Developing a culture of marginality

Nepal's current classificatory moment

in Focaal
Author:
Sara Shneiderman Yale University sara.shneiderman@yale.edu

Search for other papers by Sara Shneiderman in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Restricted access

This article examines the complex relationships between marginalized communities, the state, and nonstate actors such as development agencies and social scientists in crafting the classificatory regimes that undergird affirmative action policies. Focusing on the current dynamics of “ethnic restructuring“ amid the broader political process of postconflict “state restructuring“ in Nepal, I suggest that international actors often unwittingly encourage the hardening of ethnic boundaries through development projects that target “marginalized“ populations defined in cultural terms. However, such interventions can also yield unexpected transformations in agentive ethnic consciousness. This ethnographic exploration of current classificatory processes in non-postcolonial Nepal provides an important counterpoint to material from the Indian context, where histories of colonial classification have debatably influenced contemporary categories-and their critique-to a significant extent.

  • Collapse
  • Expand

Focaal

Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 1497 1051 38
Full Text Views 68 15 1
PDF Downloads 146 54 2