Social Transformation in Post-conflict Nepal

A Gender Perspective

Punam Yadav

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138955813
• eBook ISBN: 9781317353898
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

The concept of social transformation has been increasingly used to study significant political, socio-economic and cultural changes affected by individuals and groups. This book uses a novel approach from the gender perspective and from bottom up to analyse social transformation in Nepal, a country with a complex traditional structure of caste, class, ethnicity, religion and regional locality and the experience of the ten-year of People's War (1996-2006).

Through extensive interviews with women in post-conflict Nepal, this book analyses the intended and unintended impacts of conflict and traces the transformations in women's understandings of themselves and their positions in public life. It raises important questions for the international community about the inevitable victimization of women during mass violence, but it also identifies positive impacts of armed conflict. The book also discusses how the Maoist insurgency had empowering effects on women.

The first study to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between armed conflict and social transformation from gender's perspectives, this book is a major contribution to the field of transitional justice and peacebuilding in post-armed-conflict Nepal. It is of interest to academics researching South Asia, Gender, Peace and Conflict Studies and Development Studies.

This strikingly original and impeccably researched account offers an unique insight into the workings of a complex society through the experiences of social, political and economic upheavals brought about by a people’s war. Rich in paradoxes, Punam Yadav’s powerfully argued thesis is supported by the wealth of idiographic detail, and sureness of touch in assessing micro-level changes, that only an insider can offer. It is, at the same time, firmly situated in a framework of cutting-edge scholarship, to which it makes a significant contribution.

Jake Lynch, Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney

This volume is timely in presenting us with a new and sophisticated analysis of social transformation as we experience ever-changing global relations in conflict and post-conflict settings. In reclaiming our ‘humanness’ as central to any notion of social transformation: gender emerges as a defining category in our tool kit.

Lynda-ann Blanchard, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney, Australia

Offering a unique insight into the lives and views of Nepali women post-conflict, Punam Yadav’s book is a great read and will be of interest to anyone interested in processes of social change. Her interview material is fascinating and by foregrounding the experiences of women she provides an important and novel contribution to theorizing social transformation from an under-represented perspective.

Kiran Grewal, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Social Justice, Australian Catholic University

A major contribution in the field of social transformation and post-conflict studies which examines in details the insights of women’s lived experiences and the first study to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between armed conflict and social transformation through women’s perspectives in Nepal.

Erik Paul, Vice President, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney, Australia

This book gives unique insight into the lives of Nepalese women and women’s determination to exploit the changes wrought by war.

Lucy Fiske, Chancellor’s Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Technology, Sydney

Social Transformation in Post-conflict Nepal

The concept of social transformation has been increasingly used in social science to study significant political, socio-economic and cultural changes affected by individuals and groups. This book explores the ways in which social transformation may be understood and its underlying dynamics constructed if women’s lived experiences become a basis for theorizing.

Through extensive interviews with women in post-conflict Nepal, this book analyses the intended and unintended impacts of conflict and traces the transformations in women’s understandings of themselves and their positions in public life. It raises important questions for the international community about the inevitable victimization of women during mass violence, but it also identifies positive impacts of armed conflict. The book also discusses how the Maoist insurgency had empowering effects on women.

The first study to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between armed conflict and social transformation from gender’s perspectives, this book is a major contribution to the field of transitional justice and peacebuilding in post-armed-conflict Nepal. It is of interest to academics researching South Asia, Gender, Peace and Security Studies and Development Studies.

Punam Yadav is a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at London School of Economics, UK. Prior to starting her academic career, she worked in the Development Sector for over ten years. She is interested in examining women’s lived experiences in post-conflict spaces.

Routledge Research on Gender in Asia Series

For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com

1. Women, Identity and India’s Call Centre Industry
   JK Tina Bas
2. Feminist Research Methodology
   Making Meanings of Meaning-Making
   Maithree Wickramasinghe
3. Sex Trafficking in South Asia
   Telling Maya’s Story
   Mary Crawford
4. Religion, Gender and Politics in Indonesia
   Disputing the Muslim Body
   Sonja van Wichelen
5. Gender and Family in East Asia
   Edited by Siumi Maria Tam, Wai-ching Angela Wong and Danning Wang
6. Dalit Women’s Education in Modern India
   Double Discrimination
   Shailaja Paik
7. New Modern Chinese Women and Gender Politics
   Ya-chen Chen
8. Women and the Politics of Representation in Southeast Asia
   Engendering Discourse in Singapore and Malaysia
   Edited by Adeline Koh and Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
9. Women and Conflict in India
   Sanghamitra Choudhury
10. Gender, Governance and Empowerment in India
    Sreevidya Kalaramadam
11. Social Transformation in Post-conflict Nepal
    A Gender Perspective
    Punam Yadav

Social Transformation in Post-conflict Nepal

A gender perspective

Punam Yadav

First published 2016

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2016 Punam Yadav

The right of Punam Yadav to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Yadav, Punam K. (Punam Kumari), author.

Title: Social transformation in post-conflict Nepal : a gender perspective /

Punam Yadav.

Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY : Routledge, 2015. | Series:

Routledge research on gender in Asia series; 11 | Includes bibliographical

references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015047130 | ISBN 9781138955813 (hardback) |

ISBN 9781315666037 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Women—Social conditions—21st century. | Feminism—

Nepal. | Nepal—Social conditions—21st century. | Nepal—History—Civil

War, 1996-2006—Social aspects.

Classification: LCC HQ1735.9.Y33 2015 | DDC 305.4095496—dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047130

ISBN: 978-1-138-95581-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-66603-7 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781315666037

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Frontmatter 1
• Half Title Page
• Frontmatter 2
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• Foreword
• Preface
• List of abbreviations
• 1 Locating social transformation in current discourse
• 2 Understanding the processes of social transformation: thinking beyond structures
• 3 Social structure of Nepal: a historical overview
• 4 Women in politics and the unintended consequences
• 5 Tea stall story: the power of one
• 6 Women combatants: challenging habitus
• 7 White sari: transforming widowhood in Nepal
• 8 Women tempo drivers: challenging doxa
• 9 Conclusion: rethinking social transformation
• Index