THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL

Wikikeaks publisher   Julian   Assange   has been taken into custody by the British Police. After almost 7 years in the Ecuadorian Embassy, he was dragged out, looking haggard and magnificent as Tolstoy with a giant white beard. The Ecuadorian Embassy had given him generous refuge till a change of regime brought an end to his asylum status—who knew asylum could be revoked? Maybe the catshit had something to do with it. One of the demands of the Embassy was that   Assange   clean up after his cat. Video footage has also surfaced showing him trying to learn how to skateboard inside the embassy. There can be no doubt  Assange  was probably a nightmare tenant. Kudos to the Ecuadorians for suffering through seven years of a celebrity journalist living in their premises. But now the question arises—what next? First and foremost is the freedom of the press, which all democratic nation-states must uphold.  Assange  was involved in collecting inf...

The syllabus of the  MA in sociology at Delhi University  includes my article Cheli-Beti: Discourses of trafficking, and constructions gender, citizenship and nation in modern Nepal  in its reading list.  Happy to be on the same page as Amartya Sen and Foucault! Course SOC 218: Population and Society  This course takes students through the key concepts, approaches, and debates in the field of population studies. By focusing on basic features of population structure and population dynamics, it will enable students to understand the importance of demography in social life. A key feature of the course is exposure to the critical sociological debates as well as policy related debates is. At the end of the course, students will be conversant with the significance of demography in social life and will have developed a critical orientation to public debates and policies regarding population. 1. Introduction to population studies and classical approaches: a) ...

Global Nepalis : Religion, Culture, and Community in a New and Old Diaspora Edited by David N. Gellner and Edited by Sondra L. Hausner 540 Pages | Various, 10 Figures, 9 Tables Contributors: Krishna P. Adhikari, Radha Adhikari, Tristan Bruslé, Sienna R. Craig, Florence Gurung, Nawang Tsering Gurung, Susan Hangen, Sushma Joshi, Chandra K. Laksamba, Kelvin E.Y. Low, Kathryn March, Mitra Pariyar, Anil Sakya, Bhimsen Sapkota, Jeevan Raj Sharma, Bal Gopal Shrestha, Bandita Sijapati, Anna Stirr, Mélanie Vandenhelsken Migration has always been a feature of Nepali society. Waves of Khas, Brahmans, and associated service castes were already moving south and east through the Himalayan foothills a millennium ago. As the population expanded, Nepalis from all backgrounds have continually moved onwards in search of new farmland and new opportunities, often encouraged to do so by local communities, local headmen, and the state. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, that process conti...

ECS Magazine, October 2018 What struck me about the Taleju Bhawani myth was the dream. According to oral mythology, much retold, King Jaya Prakash Malla used to play dice with the Taleju Bhawani. This goddess was an incarnation of Goddess Durga who appeared before the monarch in human form. She discussed affairs of state and advised him while they played their nightly game. The monarch angered the goddess, however, by lusting after her. The Goddess vanished, predicting the end of his reign. The King begged for forgiveness. The Goddess relented and appeared before him in a dream. She would only appear before him in the form of a virgin child who has not yet undergone her menarche henceforth, she told him. He was to worship this form. There is a second version of this story. According to this version, it was the Goddess who lusted after the King. The queen followed the King to see where he vanished during the nights. One night she saw them together. The Goddess had made the ...

April 25, 2018 My Republica (http://www.myrepublica.com/news/40504/) We should broaden our minds to alternative concepts of disease and healing, not rely exclusively on big pharmacological solutions A few days ago, The Guardian ran an article about Prince Charles and his belief in homeopathy. The writer expressed scorn at the Prince’s beliefs in homeopathy. The tone of the article struck me with its scientific smugness and condescension—an attitude which has been very effective in blocking inquiry into broader conceptions of disease and healing. In this op-ed, I want to share my own experience with homeopathy. I was also healed by a homeopathic doctor—rather to my surprise. I share the story with you so you can make up your mind about the intangibles that make up the process of healing. In 2007, I attended the Berlinale Film Festival. I was part of a contingent of filmmakers which had been accepted to the Talent Campus. The campus aimed to bring together young filmmake...

April 16th, 2018  My Republica (http://www.myrepublica.com/news/39954/)  In a culture of patriarchy where the girl or woman belongs to the family unit, the “ownership” of the girl by the family can often be lethal A little girl who loved grazing her ponies was raped and killed in the Indian state of Jammu in January. She belonged to the tribe of nomadic Bakerwals, Muslims who grazed their horses and moved around, possibly across state and national boundaries. Who wasn’t moved by the photograph of the lively little girl with the big eyes in the little purple outfit—the same purple outfit her corpse is shown wearing at the moment of death? Who wasn’t sickened by the story of the drugging, the rapes and the murder? Who didn’t feel a sense of loss hearing the story of how she loved to graze her ponies in the forest, how she was the light of her community? We know a lot about the case from various news sources. That Asifa Bano had been adopted by her family, b...

ECS Magazine, January 26, 2018  Shivaratri, or the night of Shiva, in my mind, is always associated with the Pashupatinath Temple. The temple was set away from human settlement for a reason—in the midst of the forest, amongst the slightly dilapidated buildings and gently ruined structures of the past, the most perfect followers of Shiva, the sadhus, had an ideal sanctuary. Sadhus, ascetics who’d left behind the material world for more spiritual and transcendental concerns, seemed at home here, with the firewood they received gratis from the king, burning away the night in the flicker of bonfires and ash. They started to arrive a fortnight before Shivaratri, and they piled up amongst the muths and the small shrines, smoking their ganja in blissful torpor, joking with the tourists in their own languages (one Shivaratri I chatted with an elderly and jovial French speaking Baba), holding up rocks with their penises, and in general adding to the madcap ambience of the already othe...