Work, Gender, and Generational Change: an Ethnography of Human-Environment Relations in a Bahun Village, Nepal
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Work, Gender, and Generational Change: An ethnography of human-environment relations in a Bahun village, Nepal. by Sascha Fuller A thesis submitted to fulfil requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Department of Anthropology University of Sydney 2018 This thesis contains material published in: Fuller, S. (2016). When climate change is not the concern: realities and futures of environmental change in village Nepal. In L. Connor and J. Marshall, Climate change and the world's futures: ecologies, ontologies and mythologies (pp. 129-144). Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge. Abstract In Amdanda, a small Bahun hamlet in the foothills of Gorkha, West Nepal, generational and gendered conflicts over keeping buffalo have arisen. The central argument in this thesis is that work – which is what is at stake in discursive associations with, or a distancing from, buffalo – makes human-environment relations. Through work the tensions and contradictions inherent in village life – of gender, generations, and caste – and their articulation with national and global relations, come into focus. I argue that: 1. Work makes ‘environment’/ place – it is embedded in place; 2. Work makes people – it is disembedded and transformative (through education, migration, development and ‘knowledge’), and; 3. Work is linked to a particular type of nationalism and state-building in Nepal. The ethnographic material on work from Amdanda brings to light the changes that are occurring in both human-environment relations and between generations. Despite the existence of the climate change mitigation REDD-plus program in the area, the modes of being and realities of rural life in Amdanda, suggest other environmental changes (such as migration, new agricultural practices, soil degradation, and ‘development’) are of more immediate concern to villagers and more a cause of future uncertainty than climate change. These changes are intensified by generational change and gendered ways of being that lead to the older generation having a markedly different lived experience and different ideals to that of their children, and as well to men and women spending their days and thinking about their lives differently. This is best highlighted in a family conflict over keeping buffalo. The fundamental contradiction examined in this thesis is that women are at the heart of all levels of social production, yet they are systematically devalued in their own culture and by development. Village relationships with buffalo, therefore, have particular meaning for the way groups of people relate to each other, to development and to the environment. They also reveal key relationships and practices that demonstrate a society on the cusp of gendered, generational and environmental change, and therefore, future uncertainty and potential crisis. Acknowledgements It really has taken a global village to get this thesis submitted. In Nepal I remain forever indebted to Babu Ram and Sita Aryal, their family, and the community of Amdanda. The richness of my ethnographic material is undoubtedly due to their generosity and willingness to have me in their homes. In the early days of my fieldwork Ram Chhetri, Bob Fisher, Eak Rana and the REDD-plus and Gorkha FECOFUN staff, particularly Bhagirath KC, guided me in the field. Samjhana Rana Magar, Upama Poudel and Sarita Sapkota assisted with the survey and interview transcriptions. Thank you all for the time and energy you gave to my research project. Thanks also to Amanda Snellinger for providing me with an excellent list of reading material, including an early copy of her book mansuscript. In Australia Linda Connor and Neil Maclean have been dedicated supervisors. I am so thankful for the contributions they have made to my fieldwork, to my thinking and writing, and to my confidence. Heartfelt thanks also to Michael Allen for his enthusiasm and invaluable comments on my final drafts. My academic rigour is certainly improved because of these three people. Eve Vincent and Belinda Burbidge, initially part of my PhD cohort at the University of Sydney provided endless encouragement and advice. I am grateful for their friendship. Juggling work, study and motherhood over the last three years was made easier because of the love and support of my family. Special thanks to my parents Susan and Phillip Fuller. I am fortunate also to have had the support of wonderful friends. Leah Gencheff and Todd Gretencord, Mellissa and Stuard Coad, Ashok Aryal and Rekha Adhikari, Gemma Pillars, Susie Long, Christina Hobbs, and Danielle Hollow, my wholehearted thanks to you all. Finally, to my little lion Ari, thank you for the much-needed perspective. You provide me with the joy and wonder that fill my days. This is for you. Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1. Modernist and Development Discourse in the Nation State ............................................. 25 2. Seasonal Lives, Cyclical Lives: Agriculture and Labouring Hierarchies in the Hindu Tradition ......................................................................................................................... 54 3. Livestock Practices and Social Reproduction in Amdanda ............................................... 78 4. Moving Out and Moving Up: Mobility and Migration in Amdanda ............................... 108 5. ‘Hard Work’ versus an ‘Easy Life’: Education, Marriage and Progress in Amdanda...... 135 6. A Village Divided: Education in the Making of ‘Modern’ Beings and Thulo Maanche... 165 7. Thulo Maanche and ‘Social Work’ in Amdanda ............................................................ 191 8. Understanding ‘Environment’: Realities of Environmental and Climate Change ........... 220 9. Climate Change and the Disruption of Knowledge: The Case of REDD-plus ................ 238 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 257 Reference List ................................................................................................................... 266 Appendix A: Household Survey ........................................................................................ 282 Appendix B: Human Ethics Approval Letter ..................................................................... 286 Appendix C: Semi-Structured Interview Guide: Local Villagers ....................................... 288 Appendix D: Semi-Structured Interview Guide: Key Informants ....................................... 290 Appendix E: The People of Amdanda: Biographical Reference ......................................... 292 List of Figures Figure 1: Location of Amdanda ........................................................................................... 27 Figure 2: The fourteen households of Bahun Amdanda ....................................................... 28 List of Tables Table 1: Hindu festivals and agricultural work by seasons and months ................................ 69 Introduction I began living in the home of Babu Ram and Sita in February 2011. Talk of selling the buffalo that was kept by Sita had begun by late April as the buffalo milk started to taste increasingly sour and was drying up. Sita’s youngest son Manoj, an engineer visiting from Kathmandu often had advice for his mother on ‘modern’ ways of living and on this occasion he was trying to convince her not to buy a new buffalo upon selling the current one, ‘You can have a new mobile, all the buffalo milk you need, I can buy you a laptop’, he promised. ‘You can buy a big TV, a washing machine and a fridge with the same money’. There was even talk of building a new house. In the days following this exchange Babu Ram explained why he and his sons wanted to sell and not replace the buffalo and why Sita was having difficulties with this decision, ‘Because she is illiterate and not advanced she can’t understand, but she will come to realise (what is best for her). Her sons and me, we don’t want her to work so hard, it is not a good status. Sita works hard all day’. Later that evening while sitting with Babu Ram and Sita after a phone conversation with Manoj in which the buffalo was again the topic of conversation Babu Ram reiterated his arguments for deciding not to buy another buffalo ‘Although I am rich socially, I am the poorest in my family. All my family have cars and a house in Kathmandu. My sons are now making a better life for themselves. They have ventured to make a better life for themselves.’ Sita, however, with a big smile, and a glance towards me, made a point by stating something we had discussed privately in an earlier conversation, ‘you cannot milk a laptop!’ ‘What will Sita do if she doesn’t work with the buffalo?’ I asked Babu Ram. ‘Sit and prepare food’ he said. ‘In Nepal, if people have time to sit around and do nothing, this is a good life’. In the days following I spoke to Babu Ram and Sita’s eldest son Gokol, who was visiting from Gorkha Bazaar. Gokol is not as highly educated as his brothers. I asked him what he thought of Babu Ram’s decision to sell and not replace the buffalo. ‘Sita wants to have it, so why not’, he replied nonchalantly. 1 Back home in the village Babu Ram was cementing his argument, I am also interested in spending time with Sita without doing other work. Cooking, looking after the house, washing clothes, that work is ok. We have brought so much ghaas (fodder;