Full Description
Migration has always been a feature of Nepali society. Waves of Khas, Brahmans, and associated service castes were already moving south and east through the Himalayan foothills a millennium ago. As the population expanded, Nepalis from all backgrounds have continually moved onwards in search of new farmland and new opportunities, often encouraged to do so by local communities, local headmen, and the state. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, that process continued eastwards from present-day Nepal into the north-east of India and beyond. Over the last thirty years international labour migration, as well as migration consequent on tertiary education, has radically changed the patterns of settlement of Nepalis outside their homeland. The present volume covers the many different contexts-from the USA to the Gulf, from India to Burma and Singapore-where large numbers of Nepalis are settled or working long-term. Taken together, and organized by region of settlement, the contributions in this book provide a comprehensive overview of Nepali diaspora populations around the world in their contemporary contexts. The common theme binding this volume is the exploration of the process of 'ethnogenesis' or the emergence of strong ethnic identities in which the contributors analyse how such identities strengthen more easily in the diaspora with a large population, than in the homeland.
Contents
Preface
List of Tables and Figures
List of Plates
1. Introduction: The Nepali/Gorkhali Diaspora since the Nineteenth Century
David N. Gellner
THE OLD DIASPORA: SOUTH ASIA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, AND BEYOND
2. Marginal Migrants? Migrant Associations and the Lived Experience of Nepali Migrant Workers in India
Jeevan R. Sharma
3. Identifications, State Categorizations, and Religious Changes among Sikkimese Gurungs
Mélanie Vandenhelsken
4. The Religious Life of the Gorkhalis of Myanmar
Sushma Joshi
5. Creating Nepali Ethnoscapes in Thailand
Anil Sakya
6. Fiji Nepalis: Reviving Connections Lost for Over a Century
Krishna P. Adhikari and Bhimsen Sapkota
THE NEW DIASPORA 1: TRANSNATIONAL URBAN MIGRANTS IN SINGAPORE, THE GULF, AND THE USA
7. Belonging and Not-Belonging: Experiences of Nepali Gurkha Families on Returning from Singapore
Kelvin E.Y. Low
8. Popular Music among Nepalis in Bahrain: Nightclubs, Media, Performance, and Publics
Anna Stirr
9. 'No One Wants to go Abroad; It's all about Obligation': What Migration Means to Nepali Migrant Workers in Qatar
Tristan Bruslé
10. Transnational Politics in Nepali Organizations in New York
Susan Hangen
11. Imagined Secularisms: Perspectives from the Nepali Diaspora
Bandita Sijapati
12. The Khora of Migration: Everyday Practices of (Well) Being and Belonging between Mustang, Nepal, and New York City
Sienna R. Craig and Ngawang Tsering Gurung
THE NEW DIASPORA 2: ETHNICITY, CASTE, AND RELIGION IN THE UK
13. Counting Ourselves: CNSUK's 2008 Survey of Nepalis in the UK
Krishna P. Adhikari and Chandra Laksamba
14. Invention and Tradition: Limbu Adaptations of Religion in the Diaspora
Bal Gopal Shrestha and David N. Gellner
15. Death and Society: The Performance of Gurung Death Rites in the UK
Florence Gurung
16. The Migration of Nepali Nurses to the UK: Transnational Family Ties, Social Ritual, and the Role of Internet Technology
Radha Adhikari
17. Caste Discrimination Overseas: Nepali Dalits in England
Mitra Pariyar
UNITING THE DIASPORA AND HAVING AN IMPACT IN THE HOMELAND
18. The NRN (Non-Resident Nepali) Movement
Krishna P. Adhikari and David N. Gellner
19. Tamang Gendered Subjectivities in a Migrating World
Kathryn March
20. Afterword: Rethinking Diaspora Consciousness
Sondra L. Hausner
Index
About the Editors and Contributors
