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Scholar-Activist Anthropology in Nepal: Radical Women Artists on the Liberation Front

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Scholar-Activist Anthropology in Nepal: Radical Women Artists on the Liberation Front Bridgewater Review Volume 39 Issue 1 Article 11 4-2020 Scholar-activist Anthropology in Nepal: Radical Women Artists on the Liberation Front Diana J. Fox Bridgewater State University Follow this and additional works at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Fox, Diana J. (2020). Scholar-activist Anthropology in Nepal: Radical Women Artists on the Liberation Front. Bridgewater Review, 39(1), 34. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol39/iss1/11 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. and menstrual taboos as does Sheelasha Scholar-activist Anthropology in Rajbhandari, who co-founded the arts cooperative, Artree Nepal, in Nepal: Radical Women Artists on 2013 with her artist husband, Hit Man Gurung—their self-chosen, out of caste the Liberation Front marriage a radical act. Diana J. Fox Leaving Kathmandu, I traveled with prominent Mithila artist, Ajit Sah, “ A Life of political engagement is so much more interesting than a life of private to his hometown of Janakpur where, disengagement and consumption.” as an ally for women’s equality, he –France-Fox Piven, 2013 trains widowed, poor, Dalit women in Mithila art as a source of self-dignity unded by a CARS Faculty Librarian Research and livelihoods. I interviewed the Grant, I traveled to Nepal in January 2019 women, with the help of a translator, about how their art impacts their liveli- Fmeeting women social and political artists raising hoods, their self-concept as women, consciousness about discrimination and their new and their understanding of the value of Mithila art in the community and rights enshrined in the 2015 Constitution. Being a for the nation. On their own initiative, woman and an artist is new in Nepal, historically the they began critiquing social inequali- purview of a specific caste of men. Since the 2006 ties, painting scenes of empowered girls going to school instead of forced, end of the bloody, decade-long Maoist-led civil war, early marriages. I ended by introduc- both formally educated woman artists destroying the aesthetic beauty and ing Ajit to directors of the Association in Kathmandu and women trained by skills of Nepal’s art history. for Dalit Women’s Advancement Nepal Mithila folk artists (an art form from (ADWAN), an NGO I also work with, As a scholar-activist in the social justice Janakpur in southern Nepal along disrupting gender and caste discrimi- tradition established by nineteenth the India border where the art form nation, and pledged to seek funds for and early twentieth-century feminists, emerged) are challenging pervasive, training additional women in both anti-racists, and environmentalists, I de facto inequalities: menstrual taboos, Mithila arts and gender/caste aware- conduct research collaborating with child marriage, sexual violence, huge ness with ADWAN trainers traveling social movement activists to learn about gender literacy gaps, and caste discrimi- to Janakpur to work with the women. and help reduce indignities that spawn nation. Their art critiques social, politi- Thanks to a Martin Richards Social such movements in the first place. cal, religious, and economic hierarchies Justice Institute grant, that project is Harnessing ethnographic methods, I that entrench discrimination and limit now underway with six new women met artists in cafes, galleries, and studios opportunities, not only for women but working in Ajit’s studio. learning about their messages and the out of caste Dalits (formerly “untoucha- art forms that portray them. Ragini Diana J. Fox is Professor in the Department bles”) and Nepal’s indigenous groups. Upadhayay Grela, the first woman of Anthropology. The artists draw on historical, aesthetic Commissioner of the Arts in Nepal, and thematic traditions from Hindu played a significant role in creating art and Buddhist mythology (the two with political and social themes, versus primary religions of Nepal) and indig- the longstanding role of art as beautifier enous design and patterns, blending and purveyor of mythological stories them with modernism, abstraction, and that reinforce social stratification. She realism. By connecting social structures will join the BSU community in April of inequality to individuals through as a visiting artist, her first visit to the the power of art and intertwining U.S. following 68 solo exhibitions these ideas with the rich 2,000-year worldwide. Self-named Artivist (art + history of Nepal, these women strive Diana Fox (fourth from left) with the women activism) Ashmina Ranjit pioneers cou- Mithila artists in Janakpur at the completion to usher in a new era of liberation that rageous, dramatic performance pieces of the interviews and week of observations. discards oppressive structures without foregrounding violence against women (Photo Credit: Ashok Sah) 34 Bridgewater Review.
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