Living between the Maoists and the army in rural Nepal

Using ethnographic data collected in a village in rural Nepal in 2002, this article explores the fear that pervades the lives of the villagers and the survival strategies and creativity that they bring to bear on the extraordinary situations they are forced to encounter. Since the escalation of the conflict at the end of 2001, a 'culture of terror' has engulfed the lives of rural Nepal is. The Maoist in surgents have coerced them into providing food and shelter , which in turn makes the villagers vulnerable to aggression by the security forces who suspect them of collaborating with the enemy. In the context of the ever-present but unpredictable threat from both s ides of killings, beatings and torture, and the tensions and insecurities caused by rumour and counter- rumour, this study examines the depth of fear experienced by the villagers and the extent to which this fear has become part of their daily existence.It confirms experiences from other parts of the world where the 'routinisation of fear' has been shown to have long-term effects on people's psychological health. In this study the effects are seen in changed sleeping patterns, chronic illnesses, altered relationships with the land , and new ways of socialising both within the family and in the wider village. But even in the violation of their most intimate spaces-their homes-the villagers have been able to maintain some degree of control and creative resistance over their unwelcome guests through their own social networks and cultural practices

Gurkhas’ in the town: migration, language, and healing

The serga pye1 recalls how a group of Tamu-mai2 (Gurung) came upon what is now the ancestral village of Kohla, planted some grain, returned to find that it had produced a high yield, and moved across the Lamjung Himal to settle in the forests above their present villages. Many Tamu-mai consider the move across the Himalaya to be the final stage in their migration, without realizing that they themselves are engaged in an equally historic migration. This article examines the contemporary rural-urban movement of the Tamu-mai, which is intimately tied to the experience of service in the British army, and explores some of the associated social and cultural changes. As people plot new urban geographies, and as the second generation grow up as town-dwellers, a new Tamu social landscape is created and the sense of what it means to be Tamu is shifting. In this new environment, the cultural landscape is being re-drawn. As the map is reformulated, some knowledge and practices have lost their cultural centrality. Language, for example, has been displaced, and few of the second generation speak Tamu Kyui. In contrast, despite a wide choice of alternative options, shamanic healing practices retain their cultural salience

Learning to be silent: change, childhood and mental health in the Maoist insurgency in Nepal

Learning to be silent: change, childhood and mental health in the Maoist insurgency in Nepa

Observations during the State-of-Emergency: Kathmandu, December 2001

Accustomed to sharing my flights to Kathmandu with large numbers of people dressed in trekking gear, I sat in Vienna Airport and wondered when my fellow passengers would arrive. It took me a while to realize that the trekkers had all stayed away, with the exception of two young couples. The plane that held over 250 people had a mere 40 on board. Approximately half were Nepalis: some returning from overseas trips, and others visiting. The remainder of the passengers were an assortment of foreigners: business people, development workers, foreign residents, the four trekkers, and me. Within minutes of boarding the plane the only two other passengers seated near me at the rear of the plane began a conversation about ‘the Maoist situation’. “Bad, bad,” I overheard the Kathmandu politician comment, to which the development worker asked, “What do you think will happen?” As the conversation continued it became harder to hear the whispers and I lost the thread of the discussion, but not before I heard the development worker comment, “We have had to close projects, staff have been threatened by the Maoists and offices ransacked.” The politician added, “Perhaps things will be sorted out now that the army are involved, we don’t know what will happen, nobody knows.

Parallel landscapes: ritual and political values of a shamanic soul journey

Tamu (Gurung)1 shamanic practice is linked with the landscape in a multi-dimensional physical and conceptual relationship. Simultaneously the setting for ritual practice and the site of ordinary activities, the shamanic landscape also incorporates the historic map of the ancestral world. Shamanic journeys reach upwards from the town and villages towards the uplands (hye) just as the trails of people do

Healing here, there and in-between: a Tamu shaman's experience of international landscapes

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The experiences of occupational therapists using interpreters

Ireland has experienced unprecedented inward migration in recent times. According to the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI 2008), 200 languages are now spoken in Ireland. The 2006 Census showed Ireland as having the fastest growing population in the European Union, with 420,000 foreign-born people living in Ireland making up 10.4% of the population (CSO 2007). The current recession will probably affect levels of inward migration, but many migrants will remain, and issues of multiculturalism and integration will continue to be of significance in Ireland (Mac Einrí 2008)

Women and the Maobadi: ideology and agency in Nepal’s Maoist movement

One of the most reported aspects of the Maoist ‘People’s War’ in Nepal has been its high levels of female participation, with up to 40% of all combatant and civilian political supporters allegedly being women (Sharma and Prasain 2004:151; Onesto 2003 [1999]:169). Striking photos of young, gun-toting guerrilla women are prominently displayed on the “official” Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) website, and distributed from New York to London to Peru in materials produced by the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM). These images are apparently intended to serve as evidence of the movement’s egalitarianism and “empowering” effects for Nepali women

The retirement experiences of women academics: a qualitative, descriptive study

Retirement is now considered a process rather than a single event. Pathways to retirement are evolving and the retirement experiences of academics are becoming increasingly relevant given the aging academic workforce in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide. Academic retirement studies highlight that most academics continue to work in retirement. However, gender tends to be overlooked. Based on semi-structured interviews with eleven retired women academics, ranging in age from 64 to 73 years of age, who were employed in the Republic of Ireland, this article explores the impact of retirement on their daily lives and their personal and professional relationships. Following thematic analysis, four main themes were identified: (i) the impact of retirement on identity, (ii) the freedom of retirement, (iii) striving for health and wellbeing and (iv) the value of ongoing professional relationships in retirement. The majority of women continued to engage in meaningful work (paid or unpaid) which was central to their daily lives and identity following retirement. Three academics, in senior roles, who had long uninterrupted careers and who had strong research track records experienced dissatisfaction with mandatory retirement yet were able to continue research activities in retirement. Those with less research activity were more likely to retire early and describe the impact of stress and fatigue upon their health. Together, the findings illustrate that women academic’s retirement pathways are heterogeneous. The findings have implications for the academic profession, human resource and retirement planning professional

The Kohla Project 2000-the first season of excavation-

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