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| SN | Paper Presenters | Title of Paper |
| 1 | A.C. Sinha | Search for Kirat Identity: Trends of De-Sanskritization among the Nepamul Sikkimese |
| 2 | Ananta Raj Poudyal | Interface of Ethno-political Violence and Terrorism: The Case of Nepal |
| 3 | Bandita Sijapati & Deepak Thapa | 'Ethnicization' of the 'People's War': Identity politics in Nepal's Maoist Insurgency |
| 4 | Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake | The Political Economy of Identity Politics and Conflict: Or the Economics of Social Peace in Lanka |
| 5 | David Gellner | Transformations of Ethnicity in Nepal |
| 6 | Gérard Toffin | Ethnicity and Democracy in Contemporary Nepal |
| 7 | Hari Prasad Bhattarai | Cultural Pluralism and Politics of Belonging: A Study of the Making of Janajati Identity in Nepal |
| 8 | JanakiD. Jayawardena | Historicizing
Ethnicity and its Implications: The Sri Lankan Experience |
| 9 | Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka | Democratic Designs for Ethnic Accommodation in Nepal's Past and Future |
| 10 | Mark Turin | The Role of Language in the Formation of Ethnic Identity: Case Studies from Nepal and Eastern India |
| 11 | Masako Tanaka | Questioning Participation and Social Exclusion: A Study on Tenants and Owners in the Old City Core of Kathmandu |
| 12 | Nepali Sah | Citizenship in Terai and Its Determinants: A Case Analysis from Dhanusha, Nepal |
| 13 | Nira Wikramasinghe | Citizens and Others: Ethnicising Imperatives of the Sri Lankan State |
| 14 | Rajendra Pradhan | The Ain of 1854 and After: Legal Pluralism, Models of Society and Ethnicity in Nepal |
| 15 | Sara Shneiderman | State Policies and Ethnic Identities at Nepal's Borders: Comparative Perspectives from India and China |
| 16 | Tanka B. Subba | Understanding Ethnic Violence against the Nepalis in North-East India |
| Search for Kirat Identity: Trends of De-Sanskritization among the Nepamul Sikkimese A.C. Sinha New Delhi |
Communities choose their identities over time with
distinct objectives in mind. Nepamul Sikkimese (Sikkimese of Nepali
origin) have had to struggle at various periods in the last 150
years as 'Paharias', 'Nepalese (of Sikkim)', and 'citizens of India'
for citizenship, political rights and the recognition of Nepali
as an Indian language. The year 1990 turned out to be critical for
them like for many other communities. The democratic movement in
Nepal let loose a strong 'Janajati' current that also spread into
India. The movement received momentum after the Government of India
accepted the recommendations of the Backward Commission that termed
most of the Sikkimese Nepamul as 'Other Backward Classes'.
|
| Interface of Ethno-political
Violence and Terrorism: The Case of Nepal Ananta Raj Poudyal Central Department of Political Science Kirtipur Campus, Tribhuvan University Kathmandu |
A multi-ethnic state would be an exception. Eighty
eight percent of the one hundred and sixty countries surveyed appear
to be multi-ethnic. In most of these countries, ethno-political
violence has taken recourse to terrorism. Both South-East Asia and
South Asia have witnessed such deterioration of ethno-political
violence into terrorism. The reason for ethnic violence is democratic
discontent due to discriminatory state policies. Nepal is a plural
society but its plural identity has been recognized only by the
1990 Constitution. For a long time, the idea of national integration
was concocted to perpetuate the values of the ruling elites and
vested interest groups, a process that still pervasively continues
in Nepali society today. However, in recent years, the traditional
idea of nationalism has been challenged by demands for a participatory
model of nationalism. Separate parts of Nepali society have been
asserting for themselves new roles in the new plural atmosphere
and are demanding regional autonomy, equal sharing of economic and
political power and benefits, equality of lingual and cultural rights.
Nepal exercised multi-party democracy for twelve years but it proved
to be a failure in promoting the meaning and values of the democratic
process. Instead, democratic discontent arose due to discriminatory
state policies. In the meantime, obscurantist elements started attacking
democracy from various fronts. The Maoists perpetrated terrorism
in the name of a 'people's war' to establish a communist republic,
a campaign that has taken the death toll to more than 12,000 in
about eight years. They tried to attract various groups to their
side by pandering to their grievances with the state. Ethno-political
violence, thus interlinked with the terrorist movement, could prove
a setback for democracy in Nepal if it is not timely resolved. This
study is intended to highlight the interface between ethno-political
violence and terrorism in Nepal.
|
| 'Ethnicization' of the 'People's
War' Identity politics in Nepal's Maoist Insurgency Bandita Sijapati & Deepak Thapa Syracuse University, NY/ Social Science Baha, Lalitpur |
The interface between ethnicity and a variety of
political and ideological constellations has been the subject of
much theoretical speculation and debate. Recent scholars have established
that many contemporary ethnic movements are not mere derivatives
of "primordial" ties but that they create new identities
while transforming old ones.Using the case of the eight-year-old
'People's War' in Nepal, our paper will examine the interplay between
the rising consciousness among Nepal's ethnic minorities and their
radicalization by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The Maoist
insurgency emerged after Nepal had transitioned from absolute monarchy
to multiparty democracy, allowing for an open political space that
saw the country's various minorities to become politically conscious,
for the first time, about their own distinct identities. The failure
of democracy to address their concerns, however, became quickly
evident when a substantial number of them were convinced to follow
the Maoists' revolutionary agenda.By exploring the ways in which
the Maoists have succeeded largely by "exploiting" the
aspirations of the minorities, we will argue that identity politics
is relational, situational and flexible, that each person carries
a number of potential identities, and only a few gain political
salience to form the basis of power struggles. Second, by examining
the two rounds of failed negotiations between the Maoists and the
state-in 2001 and 2003-we will argue that even in an ostensibly
class-based struggle that relies on ethnic sentiments for popular
support, ethnic issues can be sidelined in favor of "broader"
political goals. We contend that despite the reluctance of both
the government and the Maoists to effectively address ethnic issues,
for peace to be established and remain stable, ethnic demands have
to be met because the minorities have been thoroughly politicized
due to the ongoing Maoist movement.
|
| The Political Economy of Identity
Politics and Conflict: Or the Economics of Social Peace in Lanka Darini Rajasingham Senanayake Social Scientists Association Colombo |
This paper explores the political economy of processes
of ethno-religious identity formation, including linkages between
resource and identity conflicts in contemporary Sri Lanka. Drawing
from the study of cycles of war and uneven development as well as
old established patterns of multiculturalism, co-existence and hybridity
among diverse cultural groups in the island, this paper calls for
a broader analysis of the economics of peace in Sri Lanka. It suggests
that the "ethnic conflict" between the Government and
LTTE is a modern phenomenon, embedded in complex patterns of intra-group
inequality, conflict and co-existence within the dominant Sinhala
and Tamil linguistic communities.The paper traces how increased
poverty, regional inequality, and new forms of caste marginalization
due to war and the erosion of the (welfare) state during two decades
of structural adjustments, structure cycles of violence in the island.
These patterns of social and economic inequality must be addressed
for sustainable peace and de-escalation and de-ethnicization of
conflict. The paper will also attempt to make a few comparisons
with similar processes of identity politics, developmental knowledge
production and conflict in Nepal.
|
| Transformations of Ethnicity
in Nepal David N. Gellner Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology Oxford University |
Ethnic identity in Nepal, as many scholars have
shown, is far from having been fixed and unchangeable at state of
Nepal's history. It has, rather, been continually created and transformed
in response to and in attempts to influence state policy. At the
same time, from the point of view of the individual, it is very
far from being infinitely malleable, and is often experienced as
deeply constraining and disadvantageous. Nor should ethnic identity
be conceptualized as opposed to national identity, since, in an
increasingly modular and globalized world, hyphenated identities
are more and more becoming the norm. Holding on to all three of
these insights, it may be possible to discern what the likely outcome
may be in Nepal, when and if some constitutional settlement is reached.
|
| Ethnicity and Democracy in Contemporary
Nepal Gérard Toffin Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Paris |
The ethnic revival that took place following the
restoration of democracy in 1990 is a key topic in the political
and cultural history of recent Nepal. Assertions by minority groups
have increased considerably, and in a manner somewhat puzzling to
observers working in Nepal for a long time. Successive governments
of the period 1990-2001 have engaged in a politics of cultural difference
that contrasts with the assimilationist policy of the 1960-1990
Panchayat period. Some ethnic activists have gone further and advocated
a federation of mini-nations within Nepal. My paper intends to explore
this ethnicizing discourse and discuss its possible contradictions
with democratic rules and practices. Does the janajâti movement
propose to divide the country into many mono-ethnic territories
and still attempt to make it compatible with the universalistic
spirit of democracy? How will it reconcile its core ethnic and communal
concerns with the mutual cooperation necessary for the common good?
On what common values can democracy be firmly established in Nepal?
Issues related to the implementation of democracy in a heterogeneous
and culturally plural country like Nepal will be addressed and compared
mainly with India.
|
| Cultural Pluralism and Politics
of Belonging: A Study of the Making of Janajati Identity in Nepal Hari Prasad Bhattarai Department of Sociology and Anthropology Patan Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University Lalitpur |
Nepal is a plural country. Caste/ethnicity, language,
religion, and region of origin are the major bases of pluralism
in Nepal. More than a hundred ethnic/caste groups and subgroups
and 93 living languages have been documented by the Central Bureau
of Statistics in its 2001 census. These groups can further be divided
according to the eight major religions: Hindu, Buddhist, Islam,
Kirat, Jain, Sikh, Christian, and Bahai. All groups embrace visions
of a good life quite different from those of others, and have diverse
worldviews and livelihood strategies. Further, a contemporary Nepali
might belong to - or at least identify with - a political party,
professional organisation, local credit and savings group, forest
user group, an NGO and so on. Such diversity and cultural variations
have both enriched the cultural life of the country as well as given
rise to many of its social and political problems. In Nepal, especially
after 1990, 'established' social, political and cultural identities
are being questioned, revised, contested, and reformulated. Self-consciousness
about religious, ethnic, class, regional and gender identities appear
to be growing. In this way new ethnic, cultural, social, and regional
and caste identities have been emerging by bringing about shifts
in 'established' identification. The politics of memory seem central
to these processes as new and old constructions of the past-recent
and distant, personal and social-are reworked and manipulated for
various ends. Multiple, contextualized, historically rooted, and/or
recently invented local, regional, national, and trans-national
identities are growing ever more complex. Drawing empirical materials
from my earlier researches among the Rajbanshi, a peasant ethnic
group of eastern Nepal, I shall argue that the development of ethnic
consciousness and ethnic identity in Nepal is a reaction to the
domination by the ruling caste groups. Cultural identity has always
been a basis of group identity and thereby of the identity of its
members. Kinship, language, religious ethos, common history, territoriality,
culture practices etc, are significant anchors for one's ethnic
identity and play important role in fostering a collective sense
of one's group as well as individual identity.Besides, the emergence
of ethnicity in Nepal is not a new phenomenon but rather the expression
of what was latent. The identities that remained submerged during
the Shah (1769-1846) and Rana (1846-1951) regimes and suppressed
during the Panchayat period (1960-1990) are being asserted in the
new democratic regime after 1990. The determining factor has been
the changed political context. The self-designation since 1990 by
all ethnic groups of Nepal as Janajati (Nationalities and Indigenous
Peoples) to separate themselves from the Hindu groups i.e. the ruling
groups and the ruling cultural ideology, is an attempt at making
a distinct identity for themselves. Ethnic activists in Nepal therefore
have a common plea, that of abandoning the assimilative melting
pot policy of a one-nation, one-religion, one-language, and one-culture
state and instead creating a sense of the nation as being one civic
community rooted in values that can be shared by all diverse groups
of the national society.
|
| Historicizing Ethnicity and
its Implications: The Sri Lankan Experience Janaki Jayawardena Dept. of History and International Relations University of Colombo |
This paper aims to discuss the implications of
the historicising of ethnicity in Sri Lanka. Though it is difficult
to fathom, the concept 'identity' plays a major role in human social
interactions and people all over the world possess a set of identities
either as individuals or groups. The importance of this is as Huntington
(2005) points out, identity is an individual's or a group's sense
of self. According to him, while an individual can have multiple
identities, group identity has a primarily defined characteristic
and is less fungible. Group identity is much more fixed than an
individual identity and in my point of view becomes naturalised
though it is a socially constructed identity. It has a decisive
impact on the shaping of a country's politics, economy or society.
Group identity is also important in recognition of difference between
different groups or as Huntington says, to differentiate 'us ' from
'them'.In this paper, I argue that historicising ethnicity began
in Sri Lanka in the 1980s in trying to find the root causes for
the war started between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil
militant groups. The state's failure to sideline 'communal' politics
was brewing from the late nineteenth century and has led to the
marginalising of minorities and generation of insecurity. Therefore,
the demands for rights for minorities were later transformed into
a demand for a separate state when politicians and other interested
parties adhering to communal lines began to interpret who had the
right to own Sri Lanka through historical construction. This has
led to ethnonationalisation of the conflict through defining what
constitutes the Sinhala nation and Tamil nation. I argue that nation
was not defined as an entity, which represents the all Sri lankan
people with no social exclusion but as a collective entity of a
biological nature which, by definition could only be superior to
the will of its constituent elements (Victor-Yves Ghebali,1998).Therefore,
this paper argues that historicising ethnicity has undermined the
issues that generate insecurity by naming the civil war as an ethnic
crisis or an ethnic war. As Mohamed Sahnoun (2000) points out, the
basic insecurity can give rise to a variety of conflicts, and ethnicity,
rather than being a root cause, is a fuelling factor when the insecurities
are not properly addressed. Following the argument of David Latin
and James Fearon (2002), I argue that Sri Lankan scholarship needs
to deepen its understanding of the conditions that favour insurgency
and ground their research outside an ethnic frame.
|
| Democratic Designs for Ethnic
Accommodation in Nepal's Past and Future Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka Faculty of Sociology University of Bielefeld Germany (to be given later) Back to top |
| The Role of Language in the
Formation of Ethnic Identity: Case studies from Nepal and Eastern India Mark Turin Department of Social Anthropology University of Cambridge |
Drawing on extensive field findings and policy documents from Nepal and the neighbouring regions of Darjeeling and Sikkim in northern India, I discuss the role of language in the creation of ethnic identity at both local and national levels. One of the aims of this paper is to situate Nepal's experience with language planning and support for minority languages within a wider regional context. To this end, I will also draw on experiences in Bhutan and the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) of China, in the hope that the linguistic policies of these adjacent regions will |