Global Nepalis

Religion, Culture, and Community in a New and Old Diaspora

New Edition

Edited by David N. Gellner and Sondra L. Hausner

Comprehensive study of Nepalis in multiple countries around the world
Addresses issues of livelihood, links to the homeland, belonging, internal conflict, religious practice, and adaptation among the Nepali diaspora population
Offers a substantial contribution to the field of diaspora studies
Will be of particular interest to students of migration, diaspora, ethnicity, South Asia, as well as anyone interested in Nepali history, politics, and religion

Global Nepalis

Religion, Culture, and Community in a New and Old Diaspora

New Edition

Edited by David N. Gellner and Sondra L. Hausner

Description

Migration has always been a feature of Nepali society. Waves of Khas, Brahmans, and associated service castes were already moving south and east through the Himalayan foothills a millennium ago. As the population expanded, Nepalis from all backgrounds have continually moved onwards in search of new farmland and new opportunities, often encouraged to do so by local communities, local headmen, and the state. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, that process continued eastwards from present-day Nepal into the north-east of India and beyond. Over the last thirty years international labour migration, as well as migration consequent on tertiary education, has radically changed the patterns of settlement of Nepalis outside their homeland. The present volume covers the many different contexts-from the USA to the Gulf, from India to Burma and Singapore-where large numbers of Nepalis are settled or working long-term. Taken together, and organized by region of settlement, the contributions in this book provide a comprehensive overview of Nepali diaspora populations around the world in their contemporary contexts. The common theme binding this volume is the exploration of the process of 'ethnogenesis' or the emergence of strong ethnic identities in which the contributors analyse how such identities strengthen more easily in the diaspora with a large population, than in the homeland.

Global Nepalis

Religion, Culture, and Community in a New and Old Diaspora

New Edition

Edited by David N. Gellner and Sondra L. Hausner

Preface
List of Tables and Figures
List of Plates

1. Introduction: The Nepali/Gorkhali Diaspora since the Nineteenth Century, David N. Gellner

THE OLD DIASPORA: SOUTH ASIA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, AND BEYOND

2. Marginal Migrants? Migrant Associations and the Lived Experience of Nepali Migrant Workers in India, Jeevan R. Sharma
3. Identifications, State Categorizations, and Religious Changes among Sikkimese Gurungs, Mélanie Vandenhelsken
4. The Religious Life of the Gorkhalis of Myanmar, Sushma Joshi
5. Creating Nepali Ethnoscapes in Thailand, Anil Sakya
6. Fiji Nepalis: Reviving Connections Lost for Over a Century, Krishna P. Adhikari and Bhimsen Sapkota

THE NEW DIASPORA 1: TRANSNATIONAL URBAN MIGRANTS IN SINGAPORE, THE GULF, AND THE USA

7. Belonging and Not-Belonging: Experiences of Nepali Gurkha Families on Returning from Singapore, Kelvin E.Y. Low
8. Popular Music among Nepalis in Bahrain: Nightclubs, Media, Performance, and Publics, Anna Stirr
9. 'No One Wants to go Abroad; It's all about Obligation': What Migration Means to Nepali Migrant Workers in Qatar, Tristan Bruslé
10. Transnational Politics in Nepali Organizations in New York, Susan Hangen
11. Imagined Secularisms: Perspectives from the Nepali Diaspora, Bandita Sijapati
12. The Khora of Migration: Everyday Practices of (Well) Being and Belonging between Mustang, Nepal, and New York City, Sienna R. Craig and Ngawang Tsering Gurung

THE NEW DIASPORA 2: ETHNICITY, CASTE, AND RELIGION IN THE UK

13. Counting Ourselves: CNSUK's 2008 Survey of Nepalis in the UK, Krishna P. Adhikari and Chandra Laksamba
14. Invention and Tradition: Limbu Adaptations of Religion in the Diaspora, Bal Gopal Shrestha and David N. Gellner
15. Death and Society: The Performance of Gurung Death Rites in the UK, Florence Gurung
16. The Migration of Nepali Nurses to the UK: Transnational Family Ties, Social Ritual, and the Role of Internet Technology, Radha Adhikari
17. Caste Discrimination Overseas: Nepali Dalits in England, Mitra Pariyar

UNITING THE DIASPORA AND HAVING AN IMPACT IN THE HOMELAND

18. The NRN (Non-Resident Nepali) Movement, Krishna P. Adhikari and David N. Gellner
19. Tamang Gendered Subjectivities in a Migrating World, Kathryn March

20. Afterword: Rethinking Diaspora Consciousness, Sondra L. Hausner

Index
About the Editors and Contributors

Global Nepalis

Religion, Culture, and Community in a New and Old Diaspora

New Edition

Edited by David N. Gellner and Sondra L. Hausner

Author Information

Edited by David N. Gellner, Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, All Souls College, University of Oxford, and Edited by Sondra L. Hausner, Associate Professor, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford

David N. Gellner is Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Oxford and Sondra L. Hausner is University Lecturer in the Study of Religion, University of Oxford, UK.

Contributors:

Krishna P. Adhikari, Radha Adhikari, Tristan Bruslé, Sienna R. Craig, Florence Gurung, Nawang Tsering Gurung, Susan Hangen, Sushma Joshi, Chandra K. Laksamba, Kelvin E.Y. Low, Kathryn March, Mitra Pariyar, Anil Sakya, Bhimsen Sapkota, Jeevan Raj Sharma, Bal Gopal Shrestha, Bandita Sijapati, Anna Stirr, Mélanie Vandenhelsken