SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad SIT Digital Collections Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection SIT Study Abroad Spring 2017 Developed Toast, Modern Laundry: Nepali Household Appliance Discourses Maureen McCord SIT Study Abroad Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection Part of the Asian Studies Commons, Community-Based Research Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Women's Studies Commons, and the Work, Economy and Organizations Commons Recommended Citation McCord, Maureen, "Developed Toast, Modern Laundry: Nepali Household Appliance Discourses" (2017). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 2567. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/2567 This Unpublished Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the SIT Study Abroad at SIT Digital Collections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection by an authorized administrator of SIT Digital Collections. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Developed Toast, Modern Laundry: Nepali Household Appliance Discourses Maureen McCord Academic Director: Daniel Putnam Wellesley College Anthropology | History South Asia, Nepal, Kathmandu Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Nepal: Development and Social Change, SIT Study Abroad Spring 2017 ABSTRACT: This project investigates discourses of modernity, globalization, class identity, and social change in Kathmandu, Nepal, through the lens of ten Nepali women’s purchase and usage of home appliances. Four weeks of ethnographic research sought to identify prevailing practices and attitudes toward household appliances in the city, situating them in broader discourses of globalization, modernity, class identity, and social change. The project is composed of participant observation in Nepali homes, including informal interviews, with project participants sourced from my own social network.