Global Nepalis

Description

Migration has been a basic fact of Nepali life for centuries. Over the last thirty years, migration from Nepal has increased exponentially, leading to many new diaspora communities across the world. In these diverse contexts, to what extent do Nepalis reproduce their culture and pass it on to subsequent generations? How much of diaspora life is a response to social and political concerns derived from the homeland? What aspects of Nepali life and culture change? In this volume twenty-one authors address these issues through eighteen detailed case studies that tackle issues of livelihood, identity and belonging, internal conflict, and religious practice, in the UK, the USA, India, Southeast Asia, the Gulf countries, and Fiji. Throughout the volume, we see how being Nepali outside Nepal enables new categories and new kinds of identity to emerge, whether as Nepali, Gorkhali, or as a member of a particular ethnic, regional, or religious group. The common theme of Global Nepalis is the exploration of continuity, change, and conflict as new practices and identities develop in Nepali diaspora life.

About the Editors
David N. Gellner is professor of social anthropology at the University of Oxford, UK.
Sondra L. Hausner is professor of anthropology of religion at the University of Oxford, UK.

Table of contents

List of Map, Tables, and Figures
Preface

1. Introduction: The Nepali/Gorkhali Diaspora since the Nineteenth Century
David N. Gellner

PART I 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

PART II 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 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 Nawang Tsering Gurung

PART III 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 Kumar 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

PART IV UNITING THE DIASPORA AND HAVING AN IMPACT IN THE HOMELAND
18. The Non-Resident Nepali Movement
Krishna P. Adhikari and David N. Gellner
19. Tamang Gendered Subjectivities in a Migrating World
Kathryn S. March
20. Afterword: Rethinking Diaspora Consciousness
Sondra L. Hausner

References
Index
About the Editors and Contributors