The Annual Kathmandu Conference on Nepal and the Himalaya – Kathmandu, Nepal
Two national-level institutional developments occurred within months of the earthquakes that struck Nepal in April and May 2015. These were: (a) the drafting and promulgation of a new national constitution; and (b) the establishment of a National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). The urgency felt by the leaders of Nepal’s three largest parties to reach a constitutional …
Before the Dust Settled: Nepal’s Seismic Constitution Read More »
The literature on the political economy of post-disaster reconstruction tends to contrast two arguments. One is that the victims of disaster are dispossessed as a result of ‘disaster capitalism’ processes, and the other is that people benefit from greater opportunities and improve their lives as a result of the post-disaster reconstruction boom and ‘building back …
In the four years after the 2015 earthquake, some considerable progress has been seen in the private housing reconstruction. Starting with the establishment of NRA followed by Reconstruction Act 2072 and execution of Rural Housing and Reconstruction Program (RHRP), various reconstruction policies and provisions most notably, the private housing grant disbursement guidelines have been introduced …
Reconstruction and the Rise of One-roomed Houses in Rural Nepal Read More »
The physical impact of a natural disaster such as the major earthquake in Nepal in 2015 is immediately visible: lost lives, displaced people, destroyed houses and a shattered cultural heritage. However, the longer-term impact of such an event is less apparent. With greater distance to the actual disaster, references to ‘loss’ become increasingly formalised and curated, today …
Collecting Loss and Displaying Absence: Curating the Earthquake Read More »
In 2014, I presented early findings from my PhD research, focused on the ways in which the institution of the museum has been used to represent and reconstitute the nation. My PhD research is complete, and this paper takes a longer view (2009-2016), drawing on an ethnographic approach that took me behind the scenes of …
From Darbar to Sañgrahalaya: Creating New History in the Narayanhiti Palace, Nepal Read More »
A decade after the end of the monarchy and the establishment of democratic rule, it is not uncommon to hear many Nepalis referring to the time of autocratic governance as “the good old days.” For many across classes, castes, ethnicities and genders, the kings were “Vishnu incarnate” and monarchy is the only suitable system of …
When There Was a King There Was Unity: An Exploration of Nostalgia for the Monarchy Read More »
Bricks are associated with every Nepali urban and periurban household as they are one of the primary construction materials. The rise in internal migration to urban centres as a result of centralization of resources, the decade-long conflict, and growing international remittances has swollen the real-estate sector, including bricks, and its prices at an alarming rate. …
The informal sector represents an important part of the economy and the labour market in many countries, especially developing countries, and plays a major role in employment creation, and income generation. The Nepal Labour Force Survey 2008 has estimated around 70 percent people aged 15 and over to be currently employed in the non-agricultural informal …
In recent decades, few forces are shaping the developing world more than urbanization. Developing world cities are growing faster than ever before, adding a new twenty first century layer of change onto earlier layers of migration, community formation, and development. The Kathmandu Valley has gone through a particularly rapid transition, from a city mostly without …
Changing Kathmandu: Land, Water, and Public Space Through the Decades Read More »