Everyday Life in South Asia
Author: Diane P. Mines
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2010
Total Pages: 581
ISBN-13: 0253354730
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn introduction to the peoples and cultures of South Asia
Posts
Out Here in Kathmandu
Author: Mark Liechty
Publisher:
Published: 2010
Total Pages: 402
ISBN-13: 9789937819466
DOWNLOAD EBOOKSuitably Modern
Author: Mark Liechty
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2020-11-10
Total Pages: 310
ISBN-13: 069122174X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKSuitably Modern traces the growth of a new middle class in Kathmandu as urban Nepalis harness the modern cultural resources of mass media and consumer goods to build modern identities and pioneer a new sociocultural space in one of the world's "least developed countries." Since Nepal's "opening" in the 1950s, a new urban population of bureaucrats, service personnel, small business owners, and others have worked to make a space between Kathmandu's old (and still privileged) elites and its large (and growing) urban poor. Mark Liechty looks at the cultural practices of this new middle class, examining such phenomena as cinema and video viewing, popular music, film magazines, local fashion systems, and advertising. He explores three interactive and mutually constitutive ethnographic terrains: a burgeoning local consumer culture, a growing mass-mediated popular imagination, and a recently emerging youth culture. He shows how an array of local cultural narratives--stories of honor, value, prestige, and piety--flow in and around global narratives of "progress," modernity, and consumer fulfillment. Urban Nepalis simultaneously adopt and critique these narrative strands, braiding them into local middle-class cultural life. Building on both Marxian and Weberian understandings of class, this study moves beyond them to describe the lived experience of "middle classness"--how class is actually produced and reproduced in everyday practice. It considers how people speak and act themselves into cultural existence, carving out real and conceptual spaces in which to produce class culture.
Far Out
Author: Mark Liechty
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2017-02-21
Total Pages: 402
ISBN-13: 022642894X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFar Out charts the history of Western countercultural longing for Nepal that made the country, and Kathmandu in particular, a premier tourist destination in the twentieth century. Anthropologist and historian Mark Liechty describes three distinct phases: the immediate post-war era when the country provided a Raj-like throwback experience for rich foreigners (mainly Americans), Nepal s emergence as the most exotic outpost of hippie counterculture in the 1960s and early 70s, and, finally, the Nepali state s rebranding of itself as an adventure destination from the 1970s on. Liechty is attuned to how the dynamics of mid-twentieth century globalizationthe Cold War and shifting international relations, modernization and development ideologies, the rise of consumerist middle classes, increased mobility and the birth of mass tourism, and emerging global youth counterculturesdrew Nepal into the web of geopolitical, economic, and sociocultural transformations that shaped the modern world. But Liechty doesn t want to tell the story of tourism as something that just happened to Nepalis. He shows how Western projections of Nepal as an isolated place inspired creative Nepali enterprises and paradoxically gave locals the opportunity to participate in the highly coveted global economy. The result is a readable cultural history of a place that has been in many ways defined by a (sometimes bizarre) cultural encounter. The author s lifelong interest in Nepal and his almost twenty-five years of research make his account both sophisticated and empathicbut not without a touch of humor."
Arresting God in Kathmandu
Author: Samrat Upadhyay
Publisher: HMH
Published: 2014-09-23
Total Pages: 207
ISBN-13: 0547526210
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom “a major new talent” come short stories set in modern Nepal, about arranged marriages, forbidden desires, and the universal yearning for human connection (Amitav Ghosh). Set in a city where gods are omnipresent, privacy is elusive, and family defines identity, these are stories of men and women caught between their own needs and the demands of their society and culture. Psychologically rich and astonishingly acute, with “a masterful narrative style” (Ian MacMillan), Arresting God in Kathmandu introduces a potent new voice in contemporary fiction. “Upadhyay brings to readers the flavor of Nepal and its culture in this impressive collection of nine short stories. Like Ha Jin’s Bridegroom, Upadhyay’s stories portray the lives of simple yet psychologically complex characters and reveal much about the universal human condition in us all. . . . Upadhyay’s stories leave the reader with much food for thought and will make a good choice for book discussion groups.” —Library Journal
Kathmandu
Author: Thomas Bell
Publisher: Haus Publishing
Published: 2016-04-15
Total Pages: 592
ISBN-13: 1910376396
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOne of the greatest cities of the Himalaya, Kathmandu, Nepal, is a unique blend of thousand-year-old cultural practices and accelerated urban development. In this book, Thomas Bell recounts his experiences from his many years in the city—exploring in the process the rich history of Kathmandu and its many instances of self-reinvention. Closed to the outside world until 1951 and trapped in a medieval time warp, Kathmandu is, as Bell argues, a jewel of the art world, a carnival of sexual license, a hotbed of communist revolution, a paradigm of failed democracy, a case study in bungled western intervention, and an environmental catastrophe. The layered development of the city can be seen in the successive generations of its gods and goddesses; its comfort in the caste system and ethos of aristocracy and kingship; and the recent destabilizing effects of consumerist approaches and the push for egalitarianism and democracy. In important ways, Kathmandu’s rapid modernization can be seen as an extreme version of what is happening in other traditional societies. Bell also discusses the ramifications of the recent Nepal earthquake. A comprehensive look at a top global destination, Kathmandu is an entertaining and accessible chronicle for anyone eager to learn more about this fascinating city.
Far Out
Author: Mark Liechty
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2017-02-21
Total Pages: 402
ISBN-13: 022642913X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWesterners have long imagined the Himalayas as the world’s last untouched place and a repository of redemptive power and wisdom. Beatniks, hippie seekers, spiritual tourists, mountain climbers—diverse groups of people have traveled there over the years, searching for their own personal Shangri-La. In Far Out, Mark Liechty traces the Western fantasies that captured the imagination of tourists in the decades after World War II, asking how the idea of Nepal shaped the everyday cross-cultural interactions that it made possible. Emerging from centuries of political isolation but eager to engage the world, Nepalis struggled to make sense of the hordes of exotic, enthusiastic foreigners. They quickly embraced the phenomenon, however, and harnessed it to their own ends by building tourists’ fantasies into their national image and crafting Nepal as a premier tourist destination. Liechty describes three distinct phases: the postwar era, when the country provided a Raj-like throwback experience for rich Americans; Nepal’s emergence as an exotic outpost of hippie counterculture in the 1960s; and its rebranding into a hip adventure destination, which began in the 1970s and continues today. He shows how Western projections of Nepal as an isolated place inspired creative enterprises and, paradoxically, allowed locals to participate in the global economy. Based on twenty-five years of research, Far Out blends ethnographic analysis, a lifelong passion for Nepal, and a touch of humor to produce the first comprehensive history of what tourists looked for—and found—on the road to Kathmandu.
Sex Work in Nepal
Author: Lisa Caviglia
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2017-09-05
Total Pages: 337
ISBN-13: 1351393308
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis 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.
Women in 'New Nepal'
Author: Seika Sato
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2023-03-23
Total Pages: 243
ISBN-13: 1000859061
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book brings rarely voiced lives and experiences of women in Nepal to light and combines rich ethnography with discourse analysis. Multifaceted and critical, the volume situates its narrative in the profoundly transformative period after the turn of the century when ‘New Nepal’ was rising on the horizon and sheds light on Nepali women’s experiences in multiple sites, crossing class and ethnic lines. It is based on extensive fieldwork among women domestic workers, construction workers, street vendors, women from the indigenous community of Hyolmo, and others. Mainly through an ethnographic approach, the author explores Nepali women’s experiences on the ground, mostly situated in classed, ethnic, or other socio-cultural peripheries in Nepali social landscape. Through the unusually intimate narrative on these women from the global south, who are still prone to be cast into a deeply colonial, simplistic image of ‘victimized women’, readers will get a nuanced perspective of the multidimensional diversity among these women as well as a sense of kinship with oneself. The book will be invaluable for researchers and students of gender studies, global south studies, development studies, cultural anthropology/ethnography, Nepal studies, and feminist geography. It will be of interest to anthropologists, sociologists, geographers, policymakers, and those with an interest in global gender issues.
This Japanese Life.
Author: Eryk Salvaggio
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2013-07-25
Total Pages: 212
ISBN-13: 9781489596987
DOWNLOAD EBOOKMost books about Japan will tell you how to use chopsticks and say "konnichiwa!" Few honestly tackle the existential angst of living in a radically foreign culture. The author, a three-year resident and researcher of Japan, tackles the thousand tiny uncertainties of living abroad. -- Adapted from back cover
