HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

Volume 27 Number 1 Dalits in Nepal No. 1 & 2 Article 14

December 2007

Conference Abstracts

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Am e r i c a n An t h r o p o l o g i c a l Ass o c i a t i o n 106t h An n u a l Me e t i n g No v e m b e r 28-De c e m b e r 2, 2007 Wa s h i n g t o n D.C.

Occupational Justice: Three-Tiered Empowerment related to illness. This paper will examine the Nepali eating Model for Disability Policy in Post-War Afghanistan schema used for illness and address the applications that this Barney, Karen F. has for HIV/AIDS prevention messages in the tiny Himalayan country of Nepal. Twenty-five years of civil war and political upheaval in Afghanistan have produced hundreds of thousands of people with physical disabilities and related psychological symp- Nationhood, Citizenship and Identity: Electing A toms. The overall aim of this U.S. State Department cultural Tibetan Democracy in Exile exchange project has been to address these needs by empow- Bernstien, Alissa, Stanford University ering Afghan advocates for persons with disabilities to estab- Focusing on my fieldwork in the Tibetan refugee commu- lish broad-based capacity and to build systems and policy nity in Dharamsala, India, my research examines the com- foundations to promote occupational justice and provide ser- plex process of creating a democratic government in exile, vices for persons with disabilities. This project has involved and in particular, the issues arising when political leadership occupational scientists, disability advocates who teach dis- is provided by a revered spiritual leader. The formation of a ability studies, and numerous other professionals, including democratic Tibetan government in exile is complicated for grass roots leaders of NGOs in Afghanistan and the U.S. After many reasons, beginning with the necessary transition from three attempts to send the team to Kabul, the first tier of the the traditional feudal theocracy that existed in Tibet prior project had to be deferred due to U.S. State Department secu- to 1959, and followed by the difficulties in establishing a rity concerns. Second, individuals were screened and selected landless political community in a diaspora that is extremely to pursue disability awareness training in St. Louis from May widespread. More specifically, I examine how aspects of Ti- 2-21, 2006. This group of eight professionals forms the core betan identity formation, such as religion, their position as disability working committee and leadership for a permanent refugees, and feelings of nationhood and citizenship compli- disability blueprint program for Afghanistan. The two-week cate Tibetan notions of and participation in the exile politi- training program provided a wide variety of topics, balanced cal community. Some key issues I examine include the ways with site visits of examples of models that promote inclusion, Tibetans in Dharmsala in politics, for example, I question the access, and occupational justice for persons with disabilities motivations behind why Tibetans in exile vote, participate in the community. The Afghan participants were also linked in protests, and create political NGOs. I also examine the with a mentor who will maintain an ongoing relationship and discursive techniques surround the narrative construction of provide current resources to them. Finally, the Afghan Amer- the Tibet democracy in exile, including what rhetoric is used ica team forged through this experience will collaboratively to discuss the emerging democracy in Dharmsala, and how support the establishment of a nation-wide resource center to this rhetoric relates to a larger discourse of human rights. support the work of these leaders regarding disability aware- ness and occupational justice. Can A Plantation Be Fair?: Paradoxes and Possibilities in Fair Trade Darjeeling Tea Certification Eating Aids: Using Indigenous Cognitive Illness Schemata (Cognitive Metaphors) in Hiv/Aids Besky, Sarah A, University of Wisconsin Prevention Messages in Nepal In the Darjeeling district of Northeaster India, tow tea- growing communities are seeking fair trade certification. Beine, David K, SIL International One community is Makaibari tea plantation, founded in “Eating” is a foundational cognitive schema (metaphor) 1856. The other, five miles away, is the CHAI small farmer used widely in the Nepali language both at the lexical and cooperative, organized by farmers in 2006. Initially, it would conceptual levels; “eating” is used metaphorically to under- seem that the cooperative would be far more congruent with stand and communicate ideas regarding concepts from do- fair trade’s social and environmental justice aims than the mains as disparate as corruption and emotion. Eating is also plantation. This paper will explore how small farmers in a widely used metaphorically in Nepal to understand concepts cooperative and plantation owners could both legitimately

81 HIMALAYA XXVII(1-2) 2007 Co n f e r e n c e Ab s t r a c t s 81 seek certifications from transnational fair trade certification and locus of social reproduction, the definition and experi- agencies. It will also explore how individuals embedded in ence (and even the possibility) of marriage differs greatly fundamentally different land tenure systems operationalize among women. In the context of a semi-urban community “fairness” through transnational fair trade certification, lo- in the Kathmandu Valley, in which arranged marriages and cal labor organization, and national legal codes. Tea is the a patrilocal, multi-generational family system are the ide- only fair trade product grown on a plantation. All other fair als, changes in the educational and economic opportunities trade producers operate on cooperatives. In India, fair trade for married women play out differently according to class. tea production presents an additional paradox. Colonial labor Among Nepali Hindu-caste women, poverty acts as a level- policies inspired the Plantations Labour Act of 1951, which ing mechanism amongst otherwise hierarchical caste groups. mandated that plantations provide workers housing, health Poor women of all castes work outside the home in wage- care, food rations, and schooling for their children. Neither paying positions in order to contribute to the family income. the Labour Act nor fair trade guarantees such aid to coop- The mobility and interaction with others in public that occurs erative farmers. Today, plantation owners blame the Labour when working in this manner threatens the traditional gender Act’s “social costs” for the financial demise of many planta- roles of women, particularly those of high-caste women. As a tions and claim that the industry would be stronger if the act result, there is evidence of a backlash against disadvantaged were repealed. Although they lament the “social costs” of the women who work outside the household in this semi-urban Labour Act, many of these plantation owners are seeking fair community. Yet as the educational and economic opportu- trade certification. What makes a plantation “fair?” Should nities afforded to these women improve, one would expect all Indian plantations be fair trade certificated if they comply the objections to fade, and perhaps, a greater participation of with labor laws? middle-class married women in wage-paying work. Through examining the local social and power structures in this com- Technicalities and Moralities of Governance: Hill munity, it becomes apparent that local configurations disrupt Councils in India the expected generalized effects of improved economies, ac- cess to education, and gender equality. Bhan, Mona, Rutgers University This paper will explore the shifting meanings of govern- mentality vis-à-vis the Indian state as these are restructured Buddhist Technologies of the Self and Sino-Tibetan and reinterpreted within the intersecting forces of classical na- Shangrilaism tionalism and neoliberalism. By looking at contemporary sub- Da Col, Giovanni state formations such as the hill-councils along the borders of The Three Rivers Unesco Site and Kha ba dkar po, a Ti- India (councils meant to decentralize political and economic betan sacred mountain in Northswest Yunnan (China), at- power to local populations), my paper will foreground how tract today not only anthropologists but multifarious figures social and political values such as decentralization, citizen- such as independent local scholars, “authentic” and “fake liv- ship, and empowerment are mediated through local registers ing Buddhas” (Tib. sprul ku rdzun) sponsoring temples using of rights, duties, and entitlements. I focus on how Brogpas, a Chinese and foreign aids, “cultural associations” competing minority ethnic community in the border region of Ladakh for expertise on the mountain cult, environmental NGOs and (Kashmir) offer an alternative narrative to justify access to geographers mapping sacred sites. In this context, Buddhism political and economic resources. Rather than appropriating is facing a process of modernist purifications, facilitated by macro-ideals of decentralization and empowerment, Brogpas a purposeful Chinese governmentality that transformed Ti- invoke their situated history of marginality and difference betan Buddhism from a problem of national security into a to assert their political subjectivities, while simultaneously technology of the self. This technology is aimed at changing constituting the state as intimate and proximate. In so do- their recipients’ quality of life by encouraging people to adopt ing, Brogpas attempt to lay claims to state power within the and maintain the State’s own Buddhist “orientation”, called framework of rights and duties facilitated through a redefini- “Shangrilaism”, named and developed by the former gov- tion of state institutions in postcolonial India. ernor of Diqing Tebetan Prefecture. “Shangrilaism” aims to show how Buddhist religious and lay debates are perfectly in The Transformative Power of Impoverished Married line with the government’s orientation. It is an invitation for Women’s Work in Nepal: Challenging Caste and the Tibetan’s elite (lamas, NGO workers, local scholars and Gender Roles foundations) to develop their own anthropology of Buddhism and foster politically correct “academic” conferences where Brunson, Jan M., Brown University everyone should engage in harmonious debate. This paper Feminist scholars have underscored the diversity of aims to analyse the speeches and manifestos of Shangrilaism, women’s experiences within a single cultural context, and reflecting on how Buddhism has been incorporated in the the danger of assuming that the dominant model of what it political by organising Buddhist tenets and the Communist means to be a woman applies to disadvantaged groups. While Party’s propaganda around the principle of a “construction of the family remains the most fundamental social institution

8282 HIMALAYAHIMALAYA XXVII(1-2)XXV(1-2)XXVII(1-2) 2005 20072007 the past, but also of “what might happen” in the future. future. the happen” in might of “what but also past, the in happened” actually not ofonly “what views, alternate with groups marginalized those of erasure the against writing by and periods, transformative such during emerge that power of topographies the with tracking by peace, towards apprehension—associated movements and hope of ties—blends uncertain advocacy moral the of charting by grain, the forms against run pursue that to anthropologists enable may perspective interpretive critical a peace a that argued is It future. to ful aspire that communities post-conflict to most” matters to relation “what in commitments political exercising strategically for space open may scholarship interpretive cal criti which in ways the of consideration a as designed is per pa This activists. peace among working anthropologist an as role own my interrogating increasingly been in have I Kashmir, transition post-conflict of period active this of midst the in research doing fieldworker a As entrenched. are erarchies hi political new and established, are arrangements political new introduced, are legitimacies political new as landscape social the in shifts com - significant to of rise giving proliferation is actors rapid munity This light. to violence of years seventeen past about the truth the bring and state the against claims make to accountability and justice, rights, human of language the using are agencies grassroots and organizations nongovernmental Increasingly, peace. sustainable a for neces sary conditions the to establish emerged and society have civil strengthen initiatives community Kashmiri various by potent political powers to set priorities or dictate an M.O., an or dictate priorities to set powers political by potent efforts undo both alright.”), out turn to going (“Everything’s digyiret.” “Da in belief inaction, through action ripen, to ma forkar waiting of principles to sticking by NGOs, local how show I will characteristics. sion Tibetan of Development with vi their operationalizing in and fundraising in both effective most be can actors local idioms, cultural distinctive their to closest sticking by and missionize, efforts, their remoldor would agenda the set that forces the resisting By game. the of the impact have rules on the will greatest changing ultimately PRC have amounted to very little, and it is the local efforts the that inside communities Tibetan in “Development” at tempts at national the extent) large (toa even and international the economies, globalized increasingly of hierarchy nested the of inversion curious a in that, argue will I PRC. the in Tibetans development” among projects “sustainable undertaking NGO Go Among T T Du of Anthropology P an the Among Anthropology shehui). hexi (goujian society” harmonious an he Cultural he Since the onset of the Kashmir peace process in 2004, 2004, in process peace Kashmir the of onset the Since In this paper, I draw on three years work with a foreign foreign a with work years three on draw I paper, this In sch i ld ngs i nsk ibetans in the PR the in ibetans , E i, than D., Winrockthan International Haley, Ohio University P olitics of “Sustainable of olitics eace in K eace in C P eace Activists: Activists: eace ashmir ashmir Development” N otes on otes ------H T grantees. actual with cases several Iexamine light, this In motif. cultural unique a re-inscribe time same the at and focuses on the swapping of license plates on cars, personal personal cars, on plates license of swapping the third on the focuses and export, and import for of allowed list commodities “official” the around work or interpret border the sides of both on traders that ways the examines The study route. second trade how Sino-Indian re-opened on recently traders a name local to and media state between discourses geographic competing involves first The Tibet India. between and (China) activities trade informal concerning case studies ethnographic three at specifically look will I trade. for opportunities and barriers both presents simultaneously that region a as zone” “border the consider will paper this gion, re Himalayan the in changes regulatory state-driven recent out in order to carry circumvent traders that strategies formal in examining By granted. for taken often too all are sumers con with producers link to serve that checkpoints) or clearing permits, obtaining transportation, securing as (such ties H O course on race to meet their own political objectives. political own their to meet on race course dis global the of strands different on draw organizations the Yetidentity. of language global a as race of circulation the to foreign oflinked are ideas race For and organizations, both governments. organizations development international from funds to receive itself By doing so, it positions of inequalities. range wide a to refer to discrimination racial of idea the uses NCARD meetings, those in employed race of ceptualization con broad the with line In Africa. South Durban, in Racism Against Conference World United 2001 the for preparation in emerged organizations, advocacy of alliance an (NCARD), Discrimination Racial Against Coalition National The science texts. social Nepali in used commonly are and ethnology century 19th the Aryans. in originated call Aryan and Mongol terms The they whom Hindus, high-caste of dominance the end to and power political gain to seeks It groups. ethnic diverse linguistically and culturally Mongol to unite term the uses party, political ethnic (MNO), grassroots a Organization National Mongol The discourse. racial employed have there organizations political two that ways diverging the analyzing ing the recent emergence of race as a form of identity in Nepal, examin by questions these investigates paper This contexts. employed particular be in may identities of essentialist forms particular why and effective, politically or strategic identities essentialist of assertions makes what understanding to gards re with particularly under explored, Yet concept the remains essentialism. strategic of concept the employing by identities and G and he G ang arri f Within transnational trading networks, logistical activi logistical networks, trading transnational Within Scholars have interpreted subaltern assertions of racial racial of assertions subaltern interpreted have Scholars P ermits, ermits, eographic Rememberings e lobal D s n , CUNY Graduate Center Graduate CUNY H, Christina Ramapo College Ramapo , Susan, P imensions ofimensions R arcels, And And arcels, P laces: ace D C n o f H iscourse in N in iscourse e c n e r e imalayan imalayan A b s T t c a r t raders raders epal epal ------s 83 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASS OCIATION ANNUAL MEETING 2007 identification cards, and labels inside of t-shirts in order to in discursive interaction, and how the very problem of its rec- obscure geographic origins. By illuminating the importance ognizability taxes existing methods for the study of language of traders as an intermediary group possessing information and affectivity, especially in respect of levels of analysis and on both production processes and consumption processes, ‘scale’. Relatively discrete, localizable affect indexicals are we may get a better sense of how infrastructural and politi- shown to combine to form larger scale text-metrical (poetic) cal transformations on a regional scale might be manifested structures in discourse, and these emergent, higher-order through “everyday” sites of trading activity: the exchange of structures—structures that help make this category of his- commodities, social networks, and the use of space. trionic anger apparent to interactants—crystallize with the aid of more durable, event-independent presuppositions and The Impact of Hindu Beliefs of Ritual Pollution and reflexive practices. Turning to its fate in India, I examine how Child Agency on the Mental Health of Maoist Child this category of affect is undergoing reanalysis by Tibetans Soldiers in Nepal who aspire to modernity. Findings from two institutions, the largely monastic and self-consciously modernized “Institute Kohrt, Brandon and Worthman, Carol M, Emory Uni- of Buddhist Dialectics” (Dharamsala) and Sera Monastery versity (Byllakupe), reveal how Tibetans locally engage communica- During the eleven-year conflict between the government tive ideals associated with the liberal subject, especially those of Nepal and the Communist party of Nepal-Maoists, armed of clarity, sincerity, autonomy, and civility. These ideals— forces on both sides recruited children into roles of soldiers, conveyed across transnational networks involving human porters, sentries, spies, and messengers. After peace accords, rights advocates, religious aid agencies, foreign Tibet activ- many of these children have returned home. This pollu- ists, and others—set the terms for local affective reanalysis tion and child agency affected the re-integration and mental and change. health status of child soldiers. After an in—depth qualitative phase to assess views, narrative focus groups, case studies, and child-led participatory study comparing psychological “The Right Dharma for Today”: Ethical Practice, distress between one hundred child soldiers and one hundred Religious Reform and the Buddhist “Art of Living” in community children who did not live with armed groups. The Neoliberal Nepal qualitative phase revealed that community members stigma- Leve, Lauren G, University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill tized child soldiers upon their return, not for perpetration Over the past quarter-century, Nepal had undergone a of violence, but rather for children’s violation of caste ritual dramatic array of political, economic and socio-cultural shifts purity while living with Maoists. Increased perceived agency that have called into being new ways of living and inspired incurred greater community stigma evidenced by qualita- new forms of citizenship and subjectivity. This paper exam- tive community reports. In contrast, child soldiers, in the ines the contemporary Theravada Buddhist reform move- case-control study, who felt more control over their decisions ment in Nepal as an innovative from of ethical practice that perceived less stigma and experienced better mental health. illuminates powerful and characteristic aspects of neoliberal This study reveals that cultural beliefs related to Hindu ritual globalism. Over the past ten years of ethnographic research in purity contribute significantly to psychological distress in the Nepal, I have heard it said innumerable times that (1) “Thera- reintegration process. The impact of expressed community vada Buddhism is the best dharma for today” and (2) it is stigma, however, is moderated by children’s perceived level “the demand of the age” that people internalize it and use of agency. This study also illustrates the utility of combining it to govern their everyday lives. Focusing on the material, large-scale qualitative studies of expressed versus felt cultural social, ritual, and interpretive changes that have taken place beliefs with quantitative psychological studies to identify risk in Nepali Buddhists’’ lives since the nineteen-twenties and factors for psychological distress. especially over the past two decades, this paper asks what practitioners mean when they affirm Theravada’s moral util- Affected Subjects: Histrionics and the Liberal ity, its transformative potential, and the value of applying it in Speaking Subject in the Tibetan Diaspora daily life. Theravada knowledge practices embody techniques for self-formation and social reorientation that its adherents Lempert, Michael, Georgetown University embrace as ideally suited to the changing and changed condi- This paper considers a form of histrionic ‘anger’ used by tions of global modernity. Nepali Buddhists’ practical explo- Tibetan monks in India to inculcate moral discipline. Found rations of what an important meditation teacher there calls in male-monastic socialization, especially in public repri- “the art of living” constitute both a reflection of modern life mand and courtyard debate, this cultural category of affect in Nepal and—equally—a reflection on it. elevates itself above vulgar, worldly aggression by its require- ment of dissimulation. Like the normative ideal of ‘sincerity’, it presupposes an ‘inner-outer’ schematization of the speak- ing subject but asks that monks disjoin, not align, inner states from outer signs. I examine how this affective state manifests

84 HIMALAYA XXVII(1-2) 2007 By looking at the manner in which the ethnically diverse diverse ethnically the which in manner the at looking By Kham. with interactions Chinese shaped nineteenth-century forcontext the complex ofsequence no-historical that events an eth providing without Yunnan be properlycannot contextualized nineteenth-century of borderworlds Sino-Tibetan the that proposes paper my assumption, this from Working interactions. of borderworld center the at Chinese Han tions posi that analyses Han-centric of the standard dualism false the shatters that pattern a – culture of pattern non-Chinese distinctly a reveals governance and law ethnicity, of egories cat Han and Qing transgress to flair population’s non-Han the way, another in Put non-Han. the with interacted who the policy groups towards late ethnic imperial and those Han in applied terminology the considers modern study the early Second, era. the in portrayed been typically have society frontier and frontiers which in manner the reframe to ridor’ cor concept the of ‘ethnic out toflesh seeks it First sections. inter these at lay particular, in border Sino-Tibetan the and general, in borderlands which in manner the highlight that elements two tackles paper This borders.” without world a or imagining boundaries working national rather inside than of ing intersections at mobility and territorialism, intellectual teach and research locating by world realistically more “the todepict Ludden’s call up recent David taking by ofanalysis At I E cul implicit the read to militarization, of dynamics the as well as violence, of forms other and torture of accounts the at look I action, counterinsurgency. meaningful of socially as violence this violence Viewing the of meanings social the toexplore seeks Italso violations. rights of human victims er former and prisoners, oth survivors, torture the disappeared, of families communities—the profundis’ ‘de the of concerns the and abuses rights human documenting on largely fo cused has work My years. seventeen for militants dependence foughtpro-in have forces Indian where Kashmir in research Mathur, Shubh D T nterpretative Frameworks of K 19th Century hi Crios n Sino- and Corridors thnic he Anthropologist as as Anthropologist he isappearances in K in isappearances This paper seeks to reverse borderland the lens traditional This paper looks at the issues raised in the course of my of course the in raised issues the at looks paper This w i ll Pennsylvania State University Pennsylvania State , David, A M S S h c r a ashmir n o i t a i c o 22-25,2007B Witness: T ibetan ibetan

f r o D ocumenting ocumenting A Relations: s ham ham n a i ------S

o e i d u t rights and justice? and rights human sovereignty, nationhood, on debates larger to make of ofviolence the counterinsurgency understanding pological anthro an can contribution what finally, And of violence? this survivors and victims the of voice the forgetting and ing such and both global national challenge agendas of research silenc Can credibility? academic losing without as advocate serve an anthropologist the Can observer? detached the of role maintain to anthropologist the constrain discipline the of requirements the Do suffering? and violence of situations in subjects her towards responsibility anthropologist’s the of nature the is what questions: following the answer to tempts at paper My advocacy. and fieldwork concerning issues ary disciplin and ethical focus sharp into brings setting research This environment. physical the and body the on enactment their and identity, and belonging nationhood, of ideas tural s the agents involved, - pertaining societies sharing Buddhist Buddhist sharing societies pertaining - involved, agents the way the and institutionalization their of strategies the port, - im of their ideologically, practices and at structur the by ally looking historically, connected rituals, different very two to compare tries paper This option. second forto decide this tend families Nowadays, ethic. educational a strong and tion interac nun-laypeople routine, monastic involving Valley, Kathmandu the around monasteries Theravada in practiced being now is and boys for ordination temporary to pendant where the female it from Burma represents nun Dhammavati reform-oriented the by Nepal to imported was seniority. second The familial and marriage menstruation, as such ing ofgender practices marked religiously various to connected is and family the of woman senior-most the by mediated is firstseems tohave been part oflife Newarritual forcenturies, The (rishini). seer” female “the as known generally practice, events called “placing the tayegu) bar” (barha or in a religious ritual of series a in either join daughters adolescent and pre- sauga much clearer understanding of borderland interactions. interactions. of borderland understanding much clearer a facilitates which emerges zones transition pattern overlapping a of events transregional and multi-ethnic these ated negoti each frontiers Yunnan-Tibetan the along populations Emmr Nepal B D uddhist aughters n o t Buddhist Newar parents have the option of having their their having of option the have parents Newar Buddhist ich s , M A , Christoph, Christoph, , R E itual itual mpowered? Competing and Connecting Connecting mpowered? and Competing l a u n n a S S T u h c a aiin between raditions M nvriy f oot a Missis at Toronto of University n i t e e s C t t e n o f e c n e r e s g

B A urma and and urma b s t c a r t ------s 85 Association for A sian Studies Annual MEETING 2007 traditions, Indo-Aryan scriptural languages and Tibeto-Bur- but zones of mutual interest, through which cultures inter- man vernaculars, - make sense of them. What makes this penetrate in a dynamic manner. Local societies at the margin development crucial is that we have a case of both borrowing of cultural centers have often been approached through the and competition within and across Tibeto-Burman Buddhist angle of political integration and diffusion of cultural and traditions. This may help articulate new rifts within regional religious patterns from political centers. But these societies Buddhist traditions, with rishini being part of an emancipa- have always participated actively to the production of differ- tory agenda of Newar Buddhist women, while at the same ences and similarities, and to the establishment of boundaries time, with Theravada trying to establish itself among other in a dialectic process. This paper, using an ethno-historical Tibeto-Burman speaking groups in Nepal, setting up alter- approach, focuses on the Yunnan/Tibet/Burma conjunc- native networks. tion, looking at this region as a contiguous regional system. Considering this region as a whole, grasping its cultural and Revolutionary Music in Tibet: Identity, Ideology, and ethnic diversity, my aim is to show some of the things that lo- Integration cal people’s cultures have in common. Based upon extensive fieldwork in Northwest Yunnan province and written docu- Famularo, Julia, Columbia University mentation, this study takes at its centers the little studied Following the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1951, the groups such as the Drung and Nung living at the border of Communists have evaluated and reevaluated the use of liter- Burma and Tibet. It describes the importance of an encom- ature and art as an effective means of disseminating socialist passing exchange network, at the interethnic level, which thought while shaping the development of Tibetan culture. reveals not only a social hierarchy between local groups, but Mao Zedong considered cultural production during the old also cultural values that are important for our understanding regime “desolate” because it catered to the tastes of the en- of some socio-cultural specificities of this area. trenched aristocracy and monastic system, rather than the masses. From Local to Global? Folklore, Patrimony and Drawing upon Foucault’s idea of discourse, one could Authenticity in Tibetan Opera argue that the Chinese Communist Party used its newfound authority in Tibet to construct its own “regime of truth”: Henrion-Dourcy, Isabelle, Harvard University revolutionary music was but one tool employed by the CCP In this paper, I aim to examine the cultural, economic to promulgate “correct” ideas concerning the proper political and political dynamics of Tibetan Opera as it has been prac- ideology and future development of Tibet. Songs produced in tised in the People’s Republic of China since the 1980s. Ache Tibet were spread throughout the rest of China as evidence lhamo was until the 1950s the most prominent form of musi- of Tibet’s willing participation in and growing integration cal drama in Tibet. Its social anchor was both local and coun- into the Chinese Motherland. try-wide: although it was mainly performed by peasants at Three main categories of songs emerged in Tibet dur- village festivals, it was also supported by the Tibetan govern- ing the Cultural Revolution, which promoted unity among ment, which organized an annual festival including troupes all ethnic nationalities, extolled the peaceful liberation of from all over Tibet. At the end of the 1970s, the genre was re- Tibet, and praised figures such as Chairman Mao, the CCP, vitalized following a 17-year-ban. Official troupes promoted the People’s Liberation Army, and the masses. Composers a reformed type of opera, a form of subsidized folklore that often wove more than one of these thematic elements into a was meant to somehow encapsulate Tibetan culture. How- single song. Party officials in Tibet disseminated these songs ever, part-time troupes continued to perform an unreformed through the use of radio broadcasts, mass singing rallies, and style, meeting with strong appreciation at a grassroots level. the cooption of Tibetan singers. By the 1990s, local fervour had gradually dwindled. Yet, re- Following an analysis of the composition, production, cently, the increasing number of Chinese settlers has led to and dissemination of these songs, Tibetan reactions to revo- a revitalization and also a relativization of Tibetan culture lutionary music are discussed, as are the challenges of ascer- within a multicultural environment. Debates are now raging taining how these songs affected the Tibetan population in for or against the candidacy of Tibetan Opera as Masterpiece the long-term. of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity (UNESCO). By examining shifts in context, performance and sponsor- ship, I would like to reflect upon the ways in which folklore Drung, Nung, and Northwest Yunnan as a Regional and preservation give rise to conflicting notions of authentic- System (19th - 20th Centuries) ity, and how a tradition that seems to be disappearing locally may be re-emerging globally under the auspices of economic Gros, Stephane, CRNS (Centre Nationale de la Recherche and tourism concerns. Scientifique) The Sino-Tibetan margins constitute a frontier region con- Nature, Buddhism, and Society in Tamang Creation tinuously subjected to influences from both China and India, Holmberg, David, through Tibet. These margins were not clearly defined lines Cornell University

86 HIMALAYA XXV(1-2)XXVII(1-2) XXVII(1-2) 2005 2007 2007 erosion erosion of Manchu authority. He was educated gradual by the leadings the and power, Mongol of decline of period the ing most and spent ofin Amdo, life He born dur was his writers. prolific many Amdo’s of one and lama Buddhist a of rebirth Nietu T for today.” dharma right “the is it that means this Fordevotees, Kathmandu. in globalization by about brought dislocations economic and political social, the to within operate struggling to practitioners sense unique it, the makes “art Theravada Buddhism of within everyday living” and self-formation for prescriptions ethical of set a and world changing onthe perspective comprehensive a Offering operates. it which within field socio-religious Newar broader the by extension, and, there Buddhism Theravada Buddhists, Nepali affecting is globalization that way the This explores paper understood. and practiced taught, is Buddhism avada Ther that ways to the impact begun have changes ated social associ and restructuring economic and political neo-liberal however, recently, More community. cultural and Newar religious the within sensibilities and practices Buddhist izing modern in role key a played has it years sixty-some past the Over a India. and as Lanka Sri in part transformations of earlier in result century twentieth the of half first the in Valley Kathmandu the into reintroduced was Buddhism Theravada events. and trends regional by shaped been has that field cal and histori social place in a taken dynamic always Nepal has in practice Buddhist transformations? these forces the behind Leve “ Nepal. village in society based clan a in Buddhism of correlates socio-political the explores Thus, headmen and lamas. through the Buddhist myth, paper between relation the to relates it as particularly life village in authority Buddhist of place the and theory anthropological in order social of “naturalization” of problem the and myth of theories level, paper explores the analytical At an contexts. ritual communal other in as the well as of “winnowing-basket-evil” expulsion the of occasion the on houses Tamang all in biannually occurs recitation other the and shyapa or mhane chhe-chu as known dramas dance extensive socially the of performances the preceding occurs recitation One world. orderly and forprosperous a stage the setting acts productive separate These occasions. are recitations viewed themselves as ontwo of at creation least myths must recite specialists mang Ta Asia. in elsewhere and Tibet in found Buddhism of tions tradi high to relation their and myths these in Buddhism of attention to the place particular Nepal with of mang highland G T ibetan B ibetan lobalization, and the T the and lobalization, Belmang Konchok Gyaltsan (1764-1853)Konchok Gyaltsan Belmang a was recognized How is Newar Buddhism changing today? And what are are what And today? changing Buddhism Newar is How Ta western the of myths creation examines paper This he University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill of Carolina, North University Chapel , Lauren, R psk ight uddhist Authority Structures in Amdo in uddhist Authority Structures i , Paul, John, Paul, Carroll University D am for harma heravada T heravada T oday”: N urn ewar ewar B uddhism, uddhism, ------gols, Manchus, Chinese and Muslims. and Chinese gols, Manchus, to of authority in evaluated the comparison regional the Mon are power in claims the Amdo community. Finally, Belmang’s actual lama’s the against claims these tests It writings. other and History” “Elementary Belmang’s in claimed powers local authority. litical po regional and wealth considerable he such as accumulated people he that believe was the second of lifetimes, five human Amdo figure. acpolitical local and a wealth powerful cumulated predecessor’s his to heir owners, estate corporate betan Ti Amdo local many the of one was he authority, religious writings. his of other and this in demonstrated is Amdo in present ers pow regional of the authority relative The Asia. East and ner In in civilizations of evolution the on perspective Tibetan Buddhist Amdo an is text This Mongolia. and Monguors the Tibet, of China, History Elementary in his demonstrated is as Chinese, and Manchus Mongols, Tibetans, the of structures authority regional the with acquainted and well was He hagiography history. ethics, philosophy, on works of volumes twelve wrote and Lhasa in and Amdo in day the of scholars “Tibetan-Yi Corridor”. “Tibetan-Yi the of discussion scholarly Chinese and Western largely of far,out left so has which China, southwest in memory and space frontier of construction to related aspects specific and individual highlight to in intends paper as The well places. Yi as various Kangding of city border Tibetan the in Liang of Zhuge traditions oral Corridor.” “Tibetan-Yi in the It analyzes legacies Liang’s Zhuge of interpretations indigenous and official in turns and twists the examines paper this terviews, in oral and on archives Based nation. foldthe Chinese of the and regions broughtminority volatile southwestern them into historically the transformed successfully policy ethnic whose benevolence of a figure as championed been has Zhuge Liang 1949, after melodrama socialist the in However, region. ern southwest the in expansions Chinese Han in territories and people of losses with also and names place of of multiplicity a origins with associated often and are which region, of the memories the in minorities ethnic among legends many left Expedition) (Southern whose “Nanzheng” A.D.),of operation (220-280 military Period Kingdom Three the during strategist famous a Liang, Zhuge than important more has been figure no perhaps China, Sino-Ti Southwest on In frontiers. space betan frontier and relation ethnicities of its and formations to forgetting and memory of in mechanism interest the emergent an been has there Corridor”, betan-Yi Pe E on Sino- thnic thnic This paper explores the extent of regional authority of the authority of regional extent the explores paper This Buddhist Tibetan a of exemplar an being to addition In n eet etr ad hns shlrhp f h “Ti the of scholarship Chinese and Western recent In ng University of British Columbia, Canada Columbia, , Wenbin, of British University M T emory emory and Space: the ibetan B ibetan orderlands C n o L egend of f e c n e r e Z A huge b s t c a r t L iang iang ------s 87 Association for A sian Studies Annual Meeting 2007 Faultlines and Lines of Control: Islamist Charities, Amdo Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries as Political International Organizations, and the Pakistan Centers in the Qing Military in the Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Tuttle, Gray, Columbia University Project The emperors who ruled China and its neighboring regions Robinson, Cabeiri, University of Washington from the thirteenth century onward often chose to recognize This paper examines the roles of the Pakistan army and indigenous forms of rule at the frontiers of Chinese cultural security services, international humanitarian organizations, and political domination. Though outside the mainstream, and Islamist charities in providing relief and formulating a the policy of allowing Tibetan Buddhist lamas to rule ethnic reconstruction policy in Azad Kashmir after the earthquake Tibetans, Mongours, Muslims and even Chinese who hap- of October 2005. It describes the ways these state, interna- pened to live in these territories seems to have been encour- tional, and religious organizations have sought to provide aged, at least during the Qing. My research examines a local relief in this disputed territory and high security zone, and practice not covered in detail in the grand statutes recorded it analyzes the junctures and disjunctures in the different in the Lifanyuan law books. Only in the twentieth century moral languages used to describe social responsibility and were the details of the local ruling monasteries on the fron- political accountability after a natural disaster. The paper tiers of Chinese and Tibetan culture east of Qinghai Lake focuses particularly on the relief and reconstruction activi- documented in a systematic way. Unlike the dominance of ties of three Islamist charities which are closely connected a single monastery like Labrang to the southeast, the region to jihadist militant groups involved in the armed conflict in between Xining, Lanzhou and Labrang was characterized by Indian-administered regions of Jammu and Kashmir-- the a complex overlap of jurisdictions: small Chinese garrisons Jamatud Dawa (connected to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba), the Al in the lower valleys, occasional dominance by armed Mus- Rehmat Trust (connected to the Jaish-e-Mohammad), and Al lims, Mongour or Tibetan local headmen (tusi) often ruling Safa Foundation (connected to Al Badr). The paper concludes in conjunction with a “mother” Tibetan Buddhist monastery with a discussion of public evaluations of the relief and re- and its many subordinate (“son”) branches. I will examine construction work carried out by the national military, inter- the least understood element of these various authorities: the national humanitarian organizations, and religious charities many lesser known monasteries that ruled with combined in order to evaluate changes in the ways that Kashmiris political and religious power. Their structures of power, abil- imagine their relations with ‘the state’ in Azad Kashmir. ity to collect taxes, property holdings and ethnic composi- tions will be examined in light of the historic relevance these monasteries held for Chinese and Tibetan interactions from The local and the global in religious texts: Contact, the late Ming into the twentieth century, with special atten- Isolation and Change in the Himalayan Periphery of tion to the Qing dynasty. Tibetan Buddhism Sihlé, Nicolas, University of Virginia Buddhism, Rock, and “Righteous Power” in Contemporary Tibetan Music The myth of the absolute remoteness and isolation of the high Himalayan valleys has already been convincingly de- Van Vleet, Stacey, Columbia University constructed. We still need however to come to terms, theo- In a Lhasa suffused with Sino-centric modernity the rele- retically and methodologically, with phenomena of contact, vance of Buddhism can no longer be taken for granted among isolation and change in such contexts. As a contribution to Tibetans. The officially atheist Chinese state has attempted this endeavor, I propose in this paper to look at aspects of over the last fifty years to modernize and secularize Tibetan Tibetan Buddhism on the southwestern rim of the Tibetan culture, with substantial impact on young Tibetans. Yet since cultural area, in Baragaon, a.k.a. Lower Mustang (northern the late nineties, a movement of self-consciously Tibetan and Nepal), where a southwestern Tibetan dialect is spoken. Fo- modern musicians in Lhasa, spearheaded by two rock bands, cusing on a small village-and-temple community of moder- articulate Tibetan Buddhism as central to their image, iden- ately literate tantric priests, this paper will raise the question: tity and lyrical inspiration. They employ secular Tibetan folk How can we approach the articulation between a local socio- instrumentation and melodies to make their rock, hip-hop cultural universe and the larger world of Tibetan Buddhism and punk songs aesthetically familiar and “authentic” to their (among other larger contexts, such as the Nepalese state for audience, but use Buddhist terminology and metaphors to instance)? I will examine in particular a key element situ- create a lyrical message. Band members attempt to incorpo- ated at this point of articulation: the local corpus of religious rate Buddhist principles into their daily lives and relation- (written) texts, and notably tantric ritual manuals with their ships with their audiences, reinterpreting Tibetan Buddhist local appendices, annotations, transformations, and their values to provide a relevant ethical and cultural identity specific social economy. model or “righteous power” for Tibetan young people. I ar- gue that the musicians’ uses of Tibetan Buddhism revolve within the confines of state-defined apolitical Tibetan iden-

88 HIMALAYA XXVII(1-2) 2007 Z Rai, Limbu) were more dependent on agro-biodiversity. In In agro-biodiversity. on dependent more were Limbu) Rai, (Majhi, groups caste indigenous like minorities that found also research The disposal. their at resources of the availability to due groups caste higher called so amongst reflected also was same the and crops of number the to to indifferent be appeared also groups caste occupational like minorities ethnic Similarly, needs. household diverse meet to and ure fail of risk the diverse minimize to in species crop and interest varieties crop an had and concerned were ha) 0.75 - households (those moderate food holding 0.25with insecure farmers contrast, in However, hectare). 0.75 above holders (land households secure food with forthose applicable was of level the or toand crop in land the their same agro-biodiversity diversity indifferent were hectare) 0.25 than less ers (landhold insecurity food acute with Households diversity. agro-bio and security food of variables the amongst nexus of type mixed a revealed Nepal in district Dhankuta in msl lying on the same water shed but spread from 300 msl to 1400 Committees Development Village two in conducted study A differ. security food and agro-biodiversity between tionship rela the settings, geo-physical and socio-economic diverse of context the in that concludes security food and diversity agro-bio on document research This other. each to posed ADH V Agro-biodiversity and FoodSecurity Wi A expectations. mystical Buddhists’ or Chinese Buddhism from Tibetan of them interpretations differentiate psychological Western that practices religious local with engagement intellectual situated and practical a underscore protection, and the vironmental law ofThe song karma. lyrics en values, and educational as well as promoting family vices, perceived other and alcoholism, materialism, with cupation a rock reflects in ofTibetan preoc themes Buddhist existence the Specifically, worldview. and ethics Buddhist reimagined with identity tity, secularized but attempt to this also reinvest identifies himself as of Tibetan ethnicity based on language, on based ethnicity Tibetan of as himself identifies he ancestry, Tibetan and Chinese of mixed Province Qinghai Amdo. in Yadzi of(Ch:Born turbulent century 20th history Xunhua) in the of figure exemplary an (1910-1985) is Lodro habdrung J habdrung alley ofalley E Traditionally Agro-biodiversity and food security are op are security food and Agro-biodiversity Traditionally The monastic scholar Tsetan Zhabdrung Jigme Rigpe Jigme Zhabdrung Tsetan scholar Themonastic M ll I ellifluous KAR ock I Indiana University , Nicole, Indiana , Shyam, Hiroshima, Shyam, University astern N astern igme R igme V oice: epal igpe L igpe T he O 36 odro. r e b o t c L ife h t W A ork of Alag Alag of ork l a u n n 11-14, 2007M N exus in Arun Arun in exus C T n o setan setan f ------e c n e r e

tically trained scholars to revive Tibetan studies within the Revolution. the Cultural the after People’s of Republic China within studies Tibetan revive to scholars trained tically one being as of He published. credited thus is fewthe monas atmosphere above his political mentioned works relaxed were relatively a in time this At Province. Gansu Lanzhou, in lege Col he Nationalities taught at release the Northwest his After e.g. his during twelve-year the imprisonment poetry, Cultural Revolution. through experiences life his of many expressed autobiography, he where his in paper to put also was poetics minority Amdo of in skill technology.His ofmodern unification usefulness the and groups the as topics such treating discourse modern a create to themes nationalist Amdo new Kavyadarsa. the on poetics, scripture Indian on the based the student ics to ofintroduces forms various ornamentations Pal on Poet most work, His famous Commentary dan. A General Lozang Yongdzin and Gyatso Damcho Jigme Amdo prominent scholars, two with study to on went subsequently He Zhabdrung. Tsetan of incarnation the as Pandita by Zhamar recognized was he three age At birthplace. and customs would be warranted. warranted. would be assistance of humanitarian form the in relief sity,agro-biodiver immediate in involved be to are land ha 0.25 than less However, bracket if group the ofholding conservation. those agro-biodiversity in runners front be could groups bracket two the land, 0.75 - 0.25ha holding those and groups caste indigenous amongst insecurity food addressing to relation ALL V as tiger rangers. We suggest the Village Ranger network is is network Ranger Village the suggest We rangers. experiences tiger as their and rangers, becoming for reasons status, their socio-economic their including rangers, village the to describe is presentation ofThe objective this hunters. and herders farmers, leaders, community including backgrounds of variety a from are rangers These outside areas. protected habitat Nepal’s breeding and corridors movement tiger of distribution the monitor to Rangers” “Village of network a recruiting began he when 1999 October in effort this tiated ini He areas. protected of outside tigers on focuses that tem sys monitoring community-based innovative an established Gurung Bhim Nepal, in parks In national people. surrounding injure villages or livestock, kill crops, ravage and areas populated into often intrude animals park landscapes when conflicts inhabited creates by surrounded are that parks By using these traditional poetic techniques, he presents presents he techniques, poetic traditional these using By illage tiger rangers in N in tiger rangers illage Maintaining populations of wild animals within national national within animals of wild populations Maintaining i d a E

ND n o s n o O S RF, T , W h t u o University of Wisconsin-Madison University eri, i s n o c A s a i s epal epal n i

C n o f e c n e r e A b s t c a r t ------s

89 36th annual conference on south asia a form of citizen science that has the potential to contribute certification. Initially, it would seem that, compared to the significantly to community support of tiger conservation on plantation, the cooperative would be far more equitable and a landscape scale. in congruence with fair trade’s social and environmental jus- tice aims. This paper will explore how small farmers in a Decorating and Donating Indra: the centering of a cooperative and plantation owners could both legitimately peripheral Nepalese festival seek certification from transnational fair trade certification agencies. It will also explore how individuals embedded in BALTUTIS, Michael, University of Iowa fundamentally different land tenure systems operationalize The South Asian festival of Indra (variously called the “fairness” through transnational fair trade certification, local Indradhvajotthana, Indramaha, Indrotsava, or, in Nepal, the labor organization, and Indian legal codes. Indrajatra), from its textual inception in the first book of the Mahabharata through its current celebration in the Nepalese In the Darjeeling hills, tea is extensively cultivated on capital of Kathmandu, has had as its focal point a fifty-foot plantations, living reminders of colonialism. In other parts wooden pole (Skt. yashti; Nep. lingo), shorn of its branches of the world, fair trade certifiers acknowledge the inequities and bark. Dragged from the forest and installed in the cen- of the plantation system. As a result, fair trade coffee, cocoa, ter of the city, this singular object – representing Indra, the and sugar (also former colonial crops) come primarily, if not king, Bhairav, the year, or all of the above – does not, how- exclusively, from small farmer cooperatives. Global agencies’ ever, stand alone. In two fundamental ways, by virtue of this willingness to certify Indian tea plantations raises the ques- object being made not to stand in a vacuum but rather care- tion: Can a plantation ever be “fair?” fully placed within a greater Sanskritic milieu, the festival in The Indian tea industry complicates fair trade certifica- which it stands shows itself to be a ritual that is integral to tion further. Colonial labor policies inspired the Plantations the living religion of classical India. The two methods that Labour Act of 1951, which mandated that plantations provide allowed the integration of such a peripheral festival into the workers housing, health care, food rations, and education. ritual mainstream were, first, the pole’s production, namely, Neither the Labour Act nor fair trade certification guarantees the particular ways that it was harvested and ornamented such aid to cooperative farmers. Today, plantation owners and, second, its use, namely, the consistent way that it was blame the Labour Act’s “social costs” for the financial demise passed on from individual to individual(s). of many plantations and claim that the industry would be The production of Indra’s pole is, I will argue, a gradual stronger if the act were repealed. Although they lament the but incomplete process resulting from the accumulation of “social costs” of the Labour Act, many of these plantation its three sets of donated ornamentation. Thus, though the owners are seeking fair trade certification. In this paper, I Nepalese pole is superficially adorned like a deity, its lack will explore the tensions between the legal fairness presented of the reception of either the “life-giving” pran pratistha rite in the Plantations Labour Act and the voluntary fairness of or the dasa samskara rites of passage will necessitate its fi- transnational fair trade certification. My ethnographic data nal visarjan at the confluence of the rivers bordering Kath- suggest that Indian labor laws regulate fairness and social mandu. At the same time, however, the series of narrative welfare far more strictly than fair trade certification alone, donations made both to and of the pole connects the festival potentially causing us to ask: should all Indian plantations to a small corpus of texts extolling the power of both the become “fair trade?” king and the goddess, thus displaying the permanence and stability attributed to such a ritually flexible object, as well as Dialoguing with Local Spaces in a Global Context preparing the way for similar Nepalese variations. BHARATHI, Manjula, Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Indian Labor Law and the Limits of Fair Trade in This paper critically examines the changes brought about Darjeeling Tea Production by international tourism, modernization initiatives and de- BESKY, Sarah, University of Wisconsin-Madison velopment interventions in the socio-cultural terrains and In the Darjeeling district of West Bengal in Northeastern the lives of the people of Leh. It tries to look at the crisis of India, two neighboring tea-growing communities are cur- cultural confidence, combined with the increased economic rently seeking fair trade certification. One of these commu- uncertainty, crime rate and the spiral of insecurity (social, nities is Makaibari tea estate, a plantation founded in 1856. cultural, political and spiritual) in Leh, which global integra- The other, five miles away, is the Tazo CHAI small farmer tion tends to generate. cooperative, organized by farmers in August 2006. Despite This paper will also examine the impact of urbanisation their geographic proximity, the plantation and the coopera- and massive migration on the public and personal domains tive operate on dissimilar systems of land tenure and social of women in Leh. Before the advent of international tour- organization. At Makaibari, the owner sought certification; ism and modernization initiatives, it was the shared under- in the Tazo CHAI cooperative, the farmers first collectivized standing between the communities in their day to day life and then asked Darjeeling NGOs to help them gain fair trade in a web of interdependent socio- economic relations, to an

90 HIMALAYA XXVII(1-2) 2007 Co n f e r e n c e Ab s t r a c t s 91 90 HIMALAYA XXVII(1-2)2007 BHA L initiatives. tred people-cen facilitating for Leh in work field of years two on based are paper this in developed understanding critical and analysis The seeing. of ways and production influence cultural and further people indigenous the among living of the ways of evaluation and interpretation the affect flows, global cultural national of trans- part sometimes are which courses, on board. these taken not have society mega a of pattern and design the with tune in tourism of commercialization the and interventions and initiatives development The space. spiritual and cultural defined well a in components political and economic socio- of operation cohesive the for allowed also This security. and identity collective their maintained and defined that extent, and Tarai. By analyzing land use dynamics this research es research this dynamics use land analyzing By Tarai. and Hills, scales—Mountain, regional ecological three at the data socioeconomic and image aggregates it analysis macro-level for and Regions), (Tarai Rautahat and Parsa Bara and gion), Re (Hill Okhaldhunga and Ramechhap Region), (Mountain ofDolakha cases representative three on based are dynamics use land Micro-level literature. published from years these to corresponding data socioeconomic with images these grates inte and 2000 in (ETM+) Mapper Thematic Enhanced and by taken images Mapper Thematic satellite (TM) lizes in 1990 It uti micro-and-macro-levels. at both dynamics use on land forestry community of effect the examines paper This space. national across and time over distribution product in equity utedevelopment, to and orwhether be national not will there contrib whether can orto forestry notdetermine community be no can way there analysis scale macro Without this scales. or national regional at the failures and successes the amining ex studies no with local, been have forestry community on the all studies Almost effects. its positive sprawl undermining urban and roads of construction the with proceeds, opment devel as withers forestry community of robustness the that argue hand, other the on Critics, areas. remote in is it cause be successful been has forestry community that Some report system. management government the than morerobust tobe proved has forestry community that reports literature the of majority The results. mixed shown has 1980s the since users community local to management forest transferring of policy governmental Nepalese whole. a as society the the of well-being for efficiency production and distribution, their in uity eq resources, of availability the for concern be should there development. stitutional processes When these implementing in of processes the through users, local to government from Sensing and G and Sensing Administration E nig omnt Forests, Community inking quity, and Social Social and quity, This paper thus tries to examine how practices and dis and practices how examine to tries thus paper This Community forestry involves a shift of forest management involves ofa shift forest forestry management Community TT ARA I , Keshav, Missouri of Central University eospatial D eospatial gos of Regions W ell- ata B ig at eing N pl by epal L and and U E U cological and and cological se se sing D ynamics, ynamics, Remote ------of therapeutic treatments. Its rural and lay variant incorpo variant lay and rural Its treatments. therapeutic of range diverse a with tradition clinical a and medica, materia recorded a training, of system formalized a paradigm, retical theo relevant popularity culturally a broad exhibiting enjoys region, the throughout Ayurveda Asia, medical South traditional in several systems the Of future. uneasy an await Ayurveda as such medicines traditional Nepal, in velopment to insure sustainable communities of the future. future. of the communities sustainable to insure need to ofand management the undergird planning resources that questions the frame to heating undertakes and global Himalaya, about the in surmised is what and known is re what in people, surveys paper with This Nepal. of communities source-dependent intersects directly most environment where is impacts cultural and change environmental induced climate- for possibilities of range the assess to start to place planning on advance premised some sort of projections about One effects. likely require change climate of consequences the for preparations any out, points also Report IPCC the as Yet, unknowns. other among monsoon, the on atmosphere of models ofeffect the a underlying warmer uncertainty great - im human pacts of huge, global are heating huge—incalculably and given the environmental potential the Asia, of rivers great the of all of headwaters Plateau, Tibetan and Himalaya to harder of the case In the mere ofthe fact heating. global much than predict are that effects human and environmental cascading entrain will the lowlands in seas in rising and glaciers highlands Melting impacts. the warming’s bear global to of likely brunt most environments the as low-elevation areas, with coastal along mountains, low-latitude identify models climate Most earth. the of surface the of heating ing increas of rapidly reality the noto room question leaves that planet the over all and sources many from evidence of body a document countries participating 99 of scientists 1000 the for space small doubt about component a the ofanthropogenic change, climate leaves 2007, February, of Report Change (IPCC) Climate on Panel Intergovernmental the Although certainty. scary a to possibility contested and uncomfortable BR I CAM M mine the sustainability of those changes. changes. of those sustainability the mine deter to and cover forest Nepal’s in changes explain to scale macro the at analysis andsocial a fill void geospatial byusing help will paper This forests. managed better produces rules imposed Department Forest versus making decision holder” “stake- genuine which to extent the assesses also It not. itdoes where and exists management successful where tablishes esources and Communities and Resources egulation, ControversyRegulation, H and piain of mplications With biomedicine securely situated within health care de care health within situated securely biomedicine With The prospect of global warming has developed from an an from developed has warming global of prospect The driig Ayurvedic odernizing O W E R E O Portland State University State Portland Barbara, R, Florida Atlantic University Atlantic N, Florida Mary, G lobal W C rig for arming M n o edicine in in edicine ealthcare I ealthcare f e c n e r e A mpact H imalayan imalayan b s t c a r t N epal: ------s

91 36th annual conference on south asia rates extensive knowledge of medicinal plants though lack- and necessarily mediated through the son/husband. As we ing in formal knowledge of Ayurvedic theory. Biomedicine is will show, however, resistance to this and other socially con- impacting Ayurvedic practice as it imports with it modern structed roles for women is also present. ideologies of formal education-based legitimacy, “rational” organization of its practitioners, and controlled regulation of “Tea leaves and witches: A sociological analysis of drugs. Recently Nepal’s Ministry of Health has implemented witch hunts in the tea plantations of Bengal. (1980- legislation that requires Ayurvedic medical practitioners to 2005)” register and that limits the preparation of plant-based medi- CHAUDHURI, Soma, Vanderbilt University cations to only those registered. Regarded as having a poten- In the tea plantations of north Bengal, India, behind the tially disastrous impact on their profession, urban-based and colonial planters’ bungalows are labor lines where the tea leaf non formally trained traditional practitioners strongly resist picking community lives. The tea leaf pickers are a group the fifty-year age and three-generation registration require- of tribal migrant laborers brought to this area in the 1860s ments for those not holding medical degrees or certification when the first plantation was set up. It is among this com- in Ayurveda. Drawing on recent research in Kathmandu, munity that witch hunts take place. Tribals have a distinct Nepal, this paper summarizes the role of Ayurvedic medi- religious affiliation from the rest of India. For centuries, cine in Nepal’s plural medical system, analyzes the politics tribals have practiced their own religion, and belief in the and ideology behind the legislation, describes how the tradi- witch and witchcraft is an important component of it. Witch tional healers have responded to the new regulatory policy, hunts are common phenomena among the tribals, and it is and suggests the impact such legislation may have on health particularly interesting to study the factors responsible. In care. this paper, using both archival sources and qualitative in- depth interviews, I try to analyze, using sociological theories From Uttauli to Boodhee: Representation of Women of deviance and gender, what causes witch hunts to persist in Nepali Proverbs in these communities. CAVALLARO, Joanne, College of St. Catherine This paper investigates the representation of women in Lost in Translation? Knowing, Naming, and common Nepali proverbs. As Parajuli (1984) notes, prov- Legitimating Amchi Medicine in Nepal erbs can provide insights into the ways a particular group CRAIG, Sienna, Dartmouth College constructs meaning in its social traditions, day-to-day life For nearly a decade, Nepal’s amchi, practitioners of Tibet’s and customs, including gendered meanings. This is espe- “science of healing”, have been struggling for recognition and cially true for a community that shares and depends upon legitimization by the Nepali state. As part of this effort, they oral traditions to carry on its culture. Proverbs often serve have formed national and district-level professional associa- either explanatory or admonitory functions – explaining tions, organized national and regional conferences, collabo- how the world works and how we should act in the world. rated with state agencies to standardize and certify amchi Using feminist critiques of language (see Cameron 1990 education, and lobbied for a ‘place at the table’ within the among others), critical discourse analysis (Fairclough and Ministry of Health and other government offices. These ef- Chiakari 2004) and linguistic identity theory (Joseph 2002), forts have produced some positive results, but the net effect we analyze the ways in which common Nepali proverbs de- has still been one of misunderstanding, marginalization, or lineate roles and construct identities for women throughout offers to be subsumed under the auspices of state-sponsored their life spans (girlhood, motherhood, daughter-in-law, old Ayurveda – a reality that amchis are reticent to accept and woman). Through these proverbs, among other practices, that further implicates their struggle in contemporary jana- roles for women come to be naturalized rather than socially jati politics. Nepal’s amchi have also been simultaneously constructed. ***Through our analysis, we deconstruct the engaged in the non-governmental sector, particularly in their cultural models present in Nepali proverbs about women and capacity as “indigenous experts” of Nepal’s high mountain their “proper” relationships with others, models that reflect, flora and fauna. To this end, amchis’ ethno-botanical exper- refract and reinforce the hierarchical relationship between tise and the positions of respect most of them occupy within men and women. In proverbs, women are valued for their their communities has propelled them to leadership posi- role in birthing and raising sons; other possible roles are not tions in a variety of integrated conservation and development only devalued but also rendered invisible, except when prov- programs (ICDPs). Yet amchis’ expertise as local health care erbs warn against women’s inherent weaknesses that can providers has often been viewed as secondary in the process. bring dishonor to the family – either as a wayward young Today, Nepal’s amchi are continuing to work betwixt and girl (uttauli), an incompetent daughter-in-law, or a dodder- between the health and environmental sectors, attempting to ing old woman (boodhee), all of which are subjects of nu- build meaningful bridges between them in an effort to defend merous proverbs. The relationship between daughter-in-law and transform their ‘traditional’ medical system. This paper and mother-in-law is especially interesting, for the cultural examines points of convergence and dissonance therein. model constructed through these proverbs place it as always

92 HIMALAYA XXVII(1-2) 2007 Co n f e r e n c e Ab s t r a c t s 93 92 HIMALAYA XXVII(1-2)2007 esi Sangye G Sangye Desi the state sovereignty. sovereignty. state the claimed and 2002 4, October on power from Government elected the dismissed King The 1996. in insurgency Maoist of birth the encountered we practices, democratic solidating con for efforts our with on went we However,as years. few for well in performed democracy movement restored newly The people’s1989/90. of force overwhelming an by again it overthrown was until years era ofdark for autocracy thirty world the at large. and Nepal in of as challenges or we reversal have destabilization witnessed from free completely not are democracies restored or lished and newly estab the that true voices people. also of It the is aspirations democratic legitimate the suppressing still remain, forms varied of autocracy where world some the are in There pockets entirety. its in zone democratic a become Congress Democratic Nepali Hom Raj, DAHAL, conflict: N armed from transition peaceful and challenges Democratic Tibet. secular century seventeenth in and worldviews sacred of boundary the interrogate to religion and science art, of relationship the in subtleties explore will I treatment, and classification their paintings, medical these of relationship. tems visual of discourse sys and soteriological larger social at aimed understanding culture a within paintings to these attempted frame have studies few Science, of History the and studies, gender Tibetology, anthropology, medical of fields the within medicine Tibetan of study the in inroads forged have scholars decades recent in Although embodiment. and formation human of etiology the well as structuring orderin fordisorder as account they which in to way the paintings the examine of realities narrative the within moments education. cal to vice integral for process medi memorization the extensive de mnemonic a even perhaps and students medical for tool educational an as well as commentary his to compendium illustrated an as by Gyatso overseen was paintings enty-nine sev of set this of creation The practice. and theory medical Tibetan for source authoritative primary the Tantras), Four (the bZhi rGyud the on commentary a as Lama, Dalai Fifth tothe regent Gyatso, Sangye Desi by composed text medical century seventeenth a is This Treatise. paint BlueBeryl ofthe ings medical the within body human the of resentations DACH and Formation V saiig as ad Cure: and Cause isualizing II. Ups and Downs in Nepal The country was pushed to a to pushed was country The Nepal in Downs and Ups II. to yet is world The Democracy to Challenges Universal I. to In of pointing in kinds the represented different bodies key select will paper this translation, visual of act an As rep gendered and corporeal examine will paper This I LL E University of Wisconsin-Madison University , Rae, yatso’s B E epalese E mbodiment in the the in mbodiment lue B xperience xperience eryl T eryl E ilge of tiologies reatise I lsrtos of llustrations H uman uman ------the major challenges we face in the post-conflict Nepal. Nepal. post-conflict the in face we major challenges the are reconstruction and reintegration Rehabilitation, abound. challenges However, recovery. economic and sustainable development and democracy; stabil inclusive and and peace full-fledged ity; permanent towards transition of phase democracy.ing full-fledged through a critical We are passing absolute journey from tomonarchy an unfortunate a promis majority. asimple by Assembly Constituent of the first session very the by decided be similarly will monarchy the of fate The country. their of that as well as destiny their define to able be will Nepal of people the (CA), Assembly stituent people’sCon the by framed the be to of constitution the With movement. gains the consolidating and in forward safeguarding, step significant a was proclamation liamentary mations of 12th and 14th April 2006. 2006. 14th of and 12th April mations procla royal through Representatives of House the restored He representatives. people’s the to grabbed constitutionally un had he power state the over hand to forced finally was king the 2006, in Maoists the by joined SPAand the by led culine than the terrorist, and does this by mapping a certain a certain by mapping this does and terrorist, the than culine mas more being on intent is nationalism this hyper-masculinist Terror” on “War US the of case the in As nationalism. Indian of biopolitics the by punished” and “disciplined be to bound is who “terrorist-abnormal” the terror: of crisis only as then but 1990s, early the in starting therein inserted, do get finally of India imaginary cinematic from national the absent initially Muslims Kashmiri absence. their of because only conspicuous are men, population Valley’s the and of 96% at who women Muslim Kashmiri the displacing pletely com- them of all and subjects, Indian normative the for foil as act to mostly but in, figure also pundits Kashmiri few A Delhi). or Bombay from urbanites (read: nation-state the of citizens” by only “real the fantasy, Nehruvian the in initially, upon” “vacationed or populated Kashmir, “sexualized” and “gendered” a upon predicated already always is double movement this that demonstrate its will of I exploration imagination. an cinematic through nation “impos Indian the united” and sibly Kashmiri/Kashmir between relationship dialectical the suffuses that desire and rejection similation, double as and disavowal contradictory unification, and a disjuncture of movement of trajectory the traces secularism. paper India’s This of sign the bears thus and theory, tion two-na Muslim-majority the to “rejoinder” a be to only imagined is India, the in state as Kashmir, India. secular and Pakistan Muslim-majority into partitioned concurrently was of California-Berkeley University DAR, Huma, Sexualities: O D iscourses iscourses Forced n In the last two years Nepal’s political course has made a made has course political Nepal’s years two last the In V Ps Cnlc Calne Te itrc a 1 par 18 May historic The Challenges Conflict Post IV. movement mass the With Violence Non- to Violence III. At the moment of independence in August 1947, India August in independence of moment the At M K arriages, arriages, smr & ashmir G endering(s), and and endering(s), C K n o ashmiris in in ashmiris f e c n e r e A b eviant Deviant s I t c a r t ndian ndian ------s

93 36th annual conference on south asia queerness onto the body of the terrorist, thereby normal- cently, was the recognition of the opposite perspective, that izing him into docility, as simply abnormal, as a sexual- caste hierarchy was contested by all, in particular, the low deviant, and moves the locus of trouble in Kashmir from castes. The near absence of scholarly analysis of the Dalit jats actual political grievances to the pathologized body of the of Nepal exposes academics to a parallel critique of their role individual terrorist. It also simultaneously articulates a deep- in the political context of Nepal, where Dalit issues remain in seated homophobia/Islamophobia, the yearning to discipline the nearly invisible undercurrent of contemporary identity the queers/Kashmiri Muslims in the body of the nation, and politics. This paper is a two-part examination of micro-level the desire to exile the same. The complicated dual articu- identity politics as they relate to the Dalit jats, Kami, Sarki lation of simultaneously claiming Kashmir and of rejecting and Damai. The first part of the paper exams the political the Kashmiri Muslims, and its particular trajectory based on “maps” sketched out by academic scholars upon which Dalit the biopolitics of Indian nationalism is especially significant landmarks are notably absent. Two trends that need to be given the role that the “idea” of Kashmir performs in the addressed now are the lack of attention to Dalits and the “imagining” of the Indian nation as secular. failure to treat each group separately. The second portion of the paper attempts to fill in some of the uncharted area Recruiting Rebels: Indoctrination and Political with a depiction of the various strategies employed by Dalits Education in Nepal to negotiate the political landscape. Several dimensions of Dalit identity strategies are examined including inter- and ECK, Kristine, Uppsala University intra-jat processes, the politics of inclusion and exclusion In 1996 the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN- and the politics of anonymity. Manipulation of jat identity M) launched a guerilla-based armed rebellion against the employs strategies making use of origin stories and manipu- government of Nepal. Grounded in long-standing grievances lating inter-caste boundaries as well as elaborating within-jat regarding economic, social, and geographical marginaliza- structures. Specific techniques involve alternately asserting tion, the CPN-M garnered widespread support throughout and obscuring identity via shifting use of last-name identifi- the rural areas of the country. The result was an exponen- cation, assuming higher jat status, the use of powerful social tial growth of the organization and a resultant escalation of positions to override inter-jat restrictions and laying claim to armed violence. This paper explores how the CPN-M was resources normally withheld from Dalits. The observations able to attract and mobilize potential rebel and militia sup- made in this paper are based mainly on findings from field- porters. It argues that while structural variables like social work that extends over more than a quarter of a century. and economic inequalities provided an important context in which the Maoists operated, the mechanism for the CPN-M’s successful recruitment strategy lay in its focus on indoctrina- tion and political education. The sectors of society to whom Ethnic/Caste and Regional Politics the Maoists appealed were largely ignored by traditional po- GURUNG, Savitree Thapa, Tribhuvan University litical parties, making them especially receptive to Maoist Ethnic/caste and regional politics are a quite recent phe- political discourse. By linking villagers’ dissatisfaction with nomenon in Nepal. The mobilization is a result of long and their daily lives to larger problems in the political system, the cumulative exclusion of these societies. The only regional CPN-M was able to exploit these grievances for the purposes party that participated in general election of 1959 was the of rebel recruitment. The importance of indoctrination was Terai Congress. Each of its 21 candidates lost the election. central to the CPN-M strategy and superseded even military The party acquired only two percent of the total vote. training and arms acquisition as the focus for its efforts in The political parties were initially focused on the abo- expanding the organization. The case of Nepal hence high- lition of century old Rana’s dictatorial family rule. During lights a hitherto overlooked aspect of rebel mobilization: the the period ethnic/caste and regional politics did not become importance of local political education and indoctrination. salient. When the Rana regime ended, the politics was cen- tered on the establishment of a parliamentary system in Ne- Scholarship and Identity Politics among Dalits in pal. It came into practice only after ten years. However, King Nepal Mahendra dismissed the Parliament. Nepal went through FOLMAR, Steve, Wake Forest University another phase in the guise of a party-less Panchayat system, In challenging, “the popular belief that castes that are which was the brainchild of the then King Mahendra. It considered impure according to the Brahmannical hierarchy, lasted for thirty years from 1960 to 1990. The ethnic/caste nevertheless participate willingly in their own degradation,” and regional politics did not rise during the period because (Gupta 410, see also Moffat 1979) Gupta points out the com- of ban on party politics. Around 1989 the Nepal Sadbha- plicity of academics, notably anthropologists, in propagating wana Parisad emerged as a civil organization focusing on the a portrait of an Indian social hierarchy in which each caste Madhesi people’s rights. It later emerged as a political party. “knew its place” and upheld that order for the good of the The Maoist party also raised different issues of indigenous whole society. Left out of anthropological accounts, until re- nationalities, Dalit, Madhesi and women from 1996.

94 HIMALAYAHIMALAYA XXVII(1-2)XXV(1-2)XXVII(1-2) 2005 20072007 After 1990 some ethnic/caste parties evolved. Few mi- ties in confessory formulae in Buddhist Mahayana literature nority parties were established. Two Dalit parties even took of ancient India. My paper explores how Buddhist desana part in the 1991 general election. Two ethnic parties were facilitated an understanding of personal individual pre-his- denied registration because of ethnic ground. The major po- tory and moral evolution. I will explain the explicitly moral litical parties dominated the politics. However many groups content of the desana framework which asserts that the pres- in the form of civil society organizations of ethnic/caste and ent world and the individual beings in it are not the cre- regional groups (e.g. Mongol National Organization, Tharu ation of God, but of individual papa, or sin. The relevance Mutkti Morcha, etc.) are moving strongly for their rights. It of desana for the history of Mahayana is that desana formed seems the society is moving more towards caste/ethnic and not only a notion of moral person, but also a moral world in regional politics than the traditional politics of focusing only which Buddhas and bodhisattvas had the power to remedy on ideology, programs and policies. the pitiable state of beings in the throes of their accumulated The demands for federalism, right to self-determination, sin. Acceptance of this worldview constituted entrance into proportional representation, and inclusive democracy, all the Mahayana world, and consequent allegiance to the Ma- show a vast shift in politics. Nepal will not have the same hayana. politics which have been observed up until now. These de- mands for the right to land and natural resources can lead Northeast India’s frequent breakdowns: State making to more caste/ethnic and regional parties, although the Con- and the crisis of legitimacy stitution does not allow these kinds of political parties and HASSAN, Mohammad, London School of Economics politics in Nepal. This paper, based on my doctoral research, tries to unravel the drivers of the protracted ethnic and secessionist conflicts, Understanding the pharmaceutical industry in and the resultant disorder that have marred the Northeast- Nepal: Methodological issues and early research ern region of India - made up of seven sub-national States. findings These conflicts have mostly been explained using the griev- HARPER, Ian (et al), University of Edinburgh ance narrative – referring to the alienation of communities in The pharmaceutical industry is a central facet of moder- the region due to post-colonial nation making and because of nity in Nepal, yet has been generally overlooked as a research people’s poor access to power, resources and opportunities. object by social scientists. Presenting initial findings from But such explanations fail to account for the large variance in a collaborative project “Tracing Pharmaceuticals in South violence levels within the region. A rather more fruitful line Asia” this paper develops a picture of Nepal’s nascent phar- of inquiry is provided by a state-society reading of the po- maceutical industry. The innovative methodology of tracing litical history of the North East that points to conflicts there single products – rifampicin for TB treatment, oxytocin for being accompanied by a contested and weak authority of the augmentation of labour, and fluoxetine for mental health government agencies and the fragmentation of society. Un- th annual conference south asia on conditions – provides a mechanism for charting the relations packing this causal connection requires me to delve into his-

and institutions – “assemblages” – involved in this industry. tory to study the process of state making – how state leaders 36 Each drug’s history and development, production and distri- in colonial and post colonial times established bureaucratic bution provides a window onto different assemblages and re- apparatuses and constructed and mobilised collective identi- lationships; from the companies themselves and production ties to gain the legitimacy to rule and order people’s lives and marketing issues; to their associations and distribution – through focusing on the cases of Mizoram and Manipur, chains; to their uses by health workers and others; to the and their divergent success with mitigating conflicts. relations between India and Nepal, regulatory mechanisms I will demonstrate that in Mizoram the process of state and government; and through other developmental discur- making was such that it consolidated the public legitimacy sive formations for their use (programmes in mental health, and authority of state leaders among all sections of society tuberculosis control and maternal child health and the de- and strengthened the institutional capability of government velopment of protocols for use, for example), each of which agencies to provide services, manage group contestations illuminates different assemblages of trans-national, bilateral, and avoid breakdown. In Manipur it was, on the whole, tra- national, INGO, and NGO relations – in short a particular ditional centres of power – made up of tribal chieftains and history of globalisation and Nepal’s place within it. ethnic associations - that with their narrow constituencies and appeals, gained in authority. Persistence of traditional Buddhist desana and the Moral World power centres and the accompanying fragmentation of au- thority structure in the State have resulted in the weak legiti- HASKETT, Chris, University of Wisconsin-Madison macy of the government and poor capability of its agencies to The present-day debate over creation versus evolution provide services and establish order. The crucial difference displays the tremendous emotional and political power that between Manipur and Mizoram then, and which impacts religious and other descriptions of the past, particularly of on the persistence or absence of conflicts, I argue, is the origins, can marshal. We can see some surprising similari-

Co n Af er r t e i c n l c e e TAi tb ls et/Author r a c t s 9595 centrality of the state in the lives of people. These findings Re-examining the Fit Between Global Health Policies have implications both for future research – what could be and Local Realities constraining growth and improved state effectiveness in the JUSTICE, Judith, University of California-San Francisco region despite attempt by central leaders to shore up local This presentation focuses on the culmination of long-term institutional capability - and for policy intervention – how to research on the relationship between global health policies, enhance the ability of public agencies in the region to enable national priorities, and local needs and resources in develop- long-term stability through, among other things, equitable ing countries. Focusing on Nepal as a case study, monitoring growth? of the health policy process began in the late 1970s and was published as a book, Policies, Plans and People: Foreign Aid Standardization Beyond Form: Socialization, and Health Development. The international priority in the Institutions, and the Semiotics of Nepali Sign 1970s was examined from its antecedents in international Language health policy centers in Geneva and Washington to its out- HOFFMANN, Erika, University of Michigan comes in remote Nepali villages. Since this initial research This paper will explore how the infinite multiplicity of se- was conducted, many changes have taken place in the inter- miotic meanings that can inhere in sign forms relates to the national and national health arena, including major shifts in standardization project being undertaken by Kathmandu’s priorities and the addition of new actors at the global level. deaf schools and associations. By virtue of their deafness, Using the Nepal data from the late 1970s as a baseline, a students in these institutions are marked as deviant in the re-study was designed to investigate changes taking place at broader cultural perspective. To combat this, and ideally the global and local level, including the international donor make their students more able to participate in Nepal’s na- community, national government, and delivery of services at tional market, leaders of Nepal’s deaf communities have at- the local level, to understand the impact, over a twenty-five tempted to standardize Nepali Sign Language in such a way year period, of the shift in priorities and other changes on as to forge semiotic links between it and Nepali nationalism, the availability and access to health care at the community in order to encourage official recognition and governmental level. For example, since the 1980s child health has been support of deaf institutional goals. This pursuit has primar- one of the global priorities and therefore this study included ily entailed the promotion of lexical items from which se- an examination of reproductive and child health initiatives miotic associations with markers of Nepali patriotism (as it in Nepal. Child health interventions have been stated to be has been defined by the state) can be derived. Despite the among the most successful and cost-effective. And yet, re- fact that Nepal is very diverse linguistically, socially, and ports indicate serious problems in sustaining earlier achieve- religiously, this has led to a frequent choice of signs that ments and limited capacity to implement newly introduced can index an upper-caste, Hindu identity. However, associa- programs. What can we learn from an examination of policy tions between the standard sign forms promoted in the deaf and implementation processes to prevent a repetition of this schools and this particular construction of “Nepali-ness” are cycle of short-term success often followed by disappointing not inherent. Deaf students, coming from a variety of social long-term results? The findings of this long-term research backgrounds (including Buddhist, low-caste, and rural) may, enhance our understanding of factors contributing to effec- and do, interpret the social significance of the standard signs tive implementation, at the same time as examining barriers differently. For, it cannot be assumed that individuals will to sustainability of achievements. The lessons learned can be notice the same kinds of indexical connections or read them applied to future policy formulation and program implemen- in the same ways; the interpretations of linguistic forms tation. This multi-level analysis of the health policy process drawn on to construct these indexes and other sign relation- from the global level to implementation in local communities ships are not fixed or inherent. Therefore, in order to stan- provides an update on health and development in Nepal, in dardize the semiotic interpretation of the sign forms, along addition to its relevance to other countries and global health with the forms themselves, teachers in deaf schools attempt policies. to socialize their students to interpret them in particular ways. Through detailed analysis of classroom interactions in Naga Movement in South East-Himalayan Region Nepal’s deaf associations and schools this paper will examine KUINAHMEI, Robert Tiba, Assam University how this particular kind of standardization is attempted and This paper attempts to examine the Naga movement contested. In so doing, I highlight the relationship between which maintains that their rights were in existence before the formal and ideological thrusts of standardization, along the Nation-States of India and Myanmar came into being and with the relative roles of linguistic and non-linguistic semio- can continue to exist independently. The Nagas belong to the sis in linking communicative practice and social meaning. old Mongoloid race and are scattered in the South East Hima- layan region. They are found in Nagaland, Asom, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur states in India, and Burma (Myanmar). The Naga National Council (NNC), the foundation for Naga

96 HIMALAYAHIMALAYA XXVII(1-2)XXV(1-2)XXVII(1-2) 2005 20072007 Nationalism, was laid in the 1st half of the last century (20th visible, this paper will argue, the complex relationship that century). It was in the 1940’s that the Nagas categorically re- exists between the legal and the extralegal orders of morality, jected the foreign domination and with the zeal of neophyte power and virtue in contemporary Nepal and the enduring, and self determination sought the power and freedom to if often reactionary, force of the crowd in domesticating and define themselves as distinct people-culturally, racially and mitigating the risks brought about by the open road, and linguistically and to shape their own political future. (more generally) by the development project which built it. The nation-states of India and Myanmar argue that the Naga territory had always been geographically part of their Democratization from Non-Democratic Moves: The countries and was inherited by them from the British. No Maoist Insurgency, the Royal Coup, and Political other interpretative framework is convincing enough to Reforms in Nepal justify the assertion of sovereignty over Nagaland. This phi- LAWOTI, Mahendra, Western Michigan University losophy structurally implies premises that are almost racist This paper examines the ironical contribution of non- and colonial. Since India’s Independence, there have been democratic activities, the Maoist insurgency and the royal so many constitutional developments ranging from “Akbar coup, on democratization in Nepal. Despite the socio-eco- Hydari Nine Point Agreement”, “Sixteenth Point Agree- nomic and cultural inequality, Nepal’s democratic polity did ment”, “1964 Ceasefire” to the “August 1997 Ceasefire.” To not initiate reforms during the 1990s. The non-democratic the Nagas, the paradox, however, was that new legislations activities occurred in this context. Both hurt the electoral de- sought to alter the ‘behaviour’ of tribal communities within mocracy Nepal had adopted in 1990. The Maoist insurgency, the ambit of the Indian Constitution. To the tribal, this is among other things, undermined the freedom of speech and a manipulation, which was invariably done in the garb of association and halted the electoral process. The royal coup developing them and eventually facilitating their integration formally ended democracy in early 2005. into the so-called “main stream”. The Maoist insurgency, which began in 1996, raised many The bulk of the writings on Naga movement are often issues that the mainstream political parties ignored. Ethnic/ superseded by the term “Insurgency” rather than “National caste, and gender exclusion and widespread socio-economic Movement”. The “Naga Movement” with a very visible lead- inequalities were increasingly recognized. The society and ership has largely obscured the fact that Naga society at the polity was forced to acknowledge the issues and introduce initial stage of the movement was largely illiterate. My pri- minor reforms. mary interest in assessing this study is to retrieve the history However, the major political parties did not introduce of a Naga Movement which has been constituted at present major reforms till 2002. Despite controlling more than two with emphasis to formal events like Indo-Naga political thirds of the Parliament, which was necessary for amend- talk, cease-fire, negotiation agreements et al. Aspects which ing the Constitution, the political parties steadfastly refused are easily amendable to verification and objectification, but to amend a single article of the Constitution during their which it must be stressed, remains only a partial account, th annual conference south asia on reign to address cultural discrimination. Some discrimina- endowed with a false sense-totality. While these accounts are

tory articles have been eliminated with the reinstatement 36 undoubtedly a part of the history of Naga Movement, they of the Parliament in April 2006. Others may be addressed remain just partial accounts. in the forthcoming Constitution. The political parties re- luctantly agreed to the reforms after the King became active The Chakka Jam, Development and the Limits of to attract people in their movement against the monarchy. Law in Contemporary Nepal After the dismissal of the elected government in 2002, the LAKIER, Genevieve, Harvard University mainstream political parties agreed to declare the state as In the aftermath of a traffic accident on a highway in secular and agreed to amend the various articles of the 1990 Nepal, a pedestrian dies. Local residents—school children Constitution. However, they still resisted the call to elect a maybe, or kin of the deceased, or residents organized by a Constituent Assembly to draft a new Constitution. When the political leader—block the road, either with tree trunks or king formally ended democracy in 2005, the political parties with their bodies, demanding justice, the incarceration of even agreed to that proposal. the driver, and monetary compensation to the family of the I argue in this paper that when non-democratic move- killed. This is, as it is called in Nepal, a chakka jam. In this ments/activities occur but do not last long, it could force the paper I interrogate what such a commonplace, minor imped- ‘democrats’ to adopt reform agendas. However, the non-dem- iment in the everyday public order of the roads reveals about ocratic moves should perhaps not endure for a long period. the authority of the law in the peripheries of state power, and In this paper, first I will look at the discrimination and the alternative means by which “justice” is achieved. Both a inequalities that existed during the 1990s. I will also look at defiance of the (procedural) process of bureaucratic power the demands of discriminated groups and various propos- but also a means of demanding the attention of an other- als for addressing inequalities. Then I will analyze political wise unreachable police, the practice of chakka jam makes reforms both before and after 1996 and 2002. It will help to

Co nAf er r t ei c n l c e e T Ai tb ls e t/Author r a c t s 9797 establish the role of non-democratic moves in the political habited by the community (For example Dafla Hills or Abor reforms. hills, to indicate the settlements of Nyshi or Adi communi- ties), home, with growing urbanization, increasing individu- “Nepal Mandala” as Newar Autonomy ation and internal displacement, has come to mean rather a restricted, physical, concrete structure catering to individual MAHARJAN, Pancha Narayan, Center for Nepal and Asian comforts and even fantasies. With various technologies and Studies gadgetry making quiet entry, the cultural norms, which Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-culture, multi-lingual, and broadly define the space called home, are either ignored or multi-religious nation. According to the national census, followed in token terms. Narratives of self representation the total population of Brahmin and Chhetri was 12.7 and which have come to appear in print only recently talk about 17.3 percent respectively. The remaining population consists this complex change in terms of nostalgia, of loss and, alas, as of other marginalized ethnic groups and scheduled caste an inevitability. Whereas the traditional oral narratives told, groups. The government recognized 59 ethnic groups in the among others, by the ‘Nyabu’ (the priest) give the features country, as identified by the National Committee for Devel- of traditional home which is not only a hut, a ‘chang-ghar’, opment of Nationalities. Out of 59, Newar is one of the major but the whole hill-space inhabited by the tribe including the ethnic groups, which constitutes 5.5 percent of total popula- large trees which are supposed to be the homes of their an- tion of the country. All these groups have their own social cestors. Groves and riverbanks, strange though it may seem, costume, language, religion, and culture, but have been dis- form part of this home. These narratives, however, are fast criminated against by the state since the Shah dynasty came receding, cleared off their traditional space by the modern- into power. ist incursions. This paper will take up select narratives, oral Nepalese people had enjoyed autonomous rule during the and written, and other related images of home to study the Lichhavi and Malla periods. Sometimes they had revolted conceptual shift in tribal home .The nature and implications for their independence during that period. In a way, demand of this shift, it will be argued, are felt at the community as of ethnic autonomy by the indigenous communities and the well as national level. Maoists at present is not surprising. It is a result due to the suppression, domination, marginalization, and exploitation Beyond Religious, Tribal, and Gendered Ideologies: of the 300 year long Shah Dynasty. Therefore, the political Pukhtuns and Peasant Politics in Pakistan scenario indicates that if the nation will not go for national autonomy on the basis of ethnic/regional, peace will be im- RAJPUT, Ashok, University of Utah possible. The Pukhtun society and culture are extensively studied My paper will focus on Newar Autonomy (Nepa Mandala) by Pakistani and non-Pakistani anthropologists, historians as a case study under the structure of ethnic autonomy and and other scholars. In recent years, the popular press has will try to answer the questions of its applicability in a het- solely focused on the role of Islamic fundamentalist move- erogeneous society. ment among the Pukhtuns. However, the peasant uprisings and the subsequent intertwined relationships between so- Changing Concept of Home among the Tribes of cialist, nationalist and religious politics among the largely North-East India feudal and tribal culture of Pukhtuns has been overlooked. This paper explores the Hashtnagar peasant movement of NAGARAJU, Nagalapalli, Rajiv Gandhi University 1970s. The Hashtnagar movement was a series of spontane- Arunachal Pradesh is part of an increasingly visible ous responses of landless peasants, tenants, and agricultural North-east India. A rugged and hilly terrain, the state has an laborers to the oppression of landowners in the fertile region area of 83,743 km2 and a population (both tribal and non- of North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. The move- tribal) of 1,091,117 spread over sixteen districts. The Tani ment took its name after the villages of Hashtnagar, north group along with some other minor tribes constitutes 36% of of Peshawar city, where the peasants first resisted the land- the tribal population. Forming part of the central Arunachal, owners. The movement was spearheaded by the agricultural this group, with a common ancestor called Abotani and sev- laborers and farmers’ party called Pakistan Mazdoor Kisan eral other shared characteristics, is considered a representa- Party (Pakistan Worker-Peasant Party). The news reports of tive one for the communities undergoing change in the state, Mazdoor Kisan Party called “khabarnama,” or the “circular”, and broadly in the tribal world of North-East India. With recorded the movement’s struggle. The cyclostyled reports modernity engulfing their lives, the Tani group of tribes of meant to be circulated only among the underground mem- the state is interestingly poised; past modes of life are fast bers of the party reveal events in detail and provide most of receding and new modes are still struggling to settle down. the data for this paper. The opportunity to both explore and Debates, mostly internal, are raging about the fall out of this present views of Pukhtun peasantry involved in the political change. One of the significant images of this change, and an uprising will allow for an expanded picture of contemporary important indicator, is the changing concept of home. From Pukhtun society and culture in Pakistan. An understanding fuzzy notions which very often covered the whole hill in- of Pukhtun social structure can be developed that is less

98 HIMALAYAHIMALAYA XXVII(1-2)XXV(1-2)XXVII(1-2) 2005 20072007 weighted towards information culled from the mainstream disease, frontiers, poverty, farmers, technology, and develop- media, British colonial narratives, or provided by the more ment that informed the RVDP, and I contrast them with the often interviewed upper class landed gentry. ideas and practices of the various Nepalis involved with the RVDP. I trace the origins of the RVDP in American history Governance regimes, rule enforcement, and forest and examine how it fit into larger Cold War strategy. But conditions – A study of forest resources in Chitwan, most importantly, I contrast the American ideas informing Nepal the RVDP with the experiences of variously situated Nepal actors—elites who worked for the RVDP, migrants from the REGMI, Ashok Raj, Indiana University hills, and the indigenous Tharu, who already lived in the Forest resources of Chitwan are managed under two dis- resettlement area. tinct governance regimes. National forests and parks which constitute nearly 85% of the District’s forest area are adminis- This paper will show the unusual role that international tered directly through government agencies and the remain- development—and American development efforts in partic- ing 15% is managed as community forests. Geographically, ular—have played in this small Himalayan nation. Because these two categories of forests are located both in the hills as politics kept Nepal closed to the world until the 1950s, and well as in the plains and are associated with different forest because poverty and geography have kept it isolated since conditions. Given these distinctions we ask what can best then, official international efforts to spur economic develop- explain the variations. Is it the governance regime, geogra- ment and social reform have played a more substantial role phy, or the differences in the abilities of actors to monitor in Nepal than in most other countries. Arguably, “develop- and enforce their rules that results in superior or inferior ment,” as a set of institutions and policies, has provided the forest conditions? main point of contact between the outside world and ordi- nary Nepalis. Evaluating how and for whom development Analysis is based on empirical data on Nepal generated “works” are crucial questions for historians of Nepal’s recent by the International Forestry Resources and Institutions past. (IFRI) research program at Indiana University, and my field work in 2003. IFRI is a multilevel, multi country, extended time line study of forests and the institutions that govern, Engaged Ethnography: Creating an Uprising in an manage, and use them. Assessments of forest conditions are University Town not only based on the IFRI database, but also on the analyses SHAH, Vishnu Bahadur and SHAH, Saubhagya, Tribhuvan of remotely sensed images. Three satellite images (MSS 1976, University TM 1989, and ETM 2000) are used to assess forest cover In April 2006 Nepal went through a great political change. changes over a 24 year period. Over the past few years there had been a triangular contest between the Kings the seven parliamentary parties and the Developing International Development: DDT and CPN Maoist. In November, 2005 however the parliamentary th annual conference south asia on U.S. Environmental and Social Engineering in the parties and CPN Maoists signed a formal pact in New Delhi

Rapti Valley of Nepal, 1952-1965 to fight against the Royal regime. They declared a national 36 strike from 6th April which lasted for 19 days and ended ROBERTSON, Thomas, Worcester Polytechnic Institute the royal regime and brought the political parties into power Based on recent archival and field research, this paper is again. an environmental, political, and cultural history of the Rapti Valley Development Project (RVDP), the first major American This paper is an attempt to examine the role of a uni- development project in Nepal in the 1950s. The first of many versity community in the 19 days-long mass movement. U.S.- assisted malaria eradication and resettlement projects The political victory was achieved not by a single person or in the Tarai, the RVDP is especially interesting because it party’s actions but due to the combined efforts of various was both an environmental engineering and a social engi- sectors, classes and professions. This paper focuses on the neering project. Devoting nearly two million dollars to the political contribution made by student groups in mobilizing project, an enormous sum for those days in a small country the university town of Kirtipur against the royal government like Nepal, the U.S. built a 52-mile road, and established a by examining the mobilization methods, organization struc- sawmill, several demonstration farms, and over 50 farmers ture and protest techniques. This paper also highlights the cooperatives. It ran programs to make the valley a site of relationships of the student organization with political par- improved farming techniques and modern health and living ties, local residents and the media. The available accounts, practices. Strikingly, the U.S. also worked—unsuccessfully reports and renderings of the April uprising in Nepal so far it turned out—to make the Rapti Valley a site of relatively have been mostly of journalistic nature and present a rather equitable land holdings, in the hope that it would show the simplistic generalization of the complex political changes. world that the U.S. could address unequal class relations in This paper is an engaged ethnography of the Kirtipur events rural societies. that is nuanced and grounded and shows the multiple posi- tions, intentions and complexities of political action. In the paper, I tease out the American ideas of nature,

Co n Af er r t e i c n l c e e TAi tb ls et/Author r a c t s 9999 The ethnographic material will be examined in light the ralistic communism. It then turns to an examination of the history of student politics in Nepal and the general literature way in which capitalism –in a greater or lesser improvised on social movements and activism. Along with the ethno- form – might still be contained within the dimensions of graphic details of the 19 days of uprising, this paper will communism as well as federalism being added to the scene forward a few arguments. First, that Tribhuvan University of Nepali State politics. students played a vital role in motivating and mobilizing the general mass comprised of various classes and caste in Community Forestry in Nepal at a Crossroads: where Kirtipur town. Second, that the cultural aspect of protest and do we go from here? mobilization was as important as the political ideology in SHRESTHA, Kaji Narayan, University of Minnesota defeating the royal government. Third, that the various cul- On the surface, community forestry in Nepal is quite tural, literary, artistic and musical resources were effectively a successful program. More than 16,000 user groups are used by the activists to mobilize the general public to par- managing more than one million hectares of forests. These ticipate in the movement. And finally, that given the current changes in forest management have reduced forest degrada- political trend we argue that students’ politics will remain tion rates from 3.9% per year to almost 0.3%. User groups an important components of Nepali politics in the future as are also taking initiatives for community development. Nev- well. ertheless, community forests are being handed over without following proper processes, and this has created problems In search of pragmatism within politics: Capitalists like elite control of forest resources and the marginalization and Communism in Nepal of the poor, of disadvantaged ethnic groups, and of women. SHAKYA, Mallika and SHAKYA, Sueev, London School of Because forestry resources are very valuable, four forces are Economics contending for control, power, and authority over them: local On the one hand, capitalists are said to be at the forefront elites, the forest bureaucracy, local government institutions, of economic and social change; and on the other hand, they and forest user groups. Three kinds of decentralization are are ridiculed as shortsighted profit-seekers who lack taste occurring and affecting the competitive strengths of these for idealism and empathy for broader society. The paradox four sets of actors: devolution of decision-making to district of Nepali capitalists’ willing embrace of globalisation and and field level forest bureaucrats, decentralization of power their rigid resistance of the political struggle against totali- to local government institutions and those who control them, tarianism is indeed striking. Equally striking is the inherent and granting of limited forest management decision making contradiction with which they quietly despise consumers’ power to user groups. The government bureaucracy receives liberation while warmly welcoming the boom of consumer- its power and authority through the State, while local govern- ism – which is a fruit of consumer liberation. An even bigger ment officials gain authority by being elected by the people. paradox, probably, is that, during the political upheavals of Thus, user groups may be losers in this game, unless they are 1990 and 2006, as many small and big capitalists in Nepal empowered by their own constituency. The only power and have come out to the street to bite the bullet, as have Nepalis authority forest user groups receive is from the Federation of from any other walks of life. Community Forestry User Groups of Nepal (FECOFUN), an All political regimes in Nepal have worked with the capi- alliance of community forest user groups, which lobbies on talists, to a greater or lesser degree, and with differing results. behalf of their member groups and maintains high standards This paper attempts to bring capitalists’ perspective into cen- of governance. Despite FECOFUN’s efforts, I will argue that tral focus in the ongoing debate about political and structural the current arrangements favor groups other than the for- change in Nepal. It first analyses the criticism and suspicion est user groups and that this will lead to the destruction of political cadre and political thinkers hold against capitalists. forest resources. Only when forest users have the authority These are then contextualised into capitalists’ own priorities, to manage forests will Nepal’s forests be well managed, will understandings and convictions. Thirdly, it examines how they be able to fulfill local people’s needs, and will grassroots half a century’s history of Nepal shows that capitalistic pur- community development be initiated. suits are well embedded into broader social quests for social- ism, communism and ethnic activism. Finally, it analyses, Community Forestry and the Changing Context of why, despite the contradiction in the perspectives, and head- Smallholding in Lamjung District, Nepal on clashes that emerge at times that bring to surface the tip SHRESTHA, Milan, University of Georgia of the iceberg of mutual suspicion and resistance, it is worth engaging with a conundrum relating to capitalism, commu- Developed and promoted as the main strategy of national nism, federalism and ethnicism in Nepal. forestry policy, the Community Forestry (CF) Program in This paper reconstructs Nepal’s modern history spanning Nepal has both conservation and livelihood implications. a decade and a half, during which capitalism flourished in Laws and regulations are in place to achieve two ‘intertwined’ Nepal both during the rules of pluralistic socialism and plu- goals: (1) conserve ecosystem and genetic resources by pro-

100 HIMALAYAHIMALAYA XXVII(1-2)XXV(1-2)XXVII(1-2) 2005 20072007 tecting forest resources from degradation, and (2) regulate of their elderly population, government spending on elderly the forest users’ groups to meet the basic needs for forest care is non-existent or inadequate in developing countries. products on a sustainable basis. While the program has long One of the responses, within gerontology, to population been cited as ‘a successful model of forest conservation,’ its increase and its impact on health care and social spending efficiency and effectiveness in meeting the livelihood goal has been to focus on positive aging, which examines old age have come under scrutiny in recent years. Some critiques as encompassing a potential for growth, and positive contri- have even questioned the rhetoric of ‘community participa- butions to society. This approach emerged as a critique of the tion,’ incentive structures and property rights, heterogeneity medical model that paralleled aging and old age to decline, and equity issues. These critiques are also contentious and decay and dependency. Positive aging research with its focus hence, are open for debates. Nevertheless, these reiterate the on successful aging and its universal domains (low prob- fact that better understanding of the human dimensions part ability of disease and disease-related disability, high cogni- is crucial for the success of such conservation initiatives. tive and physical functional capacity, and active engagement This paper presents the case example of Lamjung dis- with life) provides a framework that is prescriptive, not only trict of Nepal, which is partly based on my dissertation re- descriptive. First, the terms used to define positive aspects of search conducted in 2004 to 2005. Specifically, by placing aging have been accused of imposing a “Western template” the analysis within the historical changes in smallholding, of what it means to age well, as a universal concept (Thomas it discusses the impact of community forestry, as perceived & Chamber, 1989; Torres, 2004). Similar arguments have by smallholders, on the agriculture-forest-livestock interrela- also been put forth within feminist literature (Cruikshank, tionships. Aside from examining the patterns of forest cover 2003). It is argued that the concepts of positive aging are change for the last forty years, it provides insights on how based on a competitive and business model where a white, community forestry changed the dynamics of smallholding male, middle-class and Western approach to living is em- in Lamjung and what are the specific feedbacks. phasized and universalized as a singular notion of aging in In doing so, it puts forward a counterpoint to the domi- a positive manner. The different processes through which nant tendency that often blames subsistence agriculture the experience of getting old, constructed by race, ethnicity, for deforestation, as though the relationships between for- class and gender, thus, is not included in the definition of est and agriculture always are linear—the same tendency successful aging (Cruikshank, 2003). that presents land-cover changes from forest to agriculture The proposed paper will examine how what constitutes as irreversible phenomena. For smallholders in Lamjung, positive aging is constructed by an elderly sample in Nepal. the meaning of forest conservation or community forestry The focal argument of the paper will be to explore how age, is connected to their concept of forest-agriculture-livestock class, caste and gender politics influences quality of life as interdependence, in which the outcomes of one component experienced by the elderly. constantly affect the other two. It does not necessarily mean their interests conflict with the community forestry goals; it Shifting Community Forestry Policy and Tensions th annual conference south asia on only means that the success of community forestry cannot be between Users, Government ensured without understanding the concept of interdepen- 36 THOMS, Christopher, Colby College dence or interconnectedness. It also attempts to address the When exogenous actors such as bilateral aid projects and question of whether the existing CF governance structure government agencies interact with local groups to facilitate and focus can ensure the sustained benefits of forests in the local resource management, there are multiple potential forest-dependent communities of Lamjung. points of tension between competing policy interpretations and ways of knowing. Shifts in Nepal’s community for- Quality of life among elders in Nepal est policy illustrate this potential for tension and conflict. SHRESTHA, Srijana, Pennsylvania State University In particular, a policy requiring expert forest inventories in Narratives within the field of gerontology often focus on community forests effectively constrains community forest the drastic increase in the number of people living into old user groups. Some forest officials interpret and implement age. The population growth has placed the needs of this pop- onerous policies, like detailed inventories, to regain author- ulation in the forefront of both international and domestic ity and power lost through forest devolution, while forest policy of countries around the world (United Nation, 2002). user groups push to expand their own authority over forests. The structure of the aging population is especially stark in Bilateral donor projects providing aid to community forestry developing countries. The combination of large number of play a complicated, dual role of supporting the government older people surviving into old age and lack of resources, but promoting community rights. In this paper I explore the pose unique challenges to researchers who are committed impacts of such conflicting agendas and roles on the success to understanding and addressing the needs of elderly living of community forestry in Nepal. in developing countries. Unlike developed countries, where the state has programs designed to meet increasing needs

Co n Af er r t e i c n l c e e TAi tb ls et/Author r a c t s 101101 How to perpetuate conflict: Law and exception in civil society or international humanitarian organizations. the Indian Northeast How is this persistent state of emergency, prevailing over al- VAJPEYI, Ananya, Columbia University most 10% of India’s landmass and almost 4% of the country’s population, systematically undermining Indian rule of law, This paper looks at the Indian Northeast – an area com- constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, electoral democracy, prising seven states that border China, Bhutan, Myanmar representative government, federal state structure, equal and Bangladesh – as a zone of permanent exception to the citizenship, civil liberties, human rights, and, eventually, rule of law, placed under the regime of the Armed Forces the very integrity of the Indian nation that the AFSPA was Special Powers Act (AFSPA) for the last several decades. designed to safe-guard? How does the Indian state withstand With the AFSPA in place, the Northeast is effectively under such an enormous and long-running bracketing of its legiti- the control of the security forces, both army as well as para- macy without falling apart? What has become of the call to militaries, and thus outside the scope of mainstream Indian repeal the AFSPA, to either reintegrate the Northeast into the democracy. Ever since the late 1950s, the AFSPA has been Indian body politic, or excise it altogether into several inde- enforced for two reasons: internal threats to national security pendent nations, or quasi-independent entities? How can the from rebel groups operating in the region, especially in the basic dignity and legal entitlements of citizens be ensured in states of Manipur, Nagaland and Assam; and external threats the interim, while a political solution to their independen- to the stability of the region from neighboring nations, es- tist claims still remains to be found? This paper argues that pecially China and Bangladesh. At present, a renewed pro- while exceptionalism is supposed to help tide over a crisis gram of counter-insurgency has intensified the presence and situation, it in fact constitutes and entrenches the crisis, and penetration of the armed forces in the Northeast, the draco- escalates rather than contains the threat to the security, sta- nian nature of their powers, and the impunity with which bility and growth of the Northeast. It is within the rule of law they can operate, allowing them to detain, arrest, and kill and not in the space of exception that political conflict can citizens with practically no checks from the executive, the and should be resolved. judiciary, elected governments at the local or national level,

A man of Damai (Tailor) caste Ph o t o : Sa mb r i dd h i Kh a r e l

102 HIMALAYA XXVII(1-2) 2007