he
book explores various forms of bonds and attachments by which
individuals in the Himalayan regions of India and Nepal are bound to
their groups. To grasp this phenomenon, the book proposes a new
analytical approach, which is the concept of belonging. The book is
based on a number of case studies carried out by anthropologists,
historians and geographers. Divided into three parts, it describes the
interactions between local forms of belonging vis-à-vis new forms of
classification imposed due to national integration or political
maneuvering. The book, which is a part of series on Governance, Conflict
and Civil Action, explores various societal formations throughout
history and captures the ongoing changes within them. Fundamentally,
this collaborative publication is an attempt to go beyond, and beneath,
identity constructions and to call into question the idea of permanence
implied by the term. Articles reveal that people, eager to maintain
their established relationships to external actors, such as
international donor agencies, feign consent to the action plans of these
agencies, while pursuing hidden agendas of their own. They may even aim
at impeding these projects from successful implementation.
The first two chapters cover
the rationalist tradition of rural and western Nepal. Thereafter, the
editors undertake a detour to indigenous identities and commitments.
They look at socio-religious bonding through the prism of geo-cultural
conflicts and link it up with multi-faith religions and rituals. This is
followed by a chapter on Central Nepal in which Ben Campell
explains Himalayan kinship through the hierarchy of castes and tribes
bringing in the issue of development.
Belonging and the patterns of migration: past
and present
The chapter on farming and
migration in Tarai investigates the aspect of migration from the hills.
The Himalayan mountains and hills have been a region of intense
migration from north to south (and sometimes the reverse), as well as
from west to east. Seasonal migration to the plains, in order to make up
for the low income of mountainous areas, has created durable exchanges
across the Himalayan region. The State has also played a role in
encouraging people to migrate to under-populated areas and to transform
forests into arable land. These favoured migrations were associated with
political calculations.
Thus, people of the hills and
plains have developed unique relations in the field of politics, economy
and culture. It is intriguing to study that even the judiciary is
constantly confronted with, and sometimes hindered by, village-based
forms of belonging.
Powerplay of politics, law and administration
Through a rich offering of case
studies and local examples, the book states that people living in the
Himalayan region have undergone a total reconfiguration in the fields of
politics, law and administration. Values of democracy have been present
in India even prior to the Independence. However, they reached Nepal and
Bhutan much later and were implemented with considerable difficulty.
Thus, standards for democracy are still marked by hierarchy and
traditional values.
It would be useful to also
explain how seemingly local projects that overtly resist globalisation
actually derive their resources externally. In particular, movements
geared at protecting minority cultures, local languages and religions
often thrive on transnational networks, engage in international human
rights forums and acquire funding from international institutions such
as development agencies. Resistance to globalisation may also be found
in covert forms. Analytical studies in the book reveal that commitments
of narcotics control by India can not succeed because many communities
preserve it due to "cultural" or "ancestral" value
Transparency in ethno history of Central
Himalayas, Uttarakhand
The author uses immigrant
status as a determinant of higher ranking in the political society of
the central Himalaya to negotiate access to power. However, this reveals
that such forms of access to status are not rewarding in a democracy, in
which all ethnic identities can play an equally vital role, leading to
re-alignment of power relations. Transparency can sometimes be
self-defeating. Increasing transparency may produce a flood of
information, but may not increase trust in politicians or political
processes. Demands for universal transparency are likely to encourage
evasions and half truths, euphemistically referred to as "political
correctness" and bluntly as "self-censorship" or "deception". Trust
deficit should be overcome by avoiding deception rather than secrecy.
In multiple attachments of
contemporary Himalayan societies, politics is, however, not sustainable
without a certain amount of dissimulation and pretence and that is the
central theme of the book. q