THE DIALECTICS OF IDENTITY AND RESISTANCE AMONG DALITS IN NEPAL

Based on two broad constituent samples, this dissertation investigates the dialectics -- content, modalities and processes -- of identity across and between two sites of Dalit life in Kathmandu, Nepal: everyday community and organized political advocacy. These samples comprised, respectively, (1) householders from three occupationally segregated Dalit neighborhoods, encompassing discrete communities of sweepers, metalworkers and tailors/musicians; (2) individual Dalit activists in the political sphere. Through 43 interviews with community members and 41 interviews with activists, the research investigated the modalities of identity across everyday and civil-society space and across class, caste, gender and generation. Research questions specifically sought to uncover constraints and possibilities of everyday identities and organized/activist political identities and further differences of gender, class and generation. The study revealed strong evidence of the continuing embeddedness of caste in Kathmandu. Their everyday experiences of discrimination force both community and political actors to strategically reveal or conceal their Dalit status depending on the situation. Evidence of resistance ranged from everyday individual acts to collective organized forms. The community ethnography revealed important differences across the sweeper, metal-worker and tailor-musician communities. The gender neutrality of the sweeper occupation allows sweeper women relatively more autonomy than that found in the two other occupational caste groups. The tailor/musician group showed all indicators of social mobility into the middle class and had adopted a caste-denying discourse that allowed them to embrace their musical traditions as an ethnic asset that was parlayed into commercial success. The political site revealed two important contradictions. First, Dalit activists based in political parties tend to privilege the nation-state and its bounded sovereignty as the strategic and ultimate terrain upon which the struggle for full Dalit inclusion is fought, while Dalit advocates based in non-governmental organizations appeal primarily to international human rights and the claims to universal human dignity. Second, there is a tension between the private lives of Dalit activists in which they negotiate everyday oppression and their public lives as proactive and empowered political actors. Finally, the important political moment of the People's Movement of April 2006 united Dali activists to fight locally for full citizenship rights

Class, gender and generation: mediating factors in Dalit identities in Kathmandu, Nepal

There is a growing resistance from Dalits against the ongoing caste discrimination in the Nepali society (Dahal et al 2002; Jha 2004). In this process Dalits are both assertively deploying and redefining their “traditional” identities. Despite the constitutional ban on caste discrimination, there persists an upper caste monopoly on education, jobs, and political power. This research studies the complex and changing dynamics of Dalit identity in Nepal, within a context of growing resistance and organized social movement against caste discrimination and exclusion. More specifically, this paper examines differentiation and variation in the reproduction of Dalit identities during a period of political mobilization and (presumably) heightened consciousness across (i) sociospatial boundaries, (ii) intersections of caste, class and gender, and (iii) dimensions of social consciousness and response/agency

When the Men Are Away: Migration and Women's Participation in Nepal's Community Forestry

Studies of migration and gender have focused mostly on changes at the household level, where they have found women's experience to be mixed, with greater autonomy in decision-making but also a greater work burden and increased stress. Little is known about migration's impact on community-level gender relations. This study of 10 forest user groups in 3 districts of Nepal, experiencing different levels of migration, investigated changes within migrant and nonmigrant households and how they impact people's participation in local forest user groups. We found a slight increase in women's participation in the groups' general assemblies, especially among nuclear households with at least 1 migrant member. However, male migration did not seem to increase women's access to those groups' executive committees, where most decisions are made. Traditional gender norms, institutional requirements that privilege literacy and men's networking skills, and men's entrenched control of local forestry institutions continue to limit women's participation in community forestry. Women with migrant husbands also suffer disproportionately from time poverty, which further limits their engagement in activities outside the home

Gender and Nepal's transition from war

"This report explores gender relations and equality and Nepal’s transition from war. Focus areas include: affirmative gender action in the transition, for example regarding politics, employment or development; gender perspectives on specific aspects of the transition, such as security sector reform, access to justice and political participation; gendered experiences, expectations and priorities of marginalised groups, including women, sexual minorities, Dalits (‘low caste’), Janajatis (indigenous communities) and Madhesis (from the southern Tarai plains); and how different identities intersect. A short case study of the period of intense political change that followed the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal provides an illustrative, contemporary example of opportunities and challenges. The report reflects discussions from a gender workshop convened jointly by the Social Science Baha (Nepal) and Conciliation Resources (United Kingdom) in Nepal in August 2016. Workshop participants included 24 women and men, ensuring a broad cross-section of Nepal’s caste or ethnic, gender and regional diversity, and including local-level and national politicians, civil society groups, academics, journalists and independent researchers. This meeting was one of three gender workshops exploring political settlement beyond elites, with other events taking place in Colombia and Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. These meetings have focused on how diverse groups in conflict-affected contexts understand and experience transition processes, in particular access to security and social and political goods.