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 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya Recommended Citation . 2007. Conference Abstracts. HIMALAYA 27(1). Available at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya/vol27/iss1/14 This Other is brought to you for free and open access by the DigitalCommons@Macalester College at DigitalCommons@Macalester College. It has been accepted for inclusion in HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Macalester College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS AMERICAN ANTHROPOLO G ICAL Ass OCIATION 106TH ANNUAL MEETIN G NO V EMBER 28-DECEMBER 2, 2007 WA S HIN G TON 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 CON F ERENCE AB S TRACT 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