What do you think?
Regionalism and national unity in Nepal
234 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1975
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 8, 2024
Nepal is known for its mountains (foothills, Himalayas).
Most outsiders who know about that Nepal know little about the long (500 mile) and narrow (20 mile, average) strip of land along the country’s border with India to the south, called the Tarai (also spelled "Terai". This book is about Nepal’s Tarai and its lack of integration with the country of Nepal.
According to Gaige, those who live in Nepal’s mountains have significant prejudices about the Tarai. Those who live in the Tarai are culturally (language, religion, dress, and customs) aligned with northern India. Yet, politically they live in Nepal, not India, so there is a disconnect with the south as well. The Tarai - “the plains people” - have a highly ambiguous standing. It is neither Nepal, nor India, though it is integrally tied to both in ways that affect, powerfully, the day-to-day life of those who live there. Historically and currently, It’s pretty much an autonomous region, with its separateness enhanced by the malarial infested forests (“jungles”) that kept the hill people from moving south (and kept Indian-aligned people from moving north).
While this book is an excellent study of “regionalism and national unity” in Nepal, it has broader lessons for political integration in general and the problem that tribalism poses for that to occur. By “regionalism” and “tribalism,” is meant a geographic area (regional) that is defined by an overall cultural identity (tribal). It’s important to make this clarification for, while generally aligned linguistically and culturally with India, the Tarai itself has considerable diversity itself (subgroups, including language, mores and caste divisions).
To some extent, the hill-plains culture divide was broken down by hill country elites who moved south to take possession of the rich agricultural lands there and, at the time this book was written, by policies that encouraged the movement of hill peoples to clear the forests and settle there. But this was a one-way, not two-way, integration. It was for the advantage of the hill people without any reciprocal integration, and that has resulted in chronic levels of frustration and resentment.
Tribalism exists as a cultural expression both of the dominant hill country toward the plains, and as the resentment felt from the latter toward the former. The one-way view extends beyond economics and political power, and the obvious self-interest that goes with this. “One-way” means a sense of superiority as the dominant hill elites view the plains people with some degree of disdain. It is about cultural subjugation, similar to the tribalism seen around the globe: a lack of regard for those who are, simply, different in their language, in their dress, in their looks, and in their cultural practices. It is no different, fundamentally, from the way coastal elites in the USA view those in “fly over country” and the way the north looks at the south, and probably, vice versa.
The only way these barriers are broken down to achieve economic, cultural and political unity is for enlightened political leadership that believes E Pluribus Unum means not just reciprocity in the social, economic, and political spheres, but respect, and an end to the enlightened disdain.
Most outsiders who know about that Nepal know little about the long (500 mile) and narrow (20 mile, average) strip of land along the country’s border with India to the south, called the Tarai (also spelled "Terai". This book is about Nepal’s Tarai and its lack of integration with the country of Nepal.
According to Gaige, those who live in Nepal’s mountains have significant prejudices about the Tarai. Those who live in the Tarai are culturally (language, religion, dress, and customs) aligned with northern India. Yet, politically they live in Nepal, not India, so there is a disconnect with the south as well. The Tarai - “the plains people” - have a highly ambiguous standing. It is neither Nepal, nor India, though it is integrally tied to both in ways that affect, powerfully, the day-to-day life of those who live there. Historically and currently, It’s pretty much an autonomous region, with its separateness enhanced by the malarial infested forests (“jungles”) that kept the hill people from moving south (and kept Indian-aligned people from moving north).
While this book is an excellent study of “regionalism and national unity” in Nepal, it has broader lessons for political integration in general and the problem that tribalism poses for that to occur. By “regionalism” and “tribalism,” is meant a geographic area (regional) that is defined by an overall cultural identity (tribal). It’s important to make this clarification for, while generally aligned linguistically and culturally with India, the Tarai itself has considerable diversity itself (subgroups, including language, mores and caste divisions).
To some extent, the hill-plains culture divide was broken down by hill country elites who moved south to take possession of the rich agricultural lands there and, at the time this book was written, by policies that encouraged the movement of hill peoples to clear the forests and settle there. But this was a one-way, not two-way, integration. It was for the advantage of the hill people without any reciprocal integration, and that has resulted in chronic levels of frustration and resentment.
Tribalism exists as a cultural expression both of the dominant hill country toward the plains, and as the resentment felt from the latter toward the former. The one-way view extends beyond economics and political power, and the obvious self-interest that goes with this. “One-way” means a sense of superiority as the dominant hill elites view the plains people with some degree of disdain. It is about cultural subjugation, similar to the tribalism seen around the globe: a lack of regard for those who are, simply, different in their language, in their dress, in their looks, and in their cultural practices. It is no different, fundamentally, from the way coastal elites in the USA view those in “fly over country” and the way the north looks at the south, and probably, vice versa.
The only way these barriers are broken down to achieve economic, cultural and political unity is for enlightened political leadership that believes E Pluribus Unum means not just reciprocity in the social, economic, and political spheres, but respect, and an end to the enlightened disdain.
August 23, 2015
Details regional disparity between the hills and Tarai plains of Nepal which exists still today in the minds of the Madhesi denizens today- Overall great ethnography of the much neglected region.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews