Matthew Maycock

Migration from Nepal to India, a major issue in contemporary Nepal, has a wide range of consequences, including significant implications for the performance of masculinity. Remittances, and the associated pressures to send or bring money home, form a central part of the gendering of such migration, but many men are unable to remit to the levels expected of them. Consequently, this overshadows the cost/benefit analysis of migration for many families and brings into question the extent to which migration remains a viable income diversification strategy. The article, based on a multi-methods approach within an ethnographic framework, examines the potential range of effects that migration trajectories may have on males that migrate and are then finding themselves under pressure to remit and perform locally specific forms of masculinity.

Throughout the Indian subcontinent there is a broad range of skin-whitening products (SWPs) widely advertised on TV, cinema on the streets etc … . In recent years, the multinational companies who produce these products have begun to focus on an untapped market – men and boys. Complementing feminist insights relating to the ways in which ‘body work’ is a form of control over women and constitutes a means of maintaining gender hierarchies, this paper considers the implications for men of a specific manifestation of ‘body work’, in this instance the use of SWPs. Based on the analysis of the ways that a group of young Nepali men talked about these products, this paper considers the evolving use of the Nepali word tājā (adj; fresh). Ultimately, this paper considers what are the consequences of the consumption of SWPs for local manifestations of embodied masculinities in far-west Nepal.

This paper provides an account of emergent embodied masculinities amongst a group of rickshaw drivers in Dhangadhi, a city in far-­‐west Nepal. This paper's purpose is to explore emergent Janajati (or indigenous) masculinities, which are changing as a consequence of rural to urban migration. Within urban areas, working as a rickshaw driver has profound implications for both the bodies and the masculinities of the men involved. Tensions emerge between the rickshaw drivers' expected and encouraged performances of masculinity and their own bodies. Such tensions are explored using a variety of ethnographic material collected through two periods of fieldwork in Kailali district, Nepal in 2009 and 2012. During fieldwork the author generated material principally through interviews and participant observation. This paper focuses on certain forms of competition and the denial of pain, both of which are integral to being rickshaw drivers, in light of their implications for masculine bodies and performances.

As former bonded labourers (or slaves), the Kamaiya of far-west Nepal have a history of marginalization, poverty and limited mobility due to the constraints inherent in the Kamaiya system of bonded labour (banned in 2000). Based on ethnographic research in the post-slavery era, this article examines how mobility is becoming an important part of Kamaiya masculinities. I consider in particular an account of migration acquired over a series of interviews with a Kamaiya man named Ram. Ram’s migrant trajectory from Nepal to India and back over
variable lengths of time reflect a broader literature on circular migration in India. I argue that transnationally performed migrant masculinities are alternatively subordinated and hegemonic across geographically diverse contexts. By
accepting and performing subordinated, often oppressive masculine roles in a broader South Asian context, men such as Ram are producing new, locally hegemonic or at least desirable masculine roles in Kamaiya villages in Nepal.

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) remains one of the biggest safety and security challenges in Nepal. Many programmes and policies seeking to reduce and prevent SGBV focus on the needs and rights of girls and women. However, there is a very limited understanding of the role of masculinities in the contexts, and whether and how they link to violence, particularly SGBV.

Saferworld, in collaboration with The Society Touch and Youth Development Centre, with funding from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, has carried out participatory learning research in selected districts in Eastern Nepal, exploring notions of masculinities among young men and boys, how these notions shape their relationships towards others, and young men’s experiences and attitudes towards violence, including SGBV. The research process had a strong focus on allowing learning and reflection among the participants. Our findings show that young men feel huge pressures and frustrations negotiating their positions in society. The tension between expectations and what is achievable give rise to complicated responses in young men as they live lives in an uncertain and changing context. The research also shows that the association of violence, including SGBV, with masculinities needs to be approached with great care. Most respondents did not see violence, including SGBV, as a part of the masculinity they would aspire to. However, they did see various forms of violence as a consequence of certain situations, pressures and expectations from society, which are themselves in part created by ideas of masculinity.

This article fills a gap in existing research on the Maoist ‘People’s War’ (1996-2006) in Nepal by considering the implications of the establishment of a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) cantonment for those living close by. This article complements the growing literature on the ’People’s War’ and the implications of the war for everyday lives in Nepal (Hutt 2004, Karki 2003, Lawoti and Pahari 2010, Manandhar and Seddon 2010, Pettigrew 2012 and 2013, Pettigrew and Adhikari 2009, Thapa 2003). Furthermore, while there has been limited research undertaken in and on the PLA cantonments (cf. Ogura 2010), none to date has specifically focused on the implications of living next to one.

This thesis is a study of Kamaiya masculinities in the context of the Kamaiya recently having been freed from a system of bonded labour, in Kailali district of Nepal’s far-western Terai. The Kamaiya are a sub-group of the wider Tharu indigenous ethnic group. Prior to 2000, the majority of the Kamaiya were bonded labourers. In 2000 the Kamaiya system of bonded labour was formally ended. The main purpose of this thesis is to explore various aspects of Kamaiya masculinities as they are changing as a consequence of the transition to freedom. This is a context shaped to a great extent by the recent Maoist People’s War (1996-2006).

The main contribution this thesis makes is to scholarship on masculinities in South Asia as well as transitions from bonded labour to modernity. In focusing on Kamaiya masculinities following freedom this thesis contributes to research that explicitly considers masculinities in development studies research. Considering masculinities as the focus of study illustrates how men’s gendered experiences of bondedness and freedom constitute an illuminating perspective on these transitions and modernity more broadly.

Centrally this thesis responds to the question: what happens to masculinities following freedom from a system of bonded labour? This is not a question that appears to have been asked within existing research on bonded labour generally, as well as research on the Kamaiya system specifically. This question is answered by exploring a variety of ethnographic material collected through two periods of fieldwork in Kailali district in 2009 and 2010. Fieldwork was focused generating the material for analysis through ethnographic methods, principally interviews and participant observation. These methods were focused on men’s experience and testimony of the Kamaiya system, the transition to freedom and post-freedom experiences. This thesis is based on in-depth studies of six Kamaiya men and their narratives of these transitions.

The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord in 2006 and the Nepal entering a post-conflict era has been associated with the emergence of various organisations and movements often formed along ethnic lines. The Tharuhat Autonomous State Council
(TASC) is one such movement that is the focus of this paper but more generally has received relatively limited focus within academia.
Within the context of Kailali district in far-west Nepal, this paper explores various characteristics and policies of the wider Tharuhat movement focusing on the vision for an autonomous Tharu state. It will highlight some of the successes and problems that the
movement faces. Furthermore, this paper will explore a number of tensions between the national Tharuhat discourse and how this finds meaning and resonance at the local level where activists are attempting to engage with the Tharu community. Ultimately this paper examines the extent to which the Tharuhat movement represents a new more political stage in the wider Tharu ethnic movement.

South Asia is the region with the highest number of slaves globally according to the Global Slavery Index. Bonded labour affects between 15 and 20 million labourers within the region, and is shaped by locally specific interconnections between ethnicity, class, caste and, critically, gender structures. Masculinity and Modern Slavery in Nepal explores the role of masculinity in shaping the structures and experience of slavery and subsequent freedom.

While many I/NGOs and human rights organisations use freedom from slavery as a powerful and emotive goal, the lived reality of freedom for many bonded labourers often results in disappointment and frustration as they navigate diverse expectations of masculinity. Taking Nepal as a case study, the book illustrates how men’s gendered experiences of bondedness and freedom can inform perspectives on the transition to freedom and modernity in South Asia more broadly. Researchers of modern slavery, gender studies, and South Asian studies will be interested in the rich analysis on offer in this book.