Research Director, Martin Chautari
Discussant
Hema Kiruppalini, Research Fellow, Asia Research Institute, NUS, Singapore
Paulina Stanik
PhD Scholar, University of Warsaw, Poland
Chaaru Jain
Project Manager and Art Educator, Srijanalaya
Sanjay Sharma
Independent Scholar
Break 11–11:30 am
Panel A9 | Labour Regimes and Policy Change
Chair
Lopita Nath, Professor and Chair of History, University of the Incarnate Word
Discussant
Chaaru Jain, Project Manager and Art Educator, Srijanalaya
Tek Raj Koirala
PhD Scholar International Relation, South Asian University, New Delhi
Sanjaya Aryal
University of Essex
Josef Neubauer
PhD Scholar, Department for Migration and Globalisation, University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria
Lunch Break 1:30–2:30 pm
Panel A10 | Of Journeys and Worldviews: Formation of Early Modern Consciousness in Nepal 2:30–4:30 pm
Chair
Komal Phuyal, Lecturer in English, Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University
Discussant
Abhi Subedi, Professor Emeritus, Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University
Mahesh Paudyal
Lecturer, Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu
Komal Phuyal
Lecturer in English, Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal
Shiva Rijal
Lecturer in English, Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal
Panel B8 | Sajag-Nepal: Preparedness and Planning for the Mountain Hazard and Risk Chain
Chair
Alex Densmore, Professor, Durham University
Discussant
Janak Rai, Professor, Anthropology, Tribhuvan University
Break 11–11:30 am
Panel B9 | Sajag-Nepal: Preparedness and Planning for the Mountain Hazard and Risk Chain
Chair
Amy Johnson, Assistant Professor, Georgia College and State University
Discussant
Katsuo Nawa, Professor of Cultural Anthropology, University of Tokyo
Lunch Break 1:30–2:30 pm
Panel B10 | Sajag-Nepal: Preparedness and Planning for the Mountain Hazard and Risk Chain 2:30–4:30 pm
Chair
Jeevan Baniya, Assistant Director, Social Science Baha
Discussant
Sumit Dugar, Resilience Adviser, UK FCDO
Selected Presentation
| SN | Presenter/Affiliation | Abstract |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Rukh Gurung
Assistant Researcher, Martin Chautari
Pratyoush Onta
Research Director, Martin Chautari
Lokranjan Parajuli
Senior Researcher, Martin Chautari
|
Histories of Education in the Nepali Cultural World |
| 2 |
Mahesh Paudyal
Lecturer, Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu
Komal Phuyal
Lecturer in English, Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal
Shiva Rijal
Lecturer in English, Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal
|
Of Journeys and Worldviews: Formation of Early Modern Consciousness in Nepal |
| 3 |
Sampreety Gurung
PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University
Hema Kiruppalini
Research Fellow, Asia Research Institute, NUS, Singapore
Jacob Rinck
Postdoctoral Fellow, Asia Research Institute, NUS, Singapore
|
Precarity and Possibility: Transnational Migrant Labour, Life-Making & Legalities in Malaya/Sia |
| 4 |
Team Sajag-Nepal
|
Sajag-Nepal: Preparedness and Planning for the Mountain Hazard and Risk Chain |
| 5 |
Sanjaya Aryal
University of Essex
|
Is a Win-Win Possible in International Recruitment and Mobility of Health and Care Workforce? |
| 6 |
Prakash B K
PhD Scholar, Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, USA
|
Exploring Structural Violence: Understanding Mental Suffering and Healing in a Caste-Based Society |
| 7 |
Akshay Balan
Field Representative, Worker Rights Consortium
Anisha Maini
Research Associate, StepChange
Avantika Jhunjhunwala
Researcher; MA Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
Avita Singh
Guest Faculty, University of Bhopal
Bibhuti Malla
Consulting Senior Associate, ERM India Pvt. Ltd
Srinjit Venkatesh
Research Analyst, Square Panda Education India
|
Religiosity and Covid-19: A Study of Religious Practice in Kathmandu and Delhi |
| 8 |
Lila Bahadur Bishwakarma
Teacher, Kallery Secondary School, Dhading, Nepal
|
The Life-World of Dalit in Lower-Route of Great Himalayan Trail in Nepal |
| 9 |
Shak Bahadur Budhathoki
Lifelong Learning Mandala
|
The State of Policy and Practice on Complaint Response Mechanism and its Implication in Creating a Safe Learning Environment in Nepal’s Community Schools |
| 10 |
Wu Di
Postdoctoral Researcher, Assistant Researcher, School of Ethnology and Sociology, Yunnan University, China
|
Night Life of Miss Budweiser and Mr. Dance: A Study of Nepalese Cross-Border Migrant Workers in Nangma Bar of Kerong, Xizang (Tibet) |
| 11 |
Rahul Ganguly
PhD Scholar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi, India
|
Desiring the State? Political Imaginaries in the Darjeeling Hills after the Gorkhaland Andolan of 2017 |
| 12 |
Dipak Ghising
PhD Scholar, Rural Development, Tribhuvan University
|
Participation of Executive Members vs General Members in Decision-Making of the Plan Implementation Process at the Local Level |
| 13 |
Anna Hata
PhD Scholar, University College London, United Kingdom
|
Disability Is What Society Has Made Us: Cultivating Creative Methods to Centre Knowledge and Lived Experience of Marginalised Children in Nepal |
| 14 |
Chaaru Jain
Project Manager and Art Educator, Srijanalaya
|
To Partner and Influence? A Post-Colonial Approach to Dissecting the Historical Narratives about the Gurkhas |
| 15 |
Phoenix Kenney
PhD Scholar, University of Cambridge
|
What Makes a Peer? Understanding Peer Dynamics in Kathmandu’s Youth Sector |
| 16 |
Tek Raj Koirala
PhD Scholar International Relation, South Asian University, New Delhi
|
A Case Study of Gorkhali: Private Military and Security Companies in Global Security Assemblages |
| 17 |
Nabraj Lama
Research Scholar, Himalayan Strategic Institute
|
Beyond Politics and Diplomacy: A Dive into Local Sentiments of Both Nepal and India Surrounding the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project |
| 18 |
Niraj Lawoju
PhD Scholar, School of International Studies, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
|
Learning Chinese Culture: Implications of Soft Power among Nepali Students Studying in China |
| 19 |
Mahendra Lawoti
Professor, Department of Political Science, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo
|
The Good, Bad and Ugly Nationalism: Minority Nationalism Countering Hegemonic Racist Nationalism in Multi-Ethnic Nepal |
| 20 |
Xing Li
PhD Scholar, Department of Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong
|
‘You Must Speak Yourself’: Resolving Complicated Cases of Civil Registration in Nepal’s Local Government |
| 21 |
Chhatra Bahadur Limbu
Researcher, Social Science Baha
|
Factors Associated with Smartphone Addiction Among High School Students in Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City, Sunsari |
| 22 |
HAI Lu
Lecturer & Research Associate, Institute of International Relations, JINAN University, Guangdong, China
Yu Yao
Lecturer, School of International Studies/Academy of Overseas Chinese Studies, JINAN University, Guangzhou, China
|
Diversity, Multi-Level and Mobility：An Ethnographic Study on Social Networks of the Tibetan in Nepal |
| 23 |
Sujit Maharjan
Researcher, Social Science Baha
|
Challenges Faced by Partially Visually Impaired English Language Learners and How they Overcame them |
| 24 |
Lopita Nath
Professor and Chair of History, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas
|
Where is my Shangri-la? Conceptualizing the Idea of a Homeland in the Bhutanese Refugee Experience |
| 25 |
Josef Neubauer
PhD Scholar, Department for Migration and Globalisation, University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria
|
The Power of Policy: How Immigration Policy Changes in Southern and Eastern Europe Reshape Migration Strategies and Inequalities in Nepal |
| 26 |
Rajib Neupane
Research Associate, Social Science Baha
|
China and India in Nepal: What Does it Entail? |
| 27 |
Rajan Binayek Pasa
Assistant Professor, Central Department of Rural Development, Tribhuvan University
|
Livelihood and Climate Change Adaptation Strategies Applying in Lower-Great Himalayan Trail, Nepal |
| 28 |
Prem Phyak
Associate Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA
|
Students as Policed Subjects: Language Policing and the Violation of Right to Speak in Schools |
| 29 |
Bade Qunzhu
Lecturer, Qinghai Minzu University, China; Ph.D. Scholar, Ethnography, Qinghai Minzu University, China
|
Residents’ Perception towards Trans-Himalayan Mobility and Tourism Development: a case from Kyirong Valley of Sino-Nepal Border |
| 30 |
Amir Raja
Research Associate, Social Science Baha; Lecturer, Madan Bhandari Memorial College, Kathmandu
|
Exploring the Socialization Process and Gender Construction among the Muslim Community of Kalaiya, Bara |
| 31 |
Chitra Rawat
Research and Operations Manager, India Migration Now
|
At the Crossroads of Ritual and Commercial: Representation of ‘Dotiyal’ in Goril Devta Jagar from Uttarakhand |
| 32 |
Rajendra Sharma
Senior Research Associate, Social Science Baha
|
Navigating Social Leadership and Community Governance: Transitioning Community Leadership in Tharu Community |
| 33 |
Sanjay Sharma
Independent Scholar
|
Decolonising Fieldwork: A Methodological Turn in Social Research |
| 34 |
Ranu Sherpa
Research Scholar, Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India
|
Literary Interventions of Cultural Identity: An Analysis of the Eastern Himalayas |
| 35 |
Sudhir Shrestha
Knowledge Management Officer, South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication; Visiting Faculty, Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM)
|
Tea Production in Nepal: Smallholders’ Challenges and Their Experimentation with Farmer-Based Organisations |
| 36 |
Smriti Shreya
PhD Scholar, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
|
Development and Dilemma of Cultural Preservation in the Himalayas: Navigating Cultural Transformations |
| 37 |
Michael D. Smith
Researcher, Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute (RYI)
|
Spiritual Songs (mgur) in 17-18 th Century Dolpa, Nepal: Sub-Genres of Song Found in the Writings of Tadru Orgyan Tenzin (1657–1737) |
| 38 |
Paulina Stanik
PhD Scholar, University of Warsaw, Poland
|
Unbalanced Power: The Role of the British in the Polish-South Asian World War Two Relations |
| 39 |
Anna Stirr
Director, Centre for South Asian Studies; Associate Professor of Asian Studies, University of Hawaii Manoa
|
Notating Sorati: Subi Shah’s Nepali Dance Notation, Ideas of Nationalism, and the Classical |
| 40 |
Rajendra Raj Timilsina
Neo-Sanskritization Explorer
|
Nepali Gurukuls Under Zoom Monitoring from Abroad: Lived Experiences |
| 41 |
Lalita Waldia
Field Researcher
|
Changing Life Pattern of Tribal Women: Kumaoni Bhotia of Uttarakhand |
| 42 |
Sabin Bahadur Zoowa
Lecturer, Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences
|
The Social Construction of Boksi (Witch) in Tamang Community In Kavrepalachowk District |