How do videos, movies and documentaries dedicated to indigenous communities transform the media landscape of South Asia? Based on extensive original research, this book examines how in South Asia... Show moreHow do videos, movies and documentaries dedicated to indigenous communities transform the media landscape of South Asia? Based on extensive original research, this book examines how in South Asia popular music videos, activist political clips, movies and documentaries about, by and for indigenous communities take on radically new significances. Media, Indigeneity and Nation in South Asia shows how in the portrayal of indigenous groups by both ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ imaginations of indigeneity and nation become increasingly interlinked. Indigenous groups, typically marginal to the nation, are at the same time part of mainstream polities and cultures. Drawing on perspectives from media studies and visual anthropology, this book compares and contrasts the situation in South Asia with indigeneity globally. Show less
This paper introduces a variety of concepts and methods to examine living standards improvements in Nepal in a dynamic perspective. Using data from three rounds of Nepal Living Standards Surveys... Show moreThis paper introduces a variety of concepts and methods to examine living standards improvements in Nepal in a dynamic perspective. Using data from three rounds of Nepal Living Standards Surveys conducted in the past two decades, together with data from a nationally representative survey that was implemented in 2014 specifically to collect information on social and economic mobility, the paper presents novel statistics on the extent of inter- and intra-generational mobility in Nepal. The findings suggest that there has been appreciable upward mobility in education; that is, Nepalis today are increasingly more likely to be better educated than their parents. However, inter-generational mobility of occupations has been much more muted, with 47 percent of Nepal today remaining in the same occupation as their parents. Upward mobility is higher for younger cohorts and for individuals who move from their rural areas of birth to an urban area. There are also significant differences in mobility by social groups, with Dalits and Terai caste groups having lower upward mobility odds. Examining mobility within generations using synthetic panel techniques, the paper finds that: (a) for every two people who escape poverty, one slides back, suggesting significant churning around the poverty line; (b) a large fraction of those who have escaped poverty remain vulnerable to falling back, with an overall vulnerable population of 45 percent; and (c) the share of the middle class—defined as those with sufficiently low likelihood of falling back into poverty—has increased steadily over the past two decades, reaching 22 percent in 2010–11. However, triangulating subjective well-being data from Gallup, it appears that a majority of even those who constitute the middle class are fundamentally insecure about their economic futures. The prevalence of a large vulnerable population and a nascent, growing but struggling middle class represents a key challenge to consolidating recent gains in moving people out of poverty. Show less
We described a total of 4 species and 4 subspecies of Coelogyne and one species of Panisea from the Himalayan region as new species to science based on analysis of morphological characters and DNA... Show moreWe described a total of 4 species and 4 subspecies of Coelogyne and one species of Panisea from the Himalayan region as new species to science based on analysis of morphological characters and DNA sequences. Extrafloral nectar produced by Nepalese Coelogyninae was found to play a key role in attracting aggressive ants protecting flowers and leaves against herbivorous beetles. This nectar was found to be exudated by nectary-modified stomata positioned just below the pedicels on the inflorescence. Our ethnobotanical survey showed that a total of 60 species of wild orchids were found to be used as energizers, aphrodisiacs and treatments of burnt skin, fractured or dislocated bones, headaches, fever and wounds. The antibacterial screening carried out by us indicated that the majority of the medicinal orchid species used by local people in Nepal showed biological activity. A total of 10% of confiscated orchids remained sterile but could be identified to species level by applying DNA barcoding and chemical profiling. Our market surveys in central Nepal showed that many wild orchid species are involved in illegal trade and exported to China and India for preparation of herbal products and traditional Chinese medicines. Wild orchids were found to be immensely important to sustain local livelihoods in Nepal. Due to large scale ille_gal trade, many species are rapidly becoming endangered in the wild. Establishing sustainable orchid breeding enterprises could be a valuable alternative for the production of medicinal orchids for local communities. Critically endangered species should be placed on CITES Appendix I to prevent their extinc_tion from the wild. DNA barcoding and chemical profiling seem promising tools for a better control of cross-border illegal trade. Show less
This dissertation provides a comprehensive overview of the grammar of Bantawa, a Kiranti (Rai) language spoken in Eastern Nepal. Bantawa is an SOV language featuring rich verbal morphology. In... Show moreThis dissertation provides a comprehensive overview of the grammar of Bantawa, a Kiranti (Rai) language spoken in Eastern Nepal. Bantawa is an SOV language featuring rich verbal morphology. In Bantawa we find both ergative and accusative alignment patterns in verbal affix agreement, and an ergative / absolutive pattern of case marking. The grammar treats the syntax of all major syntactical constructions, including the highly productive verb compounding process, embedding of converbial and finite clauses, nominalisations and evidentiality. The semantics of nominalisations and the aspectual nuances of verbal compounds are discussed in detail. An annotated text corpus, comprehensive paradigm tables and a glossary complete the grammar. Show less
The present work, a grammar of Dhimal, fills an important void in the documentation of the vast and ramified Tibeto-Burman language family. Dhimal, a little known and endangered tongue spoken in... Show moreThe present work, a grammar of Dhimal, fills an important void in the documentation of the vast and ramified Tibeto-Burman language family. Dhimal, a little known and endangered tongue spoken in the lowlands of southeastern Nepal by about 20,000 individuals, is described in this detailed work. With data gathered over many years in the village of Āṭhiyābārī, the author crafts a readable description of the western dialect, using over 1000 examples to illustrate usage. Included in this reference work are seventeen texts transcribed from recordings made in Nepal, riddles, songs and a Dhimal-English glossary. This grammar of Dhimal joins other recent ground-breaking linguistic descriptions by researchers from the Himalayan Languages Project at Leiden University and will have lasting scientific value both for future scholars and for the Dhimal community in their efforts at preserving their language. Show less
Sunwar is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in eastern Nepal, in the districts of Okhaldhūgā and Rāmechāp, which are situated in an area called Kirant. The languages spoken in this region, also known... Show moreSunwar is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in eastern Nepal, in the districts of Okhaldhūgā and Rāmechāp, which are situated in an area called Kirant. The languages spoken in this region, also known as Kiranti languages. The language commonly known as Sunwar in English and as Sunuvār in Nepali, is called Koĩc by its native speakers. This description of the Sunwar language is based on data collected during twelve months of field work and contains a chapter with background information on the Sunwar language, its speakers and their culture, followed by chapters on the phonology, the indigenous writing system and the nominal and verbal morphology of Sunwar. Final chapters contain verb paradigms, glossed texts, a Sunwar-English glossary and bibliographical references. Two of the new discoveries depicted in this grammar pertain to the phonology and to the verbal morphology. Sunwar has no implosives anymore, but the language once had at least one implosive // as can be shown by a comparison of phonetic realisa¬tions of the former implosive // in different dialects. At an earlier stage, Sunwar had a biactantial agreement system typical for Kiranti languages. A comparison of the suffix conjugations of modern Sunwar with the older biactantial agreement system shows a regular relationship between the two systems. Show less
This dissertation describes Thangmi, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in eastern Nepal, primarily in the districts of Dolakha and Sindhupalcok, as well as in Darjeeling district of West Bengal,... Show moreThis dissertation describes Thangmi, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in eastern Nepal, primarily in the districts of Dolakha and Sindhupalcok, as well as in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India. The grammar focuses on the Dolakha (Eastern) dialect of the language, although contrastive examples and specific features of the Sindhupalcok (Western) dialect are also discussed. While the Thangmi ethnic group number around 40,000, speakers of the language do not amount to more than 20,000. In terms of genetic affiliation, Thangmi appears to be closely related to Newar and Baram, which together form the ‘Newaric’ linguistic grouping. Thangmi is also related to the so-called ‘complex pronominalised’ Kiranti languages, which together with Newaric form the Mahakiranti group within Tibeto-Burman. The Thangmi refer to themselves as Thangmi, while shamans who are the sole religious practitioners in the community call themselves Thani. In Nepali the Thangmi community and their language continue to be referred to as Thami. This 862-page book contains a grammatical analysis of the Thangmi language, forty-five analysed texts with interlinear morpheme glosses and translations, a trilingual Thangmi-English-Nepali lexicon, a graphic representation of Thangmi kinship terminology and a comprehensive bibliography. The linguistic description is based on fieldwork conducted between 1997 and 2004 on a series of trips to Nepal and India. The grammar of Thangmi, which makes up the first third of the book, is divided into seven chapters. Chapter One deals with the changing historical classifications of Thangmi within the Tibeto-Burman language family, and particular attention is paid to lexical correspondences with Newar. Chapter Two offers an introduction to Thangmi culture and society, and addresses earlier research and scholarship on the Thangmi and their language. Thangmi toponyms, ethnonyms, clan names, kinship terms, mythology and history are all discussed in this chapter. Chapter Three deals with the Thangmi sound system and phonology, while Chapter Four addresses morphophonology. The fifth chapter focuses on nominal morphology, word classes and derivation. Thangmi nominals are characterised by a large number of postpositions. There is no grammatical gender in Thangmi and adjectives do not agree with the nominals they modify. A particularly interesting feature of Thangmi is the complexity of the verbal agreement system which is the subject of Chapters Six and Seven. Chapter Six offers a detailed morphological analysis of Thangmi simplex forms which are intransitive, transitive or reflexive verbal strings showing agreement with one or more actants and containing a tense morpheme. Complex verbal forms, including periphrastic constructions, imperative forms and other modals make up Chapter Seven. Gerunds along with the two intransitive verbs which correspond to the English verb ‘to be’ are also discussed in this final chapter. In common with other Tibeto-Burman languages, with the exception of Chinese and Karen, Thangmi exhibits SOV word order. Show less
Since 1990 Bhutanese of Nepali descent have been forced to leave Bhutan and live as refugees in their ancestral land. Currently, more than 100,000 live in seven UNHCR-assisted refugee camps in the... Show moreSince 1990 Bhutanese of Nepali descent have been forced to leave Bhutan and live as refugees in their ancestral land. Currently, more than 100,000 live in seven UNHCR-assisted refugee camps in the border districts of Jhapa and Morang in eastern Nepal. The Bhutanese government sees them as 'Nepali' and wants them to stay in Nepal, while the Nepalis call them 'Bhutanese' and want them to return. In the midst of this identity crisis, the refugees call themselves 'Bhutanese' - many possess Bhutanese citizenship cards, and want to return. Despite several rounds of talks between Nepal and Bhutan, the refugees remain stateless and their identity remains as obscure as ever. Show less
Muslims in Nepal are comprised of Indian migrants and their descendants. A large majority of them live in the southern plain areas, while a certain percentage of the Muslim population live in... Show moreMuslims in Nepal are comprised of Indian migrants and their descendants. A large majority of them live in the southern plain areas, while a certain percentage of the Muslim population live in certain villages of the hill districts and the Kathmandu Valley. This geographic range has a profound impact on their lifestyles, cultural activities and even their religious practices. The Muslims of Nepal are categorically divided into different ethnic types, distinguishable by religious behaviours, language, beliefs, and relations with the local Hindus. Show less
