This edited volume expands scholarship on the Nepali diaspora in recent years, alongside others.Footnote 4 In exploring the concept of diaspora, the editors state, “many of the criteria of a diasporic community … do not fit in neatly with the ground realities of the Nepalis living outside Nepal” (p. 5). They opt for a broad definition of the Nepali diaspora, which includes: “all those who have left Nepal for various purposes and for various lengths of time” (p. 6).
Based on papers delivered at a conference in Shillong in 2011, most of the eighteen chapters focus on people of Nepali origin in India, especially the northeast, and Southeast Asia. Scholarship on Nepalis in this region is limited, and thus this focus is welcome, although the title of the book—Nepali Diaspora in a Globalised Era—suggests a more global reach. Editors Tanka Subba and Awadhesh Sinha have compiled a multidisciplinary volume with contributions from philosophers, literary critics, geographers, and a few nonacademics, along with the usual scholars of this topic, anthropologists and sociologists. This provides for a wide range of perspectives.
Some of the chapters directly engage the concept of diaspora. P. K. Misra questions the concept of a Nepali diaspora in India, given the cultural connections between the two countries and the freedom of movement across the border for citizens of both. However, his essay focuses on how Indians in Trinidad reinterpret cultural symbols from their home countries in a new context, which, he suggests, is also taking place in the Nepali diaspora. Bhim Prasad Subedi argues in his contribution that to understand migration dynamics comprehensively, migrants should be treated as part of a network of movers and stayers (p. 36). Subedi's analysis could be extended to understand variations in diasporic consciousness or activities that occur in short- or long-term migrant populations.
Many of the chapters examine the idea of transnational belonging. Ulrike Müller-Böker compares Nepali communities in New Delhi, India, and Switzerland, while Hema Kiruppalini examines the identities of Nepalis who serve in the Singapore Police Force, but are compelled to return home after completing their service. These Nepalis develop an ambivalent sense of belonging to both Singapore and Nepal, and do not easily fit into the category of a diasporic community because both countries serve as home for them.
Four chapters consider the history of the Gurkha regiments in the British army and the symbolic legacy of the Gurkha image for Nepali communities abroad. Jens Seeberg examines the tension between the ideas that Gurkha recruitment is economically detrimental to Nepal even while it brings symbolic prestige to the Nepali nation. Mitra Pariyar's chapter investigates how ex-Gurkhas in the United Kingdom must change their ritual practices as a result of various legal, social, and economic challenges. For example, their inability to conduct the animal sacrifices necessary to install ancestral deities in their homes has blocked their integration into British society while strengthening transnational ties, as they engage in ritual activities at a distance, via family members in Nepal. Pravesh Jung, a philosopher, utilizes postcolonial identity theory to ask whether it is legitimate to speak of a Nepali diaspora. He argues that the colonial image of Gurkhas overshadows Nepali efforts to forge their own identity, but his argument may be more applicable in the United Kingdom and former British Empire than in the United States. Tejimala Gurung recounts the history of Gurkha regiments in Burma, tracing their settlement and displacement, but reveals little about the lives of these men in Burma.
Other chapters examine the history of Nepalis in the Indian Himalaya. Rajendra Dhakal suggests that the younger generations of people of Nepali heritage in India are constructing a new diasporic identity, while Miriam Wenner examines the contradictory role of Nepal in the construction of Gorkhaland as an “imaginative geography” (p. 109). Although Nepalis in Darjeeling distance themselves from Nepal and reterritorialize themselves in India, their migration history and cultural links with Nepal substantiates their claim for Gorkhaland by demonstrating cultural uniqueness. In a similar vein, Melanie Vandenhelsken describes Gurung political and cultural movements in Sikkim, where Gurungs see Nepal as a source of cultural authenticity but not a site in which they claim political belonging. Similarly, Tristan Brusle discusses whether Indian Nepalis in Assam can be considered a diaspora; although they do not seek political links with Nepal, they do maintain affective and imaginative links to it. Vijaylakshmi Brara describes how Nepalis were relocated to Manipur by British rulers who wanted to secure their colonial interests in the region. Finally, two overlapping chapters—the first by Sinha and the second by D. N. S. Dhakal and Gopal Subedi—cover the Nepalis of southern Bhutan (Lhotshampas), focusing on the reasons for their expulsion from Bhutan and on why third-country resettlement became the primary resolution of the conflict.
In the conclusion, Subba and Sinha review some challenges facing scholars of the Nepali diaspora. Nepalis live in more than 100 countries around the world, and the length and purpose of their migration patterns vary considerably. The existence of different ethnonyms for these people, such as Gurkha, Gorkha, and Nepali, underscores these variations. A stronger conclusion would have explored some of the key themes that emerged across many of the chapters. First, most of the chapters deal with Nepalis who have migrated as a result of British colonial strategies and their lingering structures. A deeper discussion of this colonial history would have strengthened the theoretical contributions of the volume. Second, several of the chapters on Nepalis in India (e.g., those by Wenner, Brusle, and Vandenhelsken) find a shared paradox at work in the way that these communities relate to Nepal: they do not seek to engage politically with Nepal or to eventually return there, but Nepal provides an ongoing source of affective belonging and a culturally distinct identity. This theme could be explored further and connected with other chapters in the volume that consider the extent to which the concept of diaspora relates to Nepalis living outside Nepal.
Nonetheless, this is an informative book that presents ethnographic and historical material that is not available elsewhere. Students of the Nepali diaspora, particularly those embarking on research projects in India, will find solid groundwork for further research in this volume.
