Suchergebnisse

Abstract
With development, democratization, and market reforms, corruption has become pervasive in Nepal, especially in areas where government licencing is required. Medical education is a site of considerable political and public contention, because of the nexus that links politicians, educational entrepreneurs, and the licencing of medical colleges. The case of Lokman Singh Karki, the notorious chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (ciaa) from 2013 to 2016 is explored, as is that of his nemesis, the campaigner for the reform of medical education, Dr Govinda KC. The ciaa was for a time converted into a prime instrument of corruption instead of being a defence against it. Different scales of reciprocity and differing moral valuations of reciprocity lie at the heart of the fierce moral debates over the rightness or wrongness of Dr KC's hunger strikes.

AbstractThis article explores the politicization of ethnicity in Nepal since 1990. In particular it looks at how ideas of indigeneity have become increasingly powerful, leading to Nepal becoming the first and—to date—only Asian country to have signed International Labour Organization Convention number 169 (hereafter ILO 169). The rise of ethnic politics, and in particular the reactive rise of a new kind of ethnicity on the part of the 'dominant' groups—Bahuns (Brahmans) and Chhetris (Kshatriyas)—is the key to understanding why the first Constituent Assembly in Nepal ran out of time and collapsed at the end of May 2012. This collapse occurred after four years and four extensions of time, despite historic and unprecedentedly inclusive elections in April 2008 and a successful peace process that put an end to a ten-year civil war.

"Nepal has passed through dramatic changes in the last thirty years, including a Maoist revolution, the transition from monarchy to republic, three new constitutions, the declaration of secularism, and intense globalization. What happens to religion under conditions of rapid social and political change? Is religion still a valid means of coping with the world? How do citizens of the former Hindu kingdom understand secularism? How do changing public festivals reflect and/or create new group identities? Is religion becoming more privatized? Is the link to healing practices transforming or not, and if so, how? Is the gap narrowing between the cultural worlds of town and country? In an attempt to answer these questions, twelve anthropologists and ethno-Indologists of Nepal provide case studies focused on secularism, secularization, individualism, spirit possession, animal sacrifice, the role of state functionaries in festivals, the creation of new ethnic festivals, clashes and synergies between Maoism and Buddhism, and conversion to Christianity. In his Afterword Rajeev Bhargava analyses the experience of Nepal in comparative perspective and asks whether Nepal is finding its own solution to the conundrum of secularism"--