Articles

• David Holmberg and Kathryn March with Suryaman Tamang

  Local Production/Local Knowledge: Forced Labour From Below
  This paper reconstructs in detail four forms of forced labour (rakam, jhãra) which continued in Nepal in some instances up until 1960 (2017v.s.). It focuses on Tamang communities in a region to the northwest of Kathmandu and works from the perspective of local people who themselves were required to work either in a royal fruit plantation, in a royal herding operation, in the production of paper, or in the porterage of government and military goods over main routes between Kathmandu and Tibet and between Kathmandu and Gorkha. More generally, the paper argues that the studies of history and society in Nepal must take greater cognizance of productive labor, localities, and local historical consciousness to counter the reproduction of nationalist histories which sustain relations of domination. Finally, it argues for a realist history in which cultural differences - including different histories - are analysed as products of on-going social relations and social action.
  pp. 5-64
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• Pratyoush Onta

  Career of Bhanubhakta as a History of Nepali National Culture, 1940 - 1999
  The main point I have tried to establish in this article is that Bhanubhakta Acharya's central location in Nepali national culture according to dominant national history - Bhanubhakta as the Nepali adikavi and Bhanubhakta as the second unifier of all Nepalis - is the product of the intricate work of multiple agents and institutions over a greater part of this century. The second point I have tried to establish is the role of social technologies - textual and audio-visual media, performance and pilgramage, physical infrastructure - through which the nationalist ideology associated with Bhanubhakta became a central part of Nepali national culture. I have shown that the agency of individuals and institutions who invented new practices to cultivate the nationalist ideology built around Bhanubhakta was central to the history of its rise to the status of national culture. It was their work which later allowed the central state to use powerful instruments such as school textbooks, posters and film to make Bhanubhakta every Nepali's ancestor. I have argued that this making of Bhanubhakta has succeeded not so much as the result ofÊwork that followed a 'blue-print' of what I have called the cultivating Bhanubhakta project, but rather through multiply overlapping and over-determining projects, not all of which were conceived as parts of a grand whole. Executed separately or in tandem with each other, they have nevertheless contributed to what perhaps seems like a hyper-production of Bhanubhakta as an element of Nepali national culture.
  pp. 65-136
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• Mary Des Chene

  Kala Kanunharu ra Janataka Simit Adhikarharu: VS 2054 ko Prastavit Atankabad Birodhi Bidheyak Birodha Abhiyan [Black Laws and the Limited Rights of the People: Campaign Against the Proposed Anti-Terrorist Act, 2054v.s.]
  This article attempts a kind of 'history of the present' on the view that timely study of the dynamics of social protest can contribute to the difficult task of choosing effective tactics for combatting state repression in volatile political situations. Its subject is a thus far successful campaign to prevent successive Nepali governments from passing into law 'anti'-terrorist legislation that would strip citizens of fundamental rights enshrined both in the country's constitution and in international human rights instruments to which Nepal is signatory. The main focus is the widespread opposition campaign which prevented passage of the bill introduced in 1997; later amendment bills and opposition to them are briefly discussed. The ostensible trigger for introduction of anti-terrorist legislation is the "People's War" declared by the CPN(Maoist) in 1996. The article details arguments and evidence put forth by opponents, and aspects of the legislation itself that put the lie to that claim and show the proposed legislation to be a much broader challenge to democracy in Nepal. It is argued that it was precisely because the challenge to democracy is so fundamental that such a broad coalition could mobilize against the proposed anti-terrorist act. Thus, although the state was already exercising many of the powers it would have "legalized" through the anti-terrorist legislation, the campaign against it was and remains a meaningful one - for it challenges the government to conduct itself according to the democratic principles it professes to uphold. This article is a Nepali translation, revised and updated, of an article that originally appeared in English in The Himalayan Research Bulletin 18(2)(1998): 41-63. As predicted there, the equation by pro-legislation forces of opposition to anti-terrorist legislation with support for the "People's War", renders it increasingly difficult and risky to oppose such legislation or the draconian government measures taken in its absence (e.g., press censorship, search and seizure without warrant, disappearances and torture under incarceration). Included as appendices are the proposed 1997 legislation, and later amendment bills as well as some primary documents of the 1997 opposition campaign.
  pp. 137-190
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• Jagannath Adhikari and Hans-Georg Böhle

  Urbanization, Government Policies and Growing Food Insecurity in Kathmandu Metropolis
  This study explores the changes in the food systems of the Kathmandu valley brought about by urbanization and then examines food security situations and the impact of government policies in this regard. The history of government food supply policies and institutions, major pollution sources, and the sources of contemporary food supply to the Valley are first described. Part two analyses the results of households surveys in peri-urban and urban poor and middle-class neighborhoods. It is revealed that physical well-being of the poorer households is disproportionately affected not only by insufficient food (due to unemployment and increase in price of food items), but also by air and water pollution. It is seen that food consumption levels and effects of sickness depend not only on income level, but also on other socio-economic parameters like education, skills, family size, food production opportunities and exposure to pollution. Even though all these factors were interrelated, their relative influence differed from one location to another. One of the main conclusions of this study is that income level, expenditure on food as a proportion of income, and the level of human capability (lack of sickness and higher education) are good indicators of food security in fully urbanized areas where it is difficult to estimate amount of food consumed. This study also clearly indicates that there can be considerable variation within an urban area in food security situations, and that there exist certain groups of people who are in a particularly precarious situation. The general tendency of revealing only an average situation about Kathmandu valley (or districts) seems to be dangerous, as it would surely render invisible the vulnerable people.
  pp. 191-246
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