Conference Year: 2018

“Pothi Bashio”- This Nepali proverb perfectly capture the essence of general feeling of Nepalese society towards women, who “speak”. Women with “voice” consider to be immoral, inauspicious and a rebel who are dangerous to the society and who must be crushed. However, with more than 7000 women human rights defenders in Nepal this notion against …

‘Pothi Bashio’: Security of Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD) in Nepal Read More »

One of the many variables of social construction is law and gender. The debate of whether the law shapes the society or the society shapes the law can be understood through the inter-relationship between law and gender. As a social construct, Law plays its role through legitimizing the existing gender practices or condemning such practices. …

Legislation and Legitimization of Gender Discriminatory Practices Read More »

This paper explores how Antigua-born-American writer Jamaica Kincaid, despite being known as an anti-imperialist, perpetuates whiteness in a disguised form of a travel writer through her travelogue Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalaya. The way she represents Nepalese landscape, people and culture posits that her travel to Nepal is threaded with the rhetoric of …

Construction of Whiteness in Jamaica Kincaid’s Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalaya Read More »

Mountain tourism is one of the few fields Nepal earns international fame and seeks equitable prosperity. Tourism studies literature points out a number of issues Nepali citizens are facing around Himalayan mountain tourism, ranging from ethical concerns over the recent increase of fatalities vis-a-vis summits in commercial expeditions (Nepal and Mu 2017; Nyapane 2017), through …

Transregionalism, Hierarchy, and Belonging Dynamics in Himalayan Mountain Tourism Read More »

The emergence of Himalayan mountaineering in the 20th century can be historically situated in the context of Western imperial projects and the performance of heroic masculinity. Mountaineering expedition routes and spaces were shared between the Western climbers and subordinate labouring communities, bound together by social and economic aspirations related to the project of scaling a …

Voices from the Mountain: Hidden Transcripts and Transculturation of Labour in the Nanga Parbat and Everest Expeditions (1922-1939) Read More »

The contemporary arts scene in Nepal is an amalgam of numerous art forms, styles, and aesthetics – crossing the boundaries of traditional and modern gallery spaces while beginning to occupy public walls and streets – evident of the myriad regional and global influences and inspirations that it has undergone in the past few decades. This …

Shifting Imaginations: Contemporary Arts Education and Practices in Nepal Read More »

Yolmo (Helambu) is an area that lies on the southern slopes of the main Himalayan range within Nepal, northeast of Kathmandu, mainly in Sindhupalchok district. It is often mentioned as Sbas yul Yol mo gangs ra in old Tibetan sources, the ‘Hidden Land of Yolmo Snow Enclosure’. The area is located between two old trade …

Tibetan Sources on the Political and Religious Contacts Between Tibet, Yolmo and the Kathmandu Valley in the 17-18th Century Read More »

RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESISQuestions: Is Newar language (Nepalbhasa) decreasing and why? Is Buddhism decreasing among Newars and why? Is there an interdependence between these two processes? Hypothesis: Newar language is decreasing, due to State language policy; Vajrayana Buddhism is decreasing, due to lack of competencies of its proponents, and is thus rivaled by Theravada Buddhism. …

Vitality of language and religion among the Newars in the Kathmandu Valley Read More »

In the context of research on road development in post-conflict Nepal, we regularly hear about corruption—from planner-bureaucrats, from development practitioners, from policy makers and from residents of communities who become involved in road building in numerous capacities, as labourers, politicians, contractors, entrepreneurs and travellers. The mainstream donor grey literature on road development, moreover, is replete …

Corruption, road building and the politics of social science research in post-conflict Nepal Read More »

This paper presents an ethnographic study of the Charikot-Singati-Lamabagar road of Central Nepal. Ethnographic details from the road offer insights into other domains such as government policies and practices, people’s participation in road development and its sociality. This paper engages the ethnographic method to explore the actors and institutions engaged in the politics of roads, …

The Politics of the Road: Ethnography of Charikot-Singati-Lamabager Road of Dolakha, Central Nepal Read More »