The Everest Base Camp trek * The Langtang Valley trek * How to 'dress up right' * what to do and what not * when to travel. Nepal is about fulfilling dreams. About once in a lifetime experiences. To see landscapes and sunsets that will for always be part of who you are. Expert and man behind the 'Great Himalaya Trail Robin Boustead shares his expertise and stories. On how to be well prepared, on what to wear, and about Nepal, one of the most special countries in the world. About that journey you always wanted to make.
This comprehensive history of Nepal spans pre-historic times and the Licchavi Period to more recent developments, such as the Maoist insurgency and the rise of the republic. In addition to religious history and histories of selected regions (Mustang, Sherpa, Tarai, and others), it covers the nation's relations with its powerful neighbors and its cultural aspects, especially its rich history of arts, architecture, and crafts.
This book explores ‘sex work’ in Nepal as a social and analytical category. Narrating stories of those subsumed under such definition, it examines changes as well as continuities characterising socio-cultural norms and perceptions through an analysis of sexual consumption. It also highlights the ways in which the development sector, media, and local community discourses frame ‘sex work’ as a distinct category. How does the work of development aid projects affect the understanding of the sex worker category? How are visual and media images employed to mark spaces of perdition in the Nepalese urban setting and what forms of imagination do they trigger? How are intimate practices and relations transformed by imported notions of love, and how do standards of propriety related to such interactions shift? This book attempts to answer some of these questions. An in-depth and intimate ethnography, the book deconstructs the sex worker category against the backdrop of global influences within local urban surroundings and points to the contradictions therein. Furthermore, through thorough descriptions of the experiences, agency, decision-making processes, and lives of those labelled as sex workers, the book challenges concepts such as deviance and victimhood. It proposes a counternarrative by rethinking ideas of gender, objectification, marginality, symbolic violence, and discrimination. This book will greatly interest researchers and scholars in women and gender studies, sociology and social anthropology, South Asian studies and social sciences, as well as NGOs and those involved in the development sector.
The rhinoceros is an iconic animal. Three species once inhabited South Asia, two of which disappeared over a century ago. This survey aims to reconstruct the historical distribution of these large mammals resulting in new maps showing the extent of their occurrences. Thousands of sources varied in time and nature are used to study the interactions between man and rhinoceros. The text is supported by over 700 illustrations and 38 maps showing the importance of the rhinoceros in the scientific and cultural fabric of Asia and beyond.
This book examines the complexities of menstrual beliefs and practices in Nepal. Taking an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach, it explores and promotes the rights of women, girls, and people who menstruate to a dignified and healthy menstruation. The volume • collates current research in Nepal from local academics, early career researchers, and the Dignity Without Danger research project; • provides a more nuanced understanding of the complex stigmas and taboos that surround menstruation; • highlights the importance of rethinking ideas of religion, gender, menstruation, stigma and taboos, cultural practises, and discrimination; • proposes a counter-narrative that places sociological studies at the heart of the discussion surrounding menstruation; and • calls for more collaborative action research to strengthen the links between academia and activism across disciplines. An authoritative contribution, the book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of gender studies, public health, sociology, human rights, South Asian studies, medical sociology, cultural studies, and social medicine, particularly for those concerned with Nepal.
With more than 1000 newspapers, 1100 local radios, 200 television channels, 3000 online news portals, and over 80 colleges providing media education and training, news media, and media education are vibrant fields in Nepal. This book provides a comprehensive overview of Nepal’s news media, including empirical studies, critical reviews, and theoretical and philosophical analyses focusing on journalism and contemporary media practices in the country, using local standpoints and global perspectives. Laying foundations of academic research and discourse, it explores key issues about the state of media and journalism practices of Nepal and situates them against the professional standards of global journalism and journalism education. The book covers all news media, including traditional (newspaper, radio, and television) and digital platforms.
Dolpo is a culturally Tibetan enclave in one of Nepal's most remote regions. The Dolpo-pa, or people of Dolpo, share language, religious and cultural practices, history, and a way of life. Agro-pastoralists who live in some of the highest villages in the world, the Dolpo-pa wrest survival from this inhospitable landscape through a creative combination of farming, animal husbandry, and trade. High Frontiers is an ethnography and ecological history of Dolpo tracing the dramatic transformations in the region's socioeconomic patterns. Once these traders passed freely between Tibet and Nepal with their caravans of yak to exchange salt and grains; they relied on winter pastures in Tibet to maintain their herds. After 1959, China assumed full control over Tibet and the border was closed, restricting livestock migrations and sharply curtailing trade. At the same time, increasing supplies of Indian salt reduced the value of Tibetan salt, undermining Dolpo's economic niche. Dolpo's agro-pastoralists were forced to reinvent their lives by changing their migration patterns, adopting new economic partnerships, and adapting to external agents of change. The region has been transformed as a result of the creation of Nepal's largest national park, the making of Himalaya, a major motion picture filmed on location, the increasing presence of nongovernmental organizations, and a booming trade in medicinal products. High Frontiers examines these transformations at the local level and speculates on the future of pastoralism in this region and across the Himalayas.
