Practices of Male Labor Migration from the Hills of Nepal to India in Development Discourses: Which Pathology?
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: This article provides a critique of authoritative development discourses on the migration of men from Nepal to India. Drawing on my ethnographic fi eldwork at multiple sites, I illustrate how migration is not perceived as a problem by migrants themselves but as an integral practice in people’s livelihoods. Many see migration to work in India as an escape from a diffi cult socio-economic, cultural and familial situation and an opportunity for young men to experience a distant place, experiment with the pleasures and possibilities of consumption and earn and remit money home to fulfi l their obligations as responsible men with the hope for upward socio-economic mobility of their families. The authoritative discourse is criticized for failing to comprehend the socio-cultural meanings associated with this form of human movement and for viewing ‘migration’ and ‘migrants’ as aberrant. The presence of a disjuncture between the authoritative discourses and the complex ethnographic reality raises important questions about the politics of migration in international development.
Author: Jeevan Raj Sharma
Institution: University of Edinburgh
Language: English
Topic: Migration and Labor Dynamics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2062340591