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An Ethnographically-Oriented Study of Limbu “Mother Tongue” Schooling

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An Ethnographically-Oriented Study of Limbu “Mother Tongue” Schooling Ethnic Identity and Education in the “New Nepal:” An Ethnographically-oriented Study of Limbu “Mother Tongue” Schooling ________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Curry School of Education University of Virginia _________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________________________________________________ by Ingrid Iksa Hakala, B.A., M.Ed. August 2014 © Copyright by Ingrid Iksa Hakala All Rights Reserved August 2014 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the intersection of the ascendent janajati [‘indigenous nationalities,’ ethnic communities] movement with “mother tongue” educational policy and planning in the context of post-conflict, democratizing Nepal. The process of inquiry was centered upon the supplementary Limbu-language primary-level program of Anipaan, developed and promoted by the indigenous people’s organization advocating on behalf the Limbu ethnic community, the Kirat Yakthung Chumlung (KYC), and integrated into local government-run schools. Within a conceptual framework provided by processualist theories of ethnic identity and anthropological approaches to the study of “educational policy as practice,” this study addressed research questions relating to the decision- and meaning-making processes and perspectives of individuals associated with the Anipaan program, ranging from ethnic activists to local educators, students, and community members. The methodology of ethnography oriented the research design, involving multiple sites of research, sets of participants, and methods (interviews, observations, participant observations, and document analyses). For members of the KYC and affiliated Limbu activists, the policy of the Anipaan program held both symbolic and practical importance. The Limbu language program represented a valuable avenue by which the organization, as advocates for the greater Limbu community, engaged in addressing significant political, cultural, and social matters and debates. As such, support of “mother tongue”-based educational policy related to the KYC’s explicit aims of promoting upliftment of ethnic persons and redressing past and current “problems;” implicitly, the program also provided an important discursive context for the re-assertion of Limbu ethno- nationalism and an opportunity to authoritatively define the nature of Limbu ethnic identity itself through production of the curriculum’s pedagogical texts. When integrated into the curriculum of one particular government school in far eastern Nepal, Anipaan lessons led to an ambiguous, contextually-defined set of outcomes and meanings for those implementing and experiencing it, simultaneously promoting and marginalizing Limbu language in practice. Local individuals participated in and responded to the practice of Anipaan by drawing upon their own interconnected meanings and understandings of education and schooling, place, language, aspiration, and identity. for Lucy and Susan Hakala, with love and gratitude iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My deep thanks go to these tremendous teachers and friends, with recognition that my debts are too great to be repaid: Arjun Limbu, Leela Singak, Bishnu Singak Buddha Raj Ingwa, Niranti Tumbapo, Chandra Raj Andangbe, and a great many others in Kathmandu and Phidim The students, teachers, and community members of Numidanda Banu and Shambhu Oja, Dambar Chemjong Diane Hoffman, Walt Heinecke, Robert Covert, Kathleen Hall Eric Bredo, Hal Burbach, Carol Anne Spreen, Jennifer DeForest, Jennings Wagoner members of the Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville Walt, Lindsay, Alp, Kate, James, Anne, Russell, Zap, Chrissie, Nate, Lucy, Cliff, Roger, Feng, Ben, Virginie, Lauren, Arrow, Will, and Susan v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ..............................................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...........................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................vii LIST OF FIGURES .....................................................................................................................vii ELEMENTS I. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 1 II. LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .........................................11 III. METHODS AND METHODOLOGY ....................................................................46 IV. PROMOTING “MOTHER TONGUE” SCHOOLING AS A POLICY OF ETHNIC ACTIVISM AND ADVOCACY...............................................................................76 V. CONSTRUCTING ETHNIC IDENTITY THROUGH “MOTHER TONGUE” BASED PEDAGOGICAL TEXTS.........................................................................110 VI. EXPERIENCING “MOTHER TONGUE” PROGRAMMING IN EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE ............................................................................................................135 VII. COMMUNITY RESPONSES TO “MOTHER TONGUE” INSTRUCTION IN LOCAL SCHOOLS................................................................................................174 VIII. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................192 REFERENCES ...........................................................................................................................207 APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................215 vi LIST OF TABLES TABLE Page 1. Population and Households in Numidanda .....................................................................55 2. Education and Literacy Levels in Numidanda ...............................................................55 3. National Primary School Curriculum............................................................................137 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE Page 1. Panchthar District Location in Nepal ...........................................................................215 2. Limbuwan Map ............................................................................................................216 vii I. INTRODUCTION A result of intertwined risings of the janajati1 [‘indigenous nationalities’] and democratization movements over the last two decades, ethnic identity has assumed ever-greater importance as a pivotal axis of social difference defining Nepalese culture and politics (Hangen, 2010; Pfaff-Czarnecka, 2003; Tamang, 2001). The “growing phenomenon” of cultural difference in Nepal has been reflected by the transforming categorizations and measurements taken through the national census: for example, from 2001 to 2011, the number of caste/ethnic groups enumerated rose from 102 to 125, while the number of “mother tongues” [Nepali, matri bhasha] rose from 92 to 123. The purpose of this ethnographically-oriented study, conducted in urban and rural Nepal from July- December 2011, was to probe how the increasing socio-political salience of ethnic identity in the unique context of post-conflict Nepal intersected with the promotion, implementation, and experience of formal mother tongue educational programming. In Nepal, as well as in the wider contexts of Asia and the globe, ethnic difference has been evoked as a relevant concept by groups of individuals both during critical political moments and through processes of modernization and state-building (Brass, 1991; He & Kymlicka, 2005). Following a decade-long civil war that officially ended in 2006 and the dissolution of a centuries-old Hindu monarchy, the contemporary age of rapid political and social transformation in Nepal set the conditions for public discussions of diversity and identity to come to the fore; 1 In its essence, the neologism “janajati” refers to members of the “ethnic” or “tribal” groups of Nepal. 1 this post-conflict national context has been popularly termed the “New Nepal.” The challenge of crafting and ratifying a constitution has served as the center of both practical and symbolic debates regarding the redefinition of the newly established democratic republic; the massive difficulty of this political endeavor has continued to the present, inflecting the everyday realities of ordinary citizens across the nation. ‘Indigenous people’s organizations’ (IPOs), which began to proliferate following the first wave of democratization in 1990, represent an important new category of actors in these governance and policy-related debates, particularly as the issue of “ethnic federalism” has gained prominence in public consciousness and been asserted in various forms as a solution for national quandaries relating to the management of Nepal’s social diversity. As modern institutions, shaped by the past and (re)designed in the present to prepare youth to assume identities and roles in a future society, schools and educational systems serve as critical settings to examine wider cultural politics as they are being contested, transformed, and reproduced by social actors. The global phenomenon of mass formal schooling for children has made education an increasingly significant realm for the definition of social difference at national and local levels; as a consequence, scholars have begun to question the complex relationship between schooling and conflict situations (Anderson-Levitt,
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