The Influence of the Tharuhat Autonomous State Council (Tasc) in a Kailali in the Farwestern Tarai

This paper traces how the government policies on land rights have evolved over recent decades in Nepal and analyses the roles of existing power relations and vested interests in shaping their development and implementation. It is shown that historically entrenched power relations existing in the patrimonial political system have led to a highly unequal distribution of land. Ways to reduce inequality in land ownership to provide access to land for real farmers are essential, but due to these same entrenched power relations, they have not been implemented in earnest and land reforms over the last few decades have been unsuccessful. As a result, the same types of pre-capitalist social relations have persisted in rural areas. These relations have not been able to generate an agrarian surplus that can be invested in agriculture or other sectors of the economy. Furthermore, the concept of ‘property rights’ in relation to land has created a new problem in agrarian development in recent years, by fostering an environment in which people invest in land not to increase production but for speculation. As a result, it has become extremely difficult for poor people to purchase land to have a housing lot or for farming. The present democratic politics and institutions in the post 2006 context have still not shown any capacity or the interest to address the issue of land. Accordingly, the prospects for change at the moment seem bleak even though the rhetoric has increased. Moreover, the changed context calls for a new concept of land reform. This would take into account changes in the agrarian structure and an agrarian economy where mobility is high and injection of cash from outside the country has increased. It is finally argued that successful land reform should be led by grassroots political movements, with limited external intervention

“I do not appear to have had previous letters.”:The potential and pitfalls of using a qualitative correspondence method to facilitate insights into life in prison during the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown represents a significant challenge for qualitative researchers due to social distancing measures restricting face-to-face data collection. At the time of ethical approval (early April 2020), all face-to-face research projects facilitated by the Scottish Prison Service and most prison jurisdictions were paused. In response to these methodological challenges, a participatory action correspondence methodology was designed in order for people in custody to influence the direction of this project by suggesting research questions and themes. This article analyses the potential of this approach, what this illuminated and critically engages with the challenges of implementing this qualitative methodology. Eight participants were selected due to previous participation in a Participatory Action Research project at one Scottish prison. After consent was given via post, eight letters were sent to the participants. This paper analyses the questions relating to, and aspects of Covid-19 that were important to the participants, in the hope that these insights will influence other qualitative research on the impacts of Covid-19 within prison settings. Methodologically and theoretically, this paper illustrates the potential and challenges relating to using a qualitative correspondence method to facilitate unique insights into life in custody during what emerges as a particularly challenging time in prison settings. More widely the paper reiterates and restates the importance of qualitative research methods as methods that provide unique and rich insights into the Covid-19 pandemic

Masculinity, modernity and bonded labour: continuity and change amongst the Kamaiya of Kailali district, far-west Nepal

This thesis is a study of Kamaiya masculinities in the context of the Kamaiya recently having been freed from a system of bonded labour, in Kailali district of Nepal’s far-­‐ western Terai. The Kamaiya are a sub-­‐group of the wider Tharu indigenous ethnic group. Prior to 2000, the majority of the Kamaiya were bonded labourers. In 2000 the Kamaiya system of bonded labour was formally ended. The main purpose of this thesis is to explore various aspects of Kamaiya masculinities as they are changing as a consequence of the transition to freedom. This is a context shaped to a great extent by the recent Maoist People’s War (1996-­‐2006). The main contribution this thesis makes is to scholarship on masculinities in South Asia as well as transitions from bonded labour to modernity. In focusing on Kamaiya masculinities following freedom, this thesis contributes to research that explicitly considers masculinities in development studies research. Considering masculinities as the focus of study illustrates how men’s gendered experiences of bondedness and freedom constitute an illuminating perspective on these transitions and modernity more broadly. Centrally, this thesis responds to the question: what happens to masculinities following freedom from a system of bonded labour? This is not a question that appears to have been asked within existing research on bonded labour generally, as well as research on the Kamaiya system specifically. This question is answered by exploring a variety of ethnographic material collected through two periods of fieldwork in Kailali district in 2009 and 2010. Fieldwork was focused generating the material for analysis through ethnographic methods, principally interviews and participant observation. These methods were focused on men’s experience and testimony of the Kamaiya system, the transition to freedom and post-­‐freedom experiences. This thesis is based on in-­‐depth studies of six Kamaiya men and their narratives of these transitions