nepali molly

new blog!

2011-10-10T19:44:00.000+05:30

hey folks, so i sort of let this trail off a bit as a traveled to turkey and the UK after leaving nepal, then, the very day i arrived back in the states, BAM. i got hired for a job in monrovia, liberia, where i arrived about a month ago, and i'll be living for the next two years.

thanks for reading, and i hope you'll subscribe to my new blog to follow me in monrovia.

elegies VI

2011-06-15T17:18:00.001+05:30

maybe this one isn't so much an elegy, but it's self-indulgent, so let's roll with it.

i've been packing up all of my stuff recently, sorting out my own possessions from borrowed ones, practicing non-attachment as i wrench myself away from that old pair of torn black leggings that are practically indecent to wear. i came across a book that a friend loaned me a while back, a translation of mirza ghalib. among other things, ghalib was a master of the ghazal, a highly prescribed poetic form originating in the arab world and traveling to south asia in the 12th century.

for the first time in my life, i started going all insomniac this year. it's anti-fun. on the bright side, i got through an awful lot of books on tape. one night, after i finished reading some ghalib, i also got to toying with one phrase in my head, and decided to try writing a ghazal. it's, um, not easy. from wikipedia:

Details of the form

A ghazal is composed of five or more couplets.
The second line of each couplet (or sher) in a ghazal usually ends with the repetition of a refrain of one or a few words, known as a radif, preceded by a rhyme known as the qaafiyaa. In Arabic, Persian and Turkic the couplet is termed a bayt and the line within the bayt is called a misra. In the first couplet, both lines end in the rhyme and refrain so that the ghazal's rhyme scheme is AA BA CA etc.
Enjambment across lines or between couplets is not permitted in a strict ghazal; each couplet must be a complete sentence (or several sentences) in itself.
All the couplets, and each line of each couplet, must share the same meter.
Ghazal is simply the name of a form, and is not language-specific. Ghazals exist, for example, in Arabic, Bengali, Persian, Urdu, Turkish, Kashmiri, Gujarati, Malayalam, Punjabi, Kurdish and Pashtu and many other languages.
In languages of Indian sub-continent ghazals occasionally contain no radif. Such ghazals are termed "ġair-muraddaf" ghazal. The pre-Islamic Arabian qasida was in monorhyme; like the rest of the qasida, the ghazal itself did not have a radif.
Although every sher may be an independent poem in itself, the shers may share the same theme or even display continuity of thought. This is called a musalsal ghazal, or "continuous ghazal". The ghazal "chupke chupke raat din aasUU bahaanaa yaad hai" is a famous example of a musalsal ghazal.
In modern Urdu poetry, there are a few ghazals which do not follow the restriction that the same beher must be used in both the lines of a sher. But even in these ghazals, qaafiyaa and, usually, radif are present.
By placing his or her takhallus (pen name) in the maqta or final sher, the poet traditionally attempted to secure credit for his or her work. Poets often made elegant use of their takhallus in the maqta.

anyway, i just found it stuck in the ghalib book when i went to put it aside to return it. it's a work in progress (not that i'll ever finish it), but insofar as it's my blog and i'm doing the transitional emotional rollercoaster, i figure i can indulge myself and post a poem i wrote about nepal, on the theme of beginnings and ending. it's after the jump.

morning broke, huddled close to the flames, no one spoke
eyes watering from dissipating smoke

gone down the path, eyes turned away from peaks of thatched
rooves, chimneys, below dissipating smoke

hands low, eyes closed, two swaying slow to no beat but
the empty room, in dissipating smoke

eyes wry and dark with the mileage on his heart, stood
up and walked out through dissipating smoke

fragrant sticks, metal thick with colored rice; the sun's
eye opens behind dissipating smoke.

मेरो पहिलो आफै पाकेको खाना: my first self-cooked daal bhat

2011-06-10T17:35:00.002+05:30

oh daal bhat...you, i'll miss the most.
but, fortunately, i can now cook you all on my very own.

daal bhat is about 50% of what you need to know about nepal. for all of the ethnic, linguistic, and culinary diversity in nepal, daal bhat is the common denominator, the staple meal for the vast majority of the population. it consists, at its most basic, of a MASSIVE mound of rice (bhat), and a watery legume soup (daal). standard additions are some kind of curried vegetable (tarkaari), sauteed greens (saag), one or two of an enormous variety of pickle or spicy sauce (achhar), and possibly meat and/or a little yogurt (dahi). it's eaten twice a day, mid-morning and early evening, served on a big metal plate, all in heaps and/or small metal bowls around the mound of rice. you eat it by pouring the dal on the rice bit by bit, and then MUSHING EVERYTHING TOGETHER AND EATING WITH YOUR HANDS, which is flippin' awesome. you're fully expected to have multiple portions of everything.

anyway, shockingly, i never cooked it for myself at any point in the last two years. firstly, i live in fear of pressure cookers. there's a reason they get used as improvised bombs. furthermore, it's pretty labor intensive (plan on two hours prep and cooking) and so ubiquitous that it really just makes more sense to pop down the street to literally any restaurant. i also have yet to find a good recipe online, so learning how to cook it would have required a lesson that i never seemed to get around to. but i recently bought my own copy of a taste of nepal, a cookbook i've gotten for several people as a present. the other night, both my roomie and i were CRAVING dal bhat, so we just went for it. we think it turned out pretty well for a first attempt, but by that point it was about 9pm, and we may have lost perspective in our starving state.

in any case, full recipes after the jump (hopefully i won't get a cease and desist letter from ms. patak).

there are, like, uncountable variations on all of these recipes, from region to region and household to household. i just pulled these from the cookbook 'cause they looked tasty and we had most of the ingredients.

black daal
1 cup split black urad beans
1 1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp salt [note: this was totally not enough. load 'er up with salt. everyone here does]
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/8 tsp szewchwan pepper (timur, locally) [again, i don't think this was enough]
3 tbs clarified butter [i used olive oil]
2-3 [or 6, whatevs] dried red chilies, halved and seeded
1/2 tsp jimbu [you can literally only get this in nepal. i didn't have it-- tasted fine]
generous pinch asafetida [trust me, it tastes better than it smells]
2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 tbs finely julienned ginger

sort and wash beans, and combine with minced ginger, salt, turmeric, timur, 1tbs of clarified butter, with 3 1/2 cups water in a deep heavy pot. quick boil over medium-high heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. cover and reduce to simmer until beans double in size, adding more water to maintain soupy-ness if necessary. remove from heat.

in a small skillet, heat the remaining 2 tbs of butter. fry chilis and jimbu for about 5 seconds, add asafetia and immediately ginger and garlic and fry 'til crisp. pour it all into the daal, stir, cover, and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

mixed vegetable curry
this isn't a curry like you'll see in indian restaurants. similar flavor, but no liquid-y stuff.

1 medium-sized head cauliflower
1/2 c. mustard oil [so tasty]
2 [or a billion] dried red chilies, stemmed
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds [didn't have them-- was fine]
1/4 tsp cumin seeds [not enough. go to town]
1/4 tsp jimbu [again, not problem not to have]
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
2 green cardamom pods, crushed
1 stick cinnamon, halved
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 bay leaf [didn't have it- was fine]
2 whole cloves [i put in more than this]
1 tbs minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 small bell pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
3-4 green onions, finely chopped
1 tsp garam masal [i added more]

break cauliflower into smallish florets
heat mustard oil in a wide, heavy saucepan until faintly smoking. add chili, chili, fenugreek, cumin seed, jimbu, and fry until dark and fragrant (~5 seconds). add potatoes, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, bay, and cloves. stir frequently until potatoes are light brown, then transfer them to a bowl with a slotted spoon. cook cauliflower in same pan for about 5 minutes, then add ginger, coriander, cumin, salt, and cayenne. cover and reduce heat to medium. cook and stir until cauliflower is half cooked (~15 minutes). mix in potatoes and the other veggies. cook until tender (~10-12 mins). stir in cilantro, green onions and garam masala.

no-cook tomato achhar
6 roughly chopped tomatos [you should de-seed them too, or the whole thing's a bit watery]
8-10 fresh hot green chilies, roughly chopped
1/2 c finely chopped cilantro
2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2tsps peeled and chopped ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground timur
1 tsp mustard oil
1 tbs lemon or lime juice

blend it, biatch.

i also whipped up a quick raita with cucumber, yogurt, olive oil, and cumin.
and i hope i don't have to tell y'all how to cook rice.

missed (?) opportunities and musings on privilege

2011-05-26T10:38:00.003+05:30

wowza have i been neglectful of this blog. mostly, i've been trying to stave off the panic of leaving nepal (in about three weeks!) with no job lined up-- both through sheer force of will, and the more practical measure of applying for lots and lots of jobs. i'm trying to remember, though, that i'm plenty young. even if i don't score a job that's both interesting to me and a more conventional/financially secure career move, i can go farm, and get some hands on experience to continue a career in food security and food systems, or i'll give this freelance journalism thing a shot.

i was thinking about the latter option when i saw that one of my favorite feminist blogs was having a short fiction contest where the only constraints were a 500-word limit and a female main character. i figured this was a perfect opportunity to a) get writing and b) get used to putting my writing out to be judged. i would work up a few pieces, ask some friends for comments, and submit the best. i had written one and started a second, when i went to check the deadline and saw that they had closed the contest early, due to overwhelming response. bummer

then i thought, wait a sec, the first piece was set in nepal. i already wrote the thing, and i can still practice getting used to putting it out there (admittedly to a much kinder audience)....

ANYWAY. it's after the jump. it's set sometime in the early 2000s in ktm, and it's (supposed to be) riffing on the theme of privilege.

She hugged her satchel to her hip as she sidled past a boy with a runny nose and soot-smudged cheeks.

“Please, one, ma’am” he said, holding out a stack of garish postcards, emblazoned with images of the Hindu holy family, Shiva and Parvati, and their elephant headed-son, Ganesh.

“Chhaidaina, bhai,” she replied, in Nepali. Not needed, little brother.

“Please, ma’am”

“Chhaidaina. Jaum” Go.

The air conditioning hit her face like a benediction as she crossed the threshold of the café, slick and clean like an airport terminal. She scanned the room. He wasn’t there yet, so she moved to the back and sat down, pulling out a thick sheaf of work papers. The other patrons were mostly foreigners, plugging away at their laptops, with a smattering of well-heeled Nepalis—one young couple, discreetly holding hands under the table in the corner. A teenager sat by himself at the table opposite fiddling with a pencil. A student, to judge by his thin exercise book and neatly pressed collared shirt.

The price of coffee made her wince-- twice as much as any other place in town, but worth it for electricity and internet at one of the few places open during a bandh, political protests that shut down transportation and all the smaller shops. Personally, she found bandhs a welcome relief from the smog and traffic that otherwise dominated Kathmandu. She ignored the waiter’s demeanor, both deferential and slightly lecherous, long since inured to the perceptions of foreign women’s sexual openness. It still wasn’t as bad as one colleague at the UN agency where she worked. Studied abroad, but seems to want to use his English as a romantic, rather than professional advantage, she thought ruefully, glancing back at her notes.

Through the window, she saw a tourist, jaunty in fancy trekking gear, buying a devotional image from the boy. The ongoing conflict in the hills hadn’t deterred tourists, thronging below, a jumble of brightly colored harem pants, dreadlocks, and oversized cameras, dodging offers of hash and prostitutes from the margins of the narrow streets. Her own work didn’t take her out of her office much, so she didn’t know what to make of the occasional headline across the English language daily, or her colleagues’ whispered debates. It would pass, she imagined, like other political upheavals here.

He was late. She felt silly, but she had had hopes when she spotted him across the crowded bar, through the smoke, like some noir cliché. A relief from all the familiar faces, weekend after weekend…

“Bhai, timro jhola…”

The student glanced at her as she spoke, his dark brown eyes wide with surprise. He hesitated, still looking at her, picked up his forgotten bag with a nod, and went, leaving his pencil abandoned on the table.

Still not here. She sighed, and watched the student go down the stairs and out to the street below, where he placed his bag on the uneven pavement and walked off.

A flash of light from below. The world exploded.

today in affirmation

2011-05-09T14:52:00.000+05:30

i love blogger stats, especially when they tell me that someone has stumbled across this blog, repository of my inner thoughts and casual intellectual exercises, the venue through which i present to the world my experiences in nepal, by searching the term "new nepali sex blogs". so yeah. there's that.

recently spotted in my neighborhood

2011-05-09T09:50:00.000+05:30

a nepali/korean restaurant that i pass on the way to work has just renamed itself: soul food garden restaurant.

"fabulous fab world" garment shop is getting a fresh coat of bright pink paint.

i saw a kid on the back of a motorbike wearing a tshirt that looked like it was for a death metal band. i am 98% sure that the name on the shirt was "MISHEGOSS".

god, am i going to miss this place.

initial thoughts on obl's death: d'tzach adash b'achav

2011-05-02T13:44:00.001+05:30

i've been watching the responses to the death of bin laden with interest and, often, sadness.

let's be totally clear: i, too, rejoice at the death of bin laden. i don't care that he was killed, rather than caught and made to stand trial for his crimes. those crimes, both legal and moral, the promotion of hatemongering and extremism and terrible acts of murder and violence mean that his death is both a moral and strategic victory for all of us.

however, i think it's essential that our celebrations be dignified and leavened with a little solemnity. in pursuit of the necessary justice that bin laden's death brings, we should appreciate and remember the sacrifices of armed forces personnel pursuing him, and we should certainly remember the innocent lives of iraqi, afghani, and pakistani civilians that were lost, and those who have been displaced from their homes, possibly never to return.

last week, the jewish festival of passover concluded. during passover, jews recite the story of our liberation from enslavement in egypt, our departure and first steps towards the holy land. it is, as so many of our holidays are, a celebration of our survival. yet, in the heart of the seder, during the retelling of our triumph, we recite the ten plagues that god rained down upon the egyptians to effect our escape. at each plague's name, we remove a drop of wine with our fingertips from the one the four ritual cups of wine consumed at the seder, to signify that, while we rejoice, we feel sorrow for the suffering of our oppressors that was required to set us free. later, as the egyptians pursue the jews across the red sea, god drowns them. they sing a song of praise, and the angels start to join in. god reprimands them, saying, "the works of my hands [my children, the egyptians] are drowning, and you wish to sing praises?"*

but this isn't about religion, and it's certainly not about politics. it's about humanity. it's about acknowledging that triumph comes with a price. it's about rejecting simplistic narratives that would say otherwise, and lead us down a path that brings us dangerously close to disregarding and devaluing the lives of other humans, which is, after all, what separates us from people like bin laden in the first place.

*thanks to dan for posting this in his fb status, and getting me thinking.

elegies V

2011-04-20T16:25:00.001+05:30

the poem from my last elegies post made me think of another one, one of my favorites. it's from a genre of palestinian exile poetry. i've only found this one translation online, aside from where i originally read it a few years ago, in a book for class on the israel-palestine conflict.

"The Traveler"
-Yusuf Abdul al-Aziz

He visits the station,
buys a ticket, and goes away.
He dreams of the unblinking sun,
of inns by the sea,
and the woman like a lily.
He drinks her kiss
in bed
near quiet window.
Always he had gathered his days
as the sea gathers its waves at twilight.
He watched them closely, then departed
for inscrutable destinations.
-Did you find the right departure date?
-No, I found the road that has severed the river
from its source.

"elegies" is a series of no-particular-format posts i'm writing as i begin the countdown to my departure in june, after nearly two years in kathmandu... mostly musings on life and lov and transition, what's gone before and what's coming next.

correlation o' the day

2011-04-20T11:34:00.001+05:30

new from oktrends, 10 charts showing random significant correlations about sex, drawn from their user data base. the last one gives me an excuse to re-blog it!

it compares per capita GDP of a nation to the tendency of okcupid users in that nation to indicate that they are looking for casual sex. the fine folks there found that:

"...money seems to be a more powerful influence on sex drive than culture or even religion. You have, for example, Portugal, Oman, Slovenia, and Taiwan within a few pixels of each other on the right side of the graph, and Syria, Sri Lanka, and Guatemala almost stacked on the left, and all of them sit along the trend line."

you can click through the link above to toggle over the data points to see individual country data, but here's an image of the graph by region:

right. so i think this is an interesting jumping off point, if not a satisfying final conclusion. several things occur to me, and they mostly have to do with how we're defining our independent and dependent variables: prosperity an sexual proclivity.

Prosperity as independent variable measured by per capita GDP

1) Is per capita GDP here nominal or PPP-adjusted? is it what we should be using as a measure of prosperity? in my limited understanding, median income may be preferable, since it eliminates outliers in countries with large wealth gaps, where a few very folks may monopolize a lot of wealth (like the US!)

2) what other, more specific economic variables or variables associated with prosperity did the okT folks try? literacy? income inequality? family size? i wonder if any of these would produce a closer relationship...

3) what about non-economic variables? the okT folks also have access to data about strength of religious conviction which i suspect would correlate cross-nationally. there must be a way to compare this to other data sets about average religiosity in a given country. which brings us to the second set of issues...

"National" sexual proclivity as a dependent variable

...as measured by okCupid users in a given country, a self-selected population

and there we have the crux of the issue. okT doesn't try to obscure this fact, but i think it's something even more interesting to investigate, and something that quantitative analysis will only get you so far on [resists urge to climb atop methodologies soapbox].

basically, the most pressing issue here is that, for many of the countries shown, the dependent and independent variables are describing two significantly different populations. in a countries like the US or australia, with a high number of internet users and a (larger) social acceptance of internet dating, i think it's fair to say that those individuals willing to get on the internet and declare that they're looking for a random shag may be, if still self-selecting, to some degree representative of a larger population.

but think of other countries, especially developing world countries, where both populations, internet users and internet daters, are smaller. it seems to me, the self-selection bias gets much much stronger in those circumstances. now, this is surely still tied to some measure of economic prosperity, but i think it also implies that, in a lot of these places, we might be looking at a lot of different things: changing social trends and cultural mores, how early adopters of internet technologies are using the unique public/private space online to buck these mores, or again, push change. i small a comparative case study coming on!

anway, this is just off the top of m head this morning. what do other people think?

i've asked the nice people at okT for their data, although i don't know if they can share it, so maybe we can test some of this stuff later.

elegies IV

2011-04-17T14:28:00.000+05:30

it seems like every day now, something happens that brings home to me, with a stomach-churning pang, how much i will miss nepal.

i'm the unofficial additional roomie in the house across the road, popping over unannounced to charge my computer from their inverter, a luxury. fortunately, none of the various people who have lived here over the last year and half seem to have a problem with showing up home to find me sitting in their living room. c and i are there now, scrolling through my phone to send a mass text to gauge the social temperature for the night. probably only about a third of the numbers in my phone are people who are still here. i don't know why i haven't erased the outdated ones, and say as much to c, who has been here even longer than i.

"yeah," she says, "my phone's like a graveyard for old friends as well."
except they don't feel dead or gone to me, no matter how bad i've been about keeping in touch.

when my parents were here, my dad came along to our local bar to hear a friend's band play. it's one of the first places i ever went out in nepal, but a year a half later, it's like an extension of my living room, my personal nepali cheers. it is seedy, smoky, and dark, with layer upon layer of markered graffiti on the yellow walls; i am convinced i will never find any bar that i like as much, no matter where i go. a huge group of friends has gamely shown up to have a beer and chat to my dad. i, almost greedily, watch their faces and let their conversations wash around me. i am warmed by quiet pleasure. what remarkable, smart, funny people i know, and have known, here. my memory fills in the images of all of the people who aren't here now, who left a month or six months or a year ago, sitting around with us, as if they left yesterday. i wish i could introduce my parents to them, as well, but they'll have to rely on stories, unpaired with faces.

we've had a great afternoon, despite the rain. we grilled for my roomie's birthday, and people came in and out all afternoon and evening to eat and drink and talk. i took one last set of pictures of the birthday boy and a close friend of his, who was leaving to go back to australia, and later marveled at the open love on their faces as i scrolled through the photos. by this point, it's gotten dark, and i'm having a side conversation with another friend. he's in a long-distance, cross-cultural relationship, and it is understandably hard. i tell him, although i'm single, i think i know how he feels. i have been lucky enough to have many, many people i love, from college, from childhood, from nepal. they're scattered all over the world now, but i still feel connected to them. it is an exhausting blessing, i say. in my (rare) quiet moments, when i think about them, the connections soothe me, but i also feel as if i'm pouring love through those connections, beginning with me in kathmandu, end emptying in america, australia, spain, england, india, south africa. you sometimes wonder if the supply is unending, or if you'll get to the bottom of the well and wonder just what's left of you.

later that night, people are clearing out. one of my close friends comes over and squeezes me, hard. his cologne is familiar and overwhelming.

"if you don't keep in touch with me, i'm going to come find you," he says. "and take care of yourself. i won't be around to"

i'm surprised. he is a notoriously unsentimental person. it's one of the reasons we get along. "whatever," i say gruffly, "i'm leaving in two months, not tomorrow."

"maybe," he says, "but here, two months is tomorrow."

it's not just the people, i find.

wrestling with my landlord's puppy; smelling the chicken roasting in the kebab shop on the corner; passing the rather startled looking woman's face painted on the sign for the "hair saloon" down the street; cheerfully arguing with cab drivers; making plans to get tea with the owner of the grocery store; the ease of buying veggies on my way home from work; clucking over the unseasonal rain, but seeing the mountain peaks emerge in the distance as the winter pollution is cleared from the air.

all of these things and a million more overwhelm me with a sudden, dazzling, bewildering feeling of love on a daily basis. maybe it's that this is the first place i've lived for long enough, outside of the pre-existing structures of family or university, to feel like a home i've made for myself. it is, as much as my hometown or my college years, such a large part of who i am, partly because i'm so young.

but this sense of love and homecoming i feel in kathmandu is inextricably tied to longing for the other homes i've had. while i sit and drink tea at the cafe, just in front of the ganesh statue, the sun hits me a certain way or some song comes on, and i'm suddenly yanked away. i'm tossing my deli-juice soaked apron off at the end of work and heading to the beach on the cape; i'm lying with friends in the courtyard of our residential college, our textbooks still closed as we stare up at the may blossoms against brown stone and iron of the gothic architecture.

the paradox of such simultaneous embededness and dislocation is dizzying.

before i left for nepal, i read a poem about kathmandu that a childhood friend's mother had given me. that's nice, i thought. the book stayed on my shelf when i moved here.

she recently ran into my parents, a small town inevitability, and, learning that my time here was drawing to a close, sent me the poem again via email. this time i read it twice. once to myself, and once to my then roommate, who was leaving the next day for the states. after, we sat together on the porch, quietly, listening to the dogs bark, and, i imagine, feeling the levels in the well fall, and rise, and fall again.

SESTINA: HERE IN KATMANDU
Donald Justice (1925-2004)

We have climbed the mountain.
There's nothing more to do.
It is terrible to come down
To the valley
Where, amidst many flowers,
One thinks of snow,

As formerly, amidst snow,
Climbing the mountain,
One thought of flowers,
Tremulous, ruddy with dew,
In the valley.
One caught their scent coming down.

It is difficult to adjust, once down,
To the absense of snow.
Clear days, from the valley,
One looks up at the mountain.
What else is there to do?
Prayer wheels, flowers!

Let the flowers
Fade, the prayer wheels run down.
What have they to do
With us who have stood atop the snow
Atop the mountain,
Flags seen from the valley?

It might be possible to live in the valley,
To bury oneself among flowers,
If one could forget the mountain,
How, never once looking down,
Stiff, blinded with snow,
One knew what to do.

Meanwhile it is not easy here in Katmandu,
Especially when to the valley
That wind which means snow
Elsewhere, but here means flowers,
Comes down,
As soon it must, from the mountain.

"elegies" is a series of no-particular-format posts i'm writing as i begin the countdown to my departure in june, after nearly two years in kathmandu... mostly musings on life and love and transition, what's gone before and what's coming next.

i don't think it's possible to forget the mountain.

perspective: everything's amazing, but nobody's happy.

2011-04-16T10:06:00.000+05:30

a gchat conversation between me and a friend who lived in nepal but went back to the states about four months ago...

her: ok, i'll let you go. let's skype sometime
me: yes, when i'm not sick, and at [cafe] writing grants on a saturday, hating life.
her: haha. ooh [cafe] <3
me: no, i hate [cafe] but i had the realization that it is literally the only place in kathmandu [within walking distance] that has consistent internet, electricity and toilet paper.
her: dude, it's so funny how much we focused on that there. but here in america, we have all those things, and it's like...still plenty of things to complain about.

re-watched this, and bracing for the culture shock...

blog pimpin'

2011-04-14T12:24:00.000+05:30

two more excellent blogs from friends in nepal:

my friend ben has just finished facilitating the establishment of improved emergency medical services in nepal. he's also a sick dj. check out his descripton of the process here.

simon's a fulbrighter and a nice guy who writes about interesting stuff. check him out here.

kasto moto bhayo: changing body image ideals in developing countries?

2011-04-13T16:35:00.000+05:30

i've been meaning to write this particular "wacky cultural gap" post since, literally, the first week i arrived here, but a recently released study makes the whole issue more interesting and pertinent again.

in the most recent issue of cultural anthropology, researchers from ASU did a nine-site cross cultural survey of attitudes towards weight, and found that there is an overwhelming prevalence of "fat stigma," even in cultures, like american samoa, where attitudes as recently as ten years ago were traditionally considered "fat positive." the researchers credit this to the spread of western (and particularly american) influence and images. i'll leave aside an interrogation of the researchers' methods and findings (for instance: what socio-economic class did respondents belong to?) since the full article is gated [shakes fist at a cruel god], but it certainly seems disheartening.

anyone who's lived in a western country has a pretty robust understanding of "fat stigma". the connotation of the word fat is not limited to physical size, or even physical attractiveness, but has moral implications. if you are fat, you are lazy, undisciplined, stupid, and on and on (it goes without saying that i'm not a fan of this).

so it is understandably shocking to arrive in nepal and be told how fat, or moto, you are by as diverse a group of people as (off the top of my head, from like the last couple months): your coworkers, your cab driver, your landlords, the guy at the bakery, the lady at the tailor, and random folks you've just met. and just wait until a guy you've sort of been seeing suggests you buy men's jeans if you can't find a pair that fits. it's not just about weight, either. people will tell you look beautiful, or more commonly, sick, tired, or unhappy. frank commentary on appearance is par for the social course. but it is, of course, "fat," which strikes the most alarming chord with those of us raised in western cultures, especially the states. after all, we're the nation that spawned an entire genre of mortal insult predicated on impugning the honor of one's progenitor based on their BMI.

of course, we seasoned foreigner nepal-wallahs, cultural experts that we are, tell ourselves, chuckling uncertainly and sucking in our guts, "well of course that's not a bad thing here. in their culture, it means you're happy, or rich. really, it's very flattering. heh heh."

well, sort of.

it's true that, traditionally, the nepali word that translates literally to "fat", moto, had the connotation of being happy, healthy, wealthy, and attractive. dublo means thin, but also potentially sickly or weak. but my impression is that these categories are shifting, particularly among younger generations. it's unclear to what degree nepal fits into the ASU researchers' thesis. i would say that it basically does, if at one step removed. i agree, if the basic thesis is that economic power breeds cultural power breeds changing understandings and practice, either acquiescent or resistant to the hegemony*. as a nit-picky thing though, i would say that if nepal is becoming influenced by new "westernized" norms, it is via india, and in the case of body image, especially bollywood.

for instance, the first time i came in wearing nepali clothing, my coworkers complimented me on how nice i looked, with some degree of surprise, including a couple of peer-coworkers who had reacted skeptically to my inquiries about wearing kurta when i arrived, about six months earlier.

"but you didn't think i should get one before," i said.

"well, you just...you were shaped very differently then, much differently than nepali women," he hedged.

knowing the score by this point, as well as how much weight six months of chronic diarrhea and two field trips to remote nepal will inspire, i laughed. "pretty fat then, huh?"

"oh," he said, laughing with relief, "SO fat."

we chatted more about the nepali vs. western ideals of body image, and one agreed that the "traditional" understandings of "fat" and "thin" were more or less true.

"of course," he said, "the ladies prefer to be thin."

this is maybe a bit of a throw away post, but it serves as a potential jumping off point for discussion about food security, nutrition, and public health in nepal (for instance, the growing diabetes epidmic). more importantly, it is implicated what i think are really interesting questions of "modernity," "tradition," and particularly trans-national flows of power in a country like nepal, which has seen exponential rates of social and political change in the last ten years, and shows no signs of slowing down.

*bonus: for a shockingly depoliticized and deliciously condescending view of both "traditional" and "changing" standards of beauty around the world, check out this oprah slide show.

29 march quicklinks

2011-03-30T12:02:00.000+05:30

i'm too distracted for a theme right now, but you'll get a treat if you read all the way through to the end...

my friend suren is the lead singer of a pretty popular nepali rock outfit, karma band. he's in the states right now, and is performing it boston. check it out:

with that said, go because the concert should be fun, NOT to donate to japan. smarter, more experienced people than i have have already talked about why the rush to give to japan is a bad thing. in fact, the japanese government has restricted the donations it will take, so do your research if you want to give. while my parents were here, we were talking about what impact means, and i cited donations to japan as a major example of how donors need to stop getting what they think they want, and be educated about what is really needed.

seriously, if you like telenovelas, you'll LOVE hindi serials. emily does a break down of her new favorite, where bollywood gets on the sexy vampire bandwagon. and if that's not enough south asian cinematic goodness for you, check out the truly glorious awkward bollywood tumblr [h/t the ajnabee].

for those of us who can't get the basketball on tv (and have a robust nerdy streak), check out march madness for development economists and democrats vs. dictators.

a view from the cave has a good critique of the nyt coverage of voluntourism. he's basically said it, but still... it's amazing. it's like completely different people wrote the introduction, which has the most glancing, lip-service note on the critics of voluntourism, and the actual description of the trips. for instance...
intro:

"But the idea of “volunteer vacations” has been met with controversy: many not-for-profits say that the logistics of putting people on the ground disrupt the flow of care, and that fly-by-night foreigners are stealing long-term jobs from locals. These eight organizations are challenging that perception."

and, later:

"Project Brazil places volunteers in the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro for 15 days to assist at a day care center with children 6 years and younger. Community Development in Peru sends volunteers to build efficient traditional cooking stoves and work in a women’s weaving co-op near Cuzco."

[does incredulous double take]

for more voluntourism discussion, check out my friend david's article, published in the latest SINHAS, on "The Anatomy of Ephemeral Healthcare: "Health Camps" and Short Term Medical Voluntourism in Remote Nepal" [update: forgot it's not available online. send me an email and i'll see if i can hook you up]. seriously, homeboy spent eight months in humla. he deserves a medal.

and in the latest from our corporate overlords...the US gvt bends over for GE, both the company and the crop varieties. i am not hopeful for the results of the wal-mart sex discrimination case, which gives the supreme court the chance to "keep up with the joneses", as it were, in terms of america's hottest two political trends of the year...whereby the only thing you can do more intensely than love corporate influence is hate women.

on the bright side, there's always delicious, delicious pop music. trust me, watch this video. it's brilliant, and not even in a rebecca black so bad it's good kind of way:

elegies III

2011-03-28T10:19:00.001+05:30

i don't know whether it's coming from a house or a store, but there is one place on my walk home from work, just as i come up this little slope, past the intersection, where i am always engulfed in the smell of fresh ground cumin.

"elegies" is a series of no-particular-format posts i'm writing as i begin the countdown to my departure in june, after nearly two years in kathmandu... mostly musings on life and love and transition, what's gone before and what's coming next. i will never use pre-ground spices ever again.

coming soon to a computer near you...

2011-03-26T18:02:00.000+05:30

parents visiting (yay) + being sick (boo) + work nuttiness (meh) = posting negligence.
BUT i'll be back later this week with all sorts of goodies, including: reflections on jim ferguson 20 years later, further elegies (SO EMO), a veritable orgy of quicklinks, and, a higher power (my boss and the fine folks at WFP) willing, an update on the research deal.

for now, though, big ups and happy spring to you all.

elegies II

2011-03-18T10:31:00.000+05:30

i hadn't planned on, well, planning my next move, but a few things cropped up on my RSS feeds, and so i applied. now i have nightmares about interviews. it's overwhelming to consider the sheer number of possibilities (not to mention constraints), and to play out the the domino-effect that my choices now may have on my whole life path. i do find that this paralysis in the face of options is mitigated by my youth, relative to many of my other friends and fellow itinerants in kathmandu. one of these recently said:

"The other evening, I found myself once again wondering what it was that I was being called to do with my life and I decided that it was to walk in the light.

This afternoon I started this blog because I wanted to know what, exactly, we meant by that"

check it out.

"elegies" is a series of no-particular-format posts i'm writing as i begin the countdown to my departure in june, after nearly two years in kathmandu... mostly musings on life and love and transition, what's gone before and what's coming next.

elegies I

2011-03-17T14:28:00.000+05:30

i'm having a beer with my roommate and another friend on the front porch of my house. my parents are arriving in kathmandu the next day. i'm excited, if slightly anxious about justifying my last year and a half of life decisions to them. i describe to my friends (s. is nepali and j. is an aussie who's been here long enough to know the ropes) some of the ways i've tried to describe life in kathmandu to my parents.

"i tell them, it's like... in the states, if you were to, say, accidentally step on a dead animal or get run off the sidewalk by a motorcycle bearing down on you from behind...that would be an extraordinarily bad day, like a need-to-go-debrief-with-a-friend-over-multiple-beers level of disruptive. here, it just...is. unpleasant perhaps, but nothing out of the question"

s. laughs and j. says, "well, i'm ok with all of it, except not having electricity when the [cricket] world cup is on." he holds his computer up, squinting at the screen as he tries to register a better wifi connection.

the power cuts out. without the light pollution, the stars are brighter than you would see in any urban area in the states. i hug my knees closer to my chest. from late february through mid-april, kathmandu has dry and warm and bright, playing-hooky to lie in the sun kind of weather, but it is still gets a little chilly at night.

"mm yes. we do lead a charmed life," i say, taking a sip. i am very much serious.

"elegies" is a series of no-particular-format posts i'm writing as i begin the countdown to my departure in june, after nearly two years in kathmandu... mostly musings on life and love and transition, what's gone before and what's coming next.

17th march quicklinks

2011-03-17T13:55:00.002+05:30

this week: scandal! mystery! but mostly... links that really grind my gears. featuring...

MISOGYNY!
...yet more victim-blaming in texas and elsewhere.
...so you think workplace discrimination is dead, and feminism obsolete?

POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY!
...yes, it's much easier to cut the $600 child tax credit than raise taxes on the top 1% of taxpayers who might make a campaign contribution, isn't it gov. snyder?
...i can't even think of something sassy, i'm so furious.

CORPORATE INTERESTS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR HEALTH AND OUR EARTH!
...wait, you mean that your obvious cost-saving strategies in farmed meat production might have massive externalities that will be passed on to me? NO WAY.
...but, but... agrobiodiversity preservation and integrated smallholder farming systems aren't nearly so profitable!

INTELLECTUAL LAZINESS!
..."the Japanese have resources because they are rich, and it was their social solidarity that helped get them there". wait, say what there, easterly?

fortunately, i also discovered the good man project magazine, "a gathering place for thoughtful men with a conscience," which i suspect will be a soothing addition to my google reader.

through the google scholar rabbit hole...

2011-03-16T16:00:00.000+05:30

...it gets odd. like foucault meets UFO kinda odd.

click to embiggen

11th march quicklinks: first, kill all the journalists

2011-03-11T12:47:00.001+05:30

...not really. but many of the links i have from this past week have an element of critiquing the media to them, so i thought i'd pluck the low-hanging fruit, theme-wise.

totalitarian kitsch: i'm as guilty as anyone else of this particular offense. in light of the recent oppressive quashing of revolutions, the sometimes outrageously hypocritical responses to them, and the disheartening and infuriating revelations about US intellectuals' roles in the rehabilitation of dictators' images, can we afford not to re-examine the role that we, as media purveyors and consumers, have in downplaying the crimes of dictators by painting them as wacky but harmless, or even sort of adorable? the ajnabee has some thoughts.

from bitch media, a guide to getting past the terrible, sensationalist coverage that too often characterizes scientific reporting, particularly on gender, race, and culture. [h/t christine]

speaking of feminist media i enjoy, jezebel reported on the follow up to the DKE fraternity rape chant at yale, where they've done an admirable of committing to seriously looking at the university's culture and policies on sexual misconduct and misogyny. most of the post is the email sent from yale college dean mary miller, who deserves a LOT of credit for getting things rolling in a legitimate way. the fact that she was the master of my residential college (SAY WHAT? SAYBROOK!) and, briefly, my advisor, shouldn't invalidate it when i say that she is a feminist and general baller of the first order. i DO wish that the article had given more of a shout out to the yale women faculty forum, which submitted the original report with recommendations for reforming sexual misconduct policy at yale even before the DKE incident (full disclosure: i drafted it). but still. heady times.

neelika jayawardane offers a very cogent, and rightfully indignant criticism of a newsweek "guide for seize-the-day types" on where to travel before the next revolution hits. as if the general premise weren't in pretty poor taste, and the descriptions weren't rife with essentializing Orientalist crap, jayawardane points out that the authors don't even seem to have a very good sense of the political situations they're commenting on. the description of nepal's current status is sparse and sort of unobjectionable, except for the sort of weird, historical non-sequitor about china, which didn't actually border nepal until the annexation of tibet (with whom nepal HAD fought several previous wars), at which point CHINA chose to close the border. [h/t blattman]

and (one of) my internet crush(es), scott gilmore at PDT, has a serious gripe with selective coverage of kidnappings, and how that affects the safety of aid workers.

happy weekend!

where my nerds at?

2011-03-11T11:58:00.000+05:30

a list of color-related idioms in other languages...

...and from the warwick economics summit, a statistical analysis of why this man does not have a girlfriend:

Watch live streaming video from warwickeconomicssummit at livestream.com

life's little pleasures

2011-03-10T09:58:00.000+05:30

as i was walking home from work yesterday, a small, colorful, slightly broke-ass truck covered in tarp passed me, bumping this song. and you know what? my life was a little better for it.

teach for...pakistan?

2011-03-09T13:28:00.000+05:30

sorry! went all MIA. applications, filing what will hopefully be my first travel article, and a viciously tainted falafel (at what proved to be a really awesome wax tailor concert), have set me back a bit.

in the meantime! another south asia gig for those of you with some teaching experience (and possibly a death wish)....

Millions of children in Pakistan face the dual problem of educational inequity: limited access to schools and poor quality of schooling, and are thus denied access to educational opportunities that would enable them to improve their life prospects. Teach For Pakistan is a nationwide movement of outstanding graduates and young professionals who will commit two years to teach in under-resourced schools and go on to become life-long leaders working from all fields to expand educational opportunity. The Teach For Pakistan Fellowship is a two-year paid position during which Fellows are placed as full-time teachers in low income public and private schools in Karachi. The experience you will gain with us is compatible with the pursuit of a very broad range of personal and professional goals. Through this program you have the potential to transform the lives of hundreds of children and families, and shape the future of Pakistan. Join the Teach For Pakistan Fellowship to start the movement to end educational inequity. More information

more nepal jobs

2011-03-06T15:14:00.000+05:30

ACDI/VOCA is "currently seeking a Deputy Chief of Party, a Grants Manager, and two Regional Program Managers for an anticipated USAID-funded, multiyear Partnerships for Local Development project in Nepal. This program will target six districts in the East and will focus on strengthening these communities to better direct their own local development through 1) stabilizing initiatives that facilitate enabling environments; 2) building capacity to identify and have access to resources to engage in participatory activities, 3) supporting new local government units in the targeted communities to function effectively. This position is contingent on ACDI/VOCA being awarded the program." more details after the jump.

Deputy Chief of Party/Operations Manager, Nepal
Responsibilities:

Support the Chief of Party in attaining project goals and objectives by providing technical advice, implementation support and direction when appropriate.
Contribute to the cross-cutting goals of the program, including overseeing local procurement and grants administration, and working effectively with a variety of local partners in fluid, conflict-affected settings.
Oversee day-to-day planning, design and operations of project and subaward technical teams to ensure effective project implementation in multiple program areas simultaneously.
Financial management of the project including budgeting, tracking, reporting and accounting of finances and procurement.
Manage the project’s grants systems and commodity management scheme.

Qualifications:

Minimum of seven years’ experience in project implementation and management of good governance or community development assistance programs in developing or transitional countries.
The DCOP/Operations Manager must have at least two technical area specialties appropriate to the activity (community stabilization, community development, alternate dispute resolution, decentralization, local governance) as she/he will be responsible for technical program development as appropriate.
Minimum five years of experience in grant management, particularly in-kind and small grants.
Demonstrated history of providing highly effective technical and managerial leadership on sizable projects/programs (>$15 million).
Must have experience in logistics and procurement procedures, particularly in commodity management and tracking systems.
Demonstrated experience with USAID regulations, procedures, protocols and reporting requirements.
Demonstrated ability to manage programs in an unstable environment due to post-conflict, developing, civil unrest and evolving political process.
M.S., M.B.A., or other post-graduate degree in economics, business administration or other relevant technical fields.
Fluency in English is required, fluency in Nepali preferred.

No phone calls please. Only finalists contacted. Women and minorities encouraged to apply. EOE.

Grants Manager, Nepal
Responsibilities:

Manages and maintains accounting and finance records necessary for the effective administration and management of grants as well as coordinates orientation and capacity building of grantees. S/he will account for and pay invoices for grant and nongrant related (subcontracts, technical assistance) expenditures to include tracking monthly “burn rates” for each. S/he will work with other team members to visit project sites, organize management and technical trainings for grantees, and ensure the collection of M&E data from grantees. The Grant Officer position is important given the large GUC component of this activity.
Monitor and approve overall project funding allocations and expenditures and ensure that all project financial reporting is done in accordance with USAID regulations and ACDI/VOCA accounting policies and procedures.
Identify issues and risks related to program implementation in a timely manner and suggest appropriate program adjustments.
Maintain strong relationships with home office and donor, partners and collaborators, and any other associated stakeholder.
Represent ACDI/VOCA and the project to the public and donor community.
Ensure the establishment and management of a transparent, effective, and efficient grants program, including the management of grant agreements with local communities and partners.
Establish detailed systems and procedures for management of a subgrant program, including preparation of grant agreement templates and other compliance-related documents related to the solicitation, review and approval of grant requests as well as the monitoring and close-out of grant awards.
Identify grantees; build capacity of CSOs to develop grant proposals; identify training needs; oversee subcontracts and local providers; and complete other administrative tasks as assigned in support of the program

Qualifications:

A minimum of five years of experience in accounting and finance activities, ideally with a contractor or NGO working on development programming but private sector experience is also acceptable.
Mandatory knowledge and proven capability with relevant software packages, especially Microsoft Office (including Excel).
Experience overseeing implementation of grants as well as conducting needs assessments of grantees in order to provide targeted capacity building assistance to grantees as needed to ensure they are able to achieve their objectives.
The ideal candidate will have experience managing finances and financial transactions on programs subject to sanctions or special statutory or regulatory requirements.
Demonstrated knowledge of USAID financial and management systems, regulations and reporting requirements.
Degree in business administration, economics, agricultural economics or closely related field.
Fluency in English is required.

No phone calls please. Only finalists contacted. Women and minorities encouraged to apply. EOE.

Regional Program Managers, Nepal Responsibilities:

Manage multiple projects in six districts.
Coordinate with local organizations for grants activities.
Provide technical direction in decentralization, local governance, community development and in alternate dispute resolution and community stabilization.
Identify grantees and assist the Grants Manager in building the capacity of CSOs to develop grant proposals.
Identify training needs.
Oversee subcontracts and local providers.

Qualifications

Experience (at least five years required) in managing similar complex, integrated projects in countries or regions with comparable development challenges.
Demonstrated ability to manage multiple components simultaneously, coordinate multifunctional teams, liaise with host-country government officials, and coordinate effectively with other projects funded by the USG or other partners.
Experience with grant mechanisms in security-challenged environments required, with at least two years of experience working with local partners to develop grants.
Experience working with international NGOs required; prior experience working with USAID and knowledge of their procedures and reporting requirements preferred.
Experience in the Eastern Terai region—Biratnager, Dhankuta, Panchtar, Udayapur, Saptari and/or Sunsari—preferred.
Candidates with Nepali language capability highly preferred.

Additional Qualifications, Position A

Demonstrated success breaking down development challenges, creating and implementing solutions, and achieving measureable results in areas of decentralization, local governance, and community development work.
Education: Master’s degree in international development, community development or governance desirable.

Additional Qualifications, Position B

Demonstrated success breaking down development challenges, creating and implementing solutions, and achieving measureable results in areas of alternate dispute resolution, conflict mitigation and community stabilization work.
Education: Master’s degree in peace and conflict resolution or a related field desirable.

No phone calls please. Only finalists contacted. Women and minorities encouraged to apply. EOE.

nepal-related development gig

2011-03-04T17:39:00.000+05:30

if you're job hunting, check out this new post for executive director of dZi foundation, a colorado-based community development organization that does some really great work in nepal. full job description after the jump.

dZi FOUNDATION

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Executive Director

Location: Ridgway, Colorado

Posted by: dZi Foundation

Job Responsibilities: Organizational management and leadership, Project management and oversight, Administration, Accounting and Finance, Human resources, Fundraising support.

Position summary:

The Executive Director (ED) is responsible for the overall management and administration of dF, bringing together all of the foundations activities to achieve its mission. This includes strategic and operational planning, financial management, fund raising support for the dF President, collaboration with international staff for program design and execution. The overarching priority of the ED is to ensure the ongoing growth of programmatic successes and the continued growth and health of the entire organization. The E.D. position will report to the dZi Foundation President.

Competitive regional salary and benefits will be commensurate with experience. Location: Ridgway, Colorado 81432

Contact: Jim Nowak, President. jim@dzifoundation.org

Applications will accepted up to March 25, 2011.

Please send a resume and cover letter to: info@dzifoundation.org

Visit www.dzifoundation.org to learn more about our organization. For a full job description go to Home >About > Staff Members page.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

Organizational Leadership and Management

Represent the values and the mission of the organization.

Continually adapt and improve an organizational structure & execution approach that supports the dF mission.

To enhance the organizational capability of international staff through capacity building, technical training and grant support.

Supervise stateside staff (whether employee or contract) in execution of key functions of communications and finance. Provide coaching to ensure that staff has both the skills and capability to complete tasks.

Provide leadership and direction for projects in Nepal and in neighboring countries, in accordance with the dZi Strategic Plan.

Develop and manage the budget, providing overall structure and guidance based on strategic plan and programmatic needs.

Help to Develop and implement strategic plan in concert with dF President and dF board of directors as needed.

Provide support to President for expanding donor base.

Travel to Nepal and neighboring countries up to twice a year.

Fundraising and Donor Relations

Support the President with the development and implementation of an annual fundraising campaign.

Serve as a secondary presenter and verbal media spokesperson for the dF.

Support President in working with staff to supply collateral materials to facilitate reaching our fundraising goals.

Become intimate with the dF cultivation style of development including consistent follow up and respect for the donor’s time and support.

Board Development

Monitor and support the appropriate involvement and engagement of board members to help the organization achieve its fiduciary responsibility and programmatic goals.

Assist Board Chair in the direction and cohesion of the Bod.

Assist Board Chair in development of agenda and board materials for all Bod meetings.

Direct and coach staff on communication pieces to be presented to Bod.

Along with Bod chair and President, help with the recruitment of new board members.

Help to identify and develop meaningful roles for board members in achieving the objectives of dF.

Program Management and Development

Work with Nepal Country Director (NCD) to insure the planning, development and implementation of project activities that support the strategic growth and development of dF initiatives.

Develop and provide tools, trainings and other approaches to increase the capacity and capabilities of international staff.

Work with NCD to ensure programs and initiatives hold true to dZi philosophy

Human Resources

1 Ensure the appropriate recruiting, training and support for all dF staff occurs in a timely and strategic manner.

2 Work closely with Nepal country director in creation and growth of training and support materials for international staff that facilitate personal and professional skills necessary to achieve objectives.

3. Ensure that professional and effective personnel reviews of domestic staff and NCD are carried out and documented.

4. Manage office staff on all issues related to their requirements, performance, and delivery on key tasks.

Financial Management

Manage operational budget, communicate and deliver financial objectives to Bod and appropriate staff.

Develop an annual and balanced budget.

Monitor and adjust budgets for all programs according to overall organizational needs.

Ensure that appropriate management reporting systems are in place and delivered in a timely manner.

Create financial systems and keep records that meet the needs of the organization’s annual financial report or future audit.

Desired Qualifications

1. Education: University degree in International Business, Business, Public Policy, International Studies, or a related field.

2. Prior Experience: Non-profit organizational experience and/or work with philanthropic organizations is highly desirable.

3. Language Proficiency: Spoken and written fluency in English. Other languages a plus.

4. Knowledge: Knowledge of development issues and approaches. Strong working knowledge of global culture/history/current events; demonstrated ability to provide leadership and turn an organizational vision into tangible plans.

Skills and Abilities:

1. Ability to represent dF effectively with public, donors, applicants, and clients.

2. Excellent interpersonal skills.

3. Excellent oral and written communication.

4. Organizational and administrative skills.

5. Excellent computer skills in word-processing and database management.

6. Strong management skills.

7. Motivation and commitment to work independently.

8. Ability to independently assess needs and develop creative solutions.

awesome video day.

2011-03-04T13:12:00.000+05:30

as if making up for the fact that i'm still writing a soul-burying USAID grant, teh internets (specifically jezebel) served me up two awesome videos to watch while i ate my lunch momo at my desk and tried to make sure our capacity building plan for local partners was adequately expressed in our impact logframe.

the first is actually pertinent to my last post on consciousness and reggae and hip-hop. two ten year old girls calling themselves watoto from the nile lay down the track "Letter to Lil Wayne".

"...a direct statement of justice from Watoto From The Nile. Growing tired and fed up with the constant degredation of Black women inside of Hip Hop music, they voice their views and opinions on this melodic track"

i already knew that old spice's BRILLIANT "the man your man could smell like" ad campaign was done without any CGI (except for the diamonds part in the first one, i think), but it was still really fun to watch this behind the scenes segment (additional brilliant marketing strategy) on the making of the new commercial.

the almost impossibly dreamy isaiah mustafa isn't the ONLY reason these are my favorite commercials of all time (except for maybe this), but let's just say i've never been so glad i learned how to do screen grabs.

desktop background, anyone?

"consciousness," commercialization, and the complex moral economy of reggae and hip-hop

2011-02-28T15:19:00.001+05:30

*yeah, this has pretty much no connection to anything this blog is ostensibly about, but, meh..*

in "honor" of his recent cocaine trafficking conviction (and grammy award!), i've been enjoying a little buju banton in the office today. arguably one of dancehall and reggae's more influential voices in the last 25 years, i was still hesitant to post a link on my facebook page as unofficial song of the day (as is my wont), largely because of his horrifyingly violent homophobic streak, something that's incredibly common in a genre of music (well, reggae, more than dancehall), that styles itself as protest music, among artists who style themselves as champions of social justice, peace, and love.

at the same time, i realized i wouldn't hesitate to post songs from any number of hip-hop artists, despite the violence, misogyny and homophobia that is all too often a defining characteristic of the genre. ok, well then, is my discomfort greater with reggae because of the gap i perceive between the genre's stated mission and ethos, and its promotion of homophobia? if it is, it probably shouldn't be. just check out the lyrics of "conscious" hip-hop artists like tribe called quest, mos def, and common (rapwhitepeoplelike.com?), all of whom get significant play on my itunes.

how do we rationalize our engagement with (and enjoyment of) songs and artists that we find technically adept, musically compelling, and yet, at least in some circumstances, morally objectionable? one of my favorite answers to this is bryon hurt's documentary "beyond beats and rhymes",

"a riveting documentary that examines representations of gender roles in hip-hop and rap music through the lens of filmmaker Byron Hurt, a former college quarterback turned activist. Conceived as a “loving critique” from a self-proclaimed “hip-hop head,” Hurt examines issues of masculinity, sexism, violence and homophobia in today’s hip-hop culture."

as part of his thesis, he talks about how these are part and parcel of a strategically constructed and commodified portrayal of modern american black masculinity within a genre which, nonetheless, began as legitimate protest (explicit and implicit) against a system of structural violence and oppression of every stripe.

this new york times article from 2004 touches on a couple of interesting issues presented by reggae and dancehall on major record labels (as they increasingly are). commercialization pulls in two directions, with inter-genre and roots reputations being staked on "underground" releases with violent themes intact (and often a sense of a neo-colonial censorship by major labels), and the money being made in mainstream venues in which those themes are no longer acceptable. this is not in any way to claim that record labels, concert promoters and sponsors have an monopoly on the moral high ground. it's just what the market demands. i would suspect that maybe reggae's biggest market, dreadlocked middle class white kids in the global north*, don't like their "peace and love" package too contradictory or culturally complicated. on the other hand, hurt shows evidence that the commercialization of hip-hop on major labels resulted in the marketing of a certain black masculinity that the demographic with the largest purchasing power (white, suburban, male adolescents) wanted to consume: a violent, misogynist, homophobic hyper-masculinity.

anyway, nothing too coherent here, ultimately. just throwing out some monday afternoon thoughts, and wondering whether anyone has recommendations for articles and books that look at the history, commercialization, and controversies of reggae, the way hurt, bell hooks, jay smooth, and others have considered hip hop.

*yeah, yeah, i know. i don't exactly have citation for this one. whatevs. you live through three tourist seasons in kathmandu and tell me if you don't end up with a serious antipathy for balloon pants, blond dreadlocks, and bob marley cover bands.

well, hey there, you, with the published thing.

2011-02-22T15:01:00.000+05:30

yeah, sure, it's only in electronic format, but i'm still pleased about a case study i submitted for my NGO, ‘Countries, Communities and Conservation: Building Cooperation in Kanchenjunga’, getting selected for publication in ICIMOD's forthcoming collection on mountain biodiversity initiatives.

huzzah.

(i also, like, as a friend pointed out, that the call is "especially for success stories")

if they don't have "walkin' in memphis" i'll do this one

2011-02-21T11:17:00.001+05:30

sometimes even i can't believe this stuff is real.

click to embiggen

#cantmakethisshitup friday

2011-02-18T11:13:00.001+05:30

do you want to see the world? well, if you're an "ice cream processing specialist", acdi/voca wants to send you to lebanon for three weeks. please note, successful candidates will have "knowledge on making sorbet". new favorite RSS feed, or new favorite RSS feed?

if you didn't think you could hate the Bieb any more, check this shit out:

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Justin Bieber said, "I really don't believe in abortion. It's like killing a baby?" Asked about cases of rape, he added, "Well, I think that's really sad, but everything happens for a reason."

"i really don't believe you know what you're talking about, justin. it's like, let's talk when you hit puberty?"

on the formation of the new nepali cabinet:

Sources close to Khanal and Dahal said that though differences between the two coalition partners on some lucrative ministries remain unresolved, there has been an agreement to allot the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, Ministry of Law and Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation to the Maoist party.

"LUCRATIVE"?? man, if there's one thing i like about the nepali government, at least they're open about their rent-seeking. real talk, right there. (update: oh, the maoist's are backing out, anyway. SHOCKING.)

i was wondering what had happened with this story. looks like pakistan's getting a little frisky with the definition of the term "diplomatic immunity".

links and apologies

2011-02-16T12:24:00.001+05:30

massive grant writing shenanigans, planning my parents' mid-march visit, and the fact that the brief but heavy late winter/early spring rains are making their presence felt though my bedroom ceiling means that i've been a little busy, but here are some quick/fun links. awoohoo!

today, in "your new imaginary internet boyfriends", ta-nehisi coates is dreamy:

Every day women choose to do the hard labor of a difficult pregnancy. Its courageous work, which inspires in me a degree of admiration exceeded only by my horror at the notion of the state turning that courage, that hard labor, into a mandate. Women die performing that labor in smaller numbers as we advance, but they die all the same. Men do not. That is a privilege.

working at peace dividend trust would be so so cool, mostly because i would want scott gilmore as my boss. read these two rants about the down sides of volunteering overseas (notwithstanding his snarky crack about teachers in the second post). then read this post about hug-an-orphan tourism at good intentions are not enough.

the excitement over the upcoming bryan adams concert in ktm mounts. crowd control makes me a little nervous, despite reassurances from the authorities (or maybe, given that it's nepal, given the reassurances). also a friend and local musician, smriti bajacharya, is quoted here. yes, she is just as adorable as she sounds.

also in local news...wtf? either this guy is the nepali chuck norris (without, presumably, the unfortunate politics), or someone accidentally re-printed the synopsis of a bollywood movie.

and now a video that involves two of the things that give me the greatest joy: jay-z and cats doing weird shit. (and speaking of videos, if you voted for me for world traveler intern, thanks so much! if you haven't had the chance, i hope you can take a sec and "become a fan" of my video application)

nostalgia

2011-02-11T01:58:00.000+05:30

damn if i don't miss piebald. spent the afternoon/evening re-discovering their timeless (well for me) album "we are the only friends that we have". one of the best things about this album is that it is an ALBUM, meant to be listened to as a whole, and not as byte-sized mp3 download singles. at the same time there's nothing wasted on this album, nothing that doesn't deserve a listen on its own terms. ahh the days of cds.

the first track, just to get you started...

feb 9th quicklinks

2011-02-09T16:07:00.003+05:30

another linkdump! because they're fun... and i sense a theme coming on...
from oktrends, the okcupid stats analysis blog, and just in time for valentine's day, the best questions for a first date. using the user-generated match questions, they tell you how to find out things like your date's religious, political, and sexual attitudes by asking seemingly innocuous questions that correlate strongly to certain answers on the big, but potentially inappropriate questions. for instance, if you want to know if you're getting laid that night, ask your date if they like the taste of beer. if the answer is yes, you have a 60% better shot. also, points awarded for being probably the only stats website that gets away with this line: "in the post-apocalypse, THERE ARE NO SECOND DATES."

however, not all of us are so bound by social constraint (or, y'know, um, sensitive to social convention). things that i, for one, would be THRILLED to discuss on a first date (hey, hey, see what i did there?), include...

our all-time favorite criminally insane heads of state
dear charles taylor's lawyer: if i had made a habit of handing in term papers 20 days late, i would have failed out of college. if i submitted grants 20 days late, my NGO wouldn't be funded. i'd have to check, but i'm almost positive law schools aren't so hot on that shit either. so, what, exactly, did you think was going to happen here? love, molly

granted, when it comes to sheer bat-shittery, he's no muammar gaddafi or kim jong-il, but i think turkmenistan's kurbanguly berdymukhamedov is starting to show some real promise.

talk nerdy to me
seriously, let's order another round and bag on the quant hegemony in americanist political science. if you manage to pull out your own zombie-based parodies of major academic disciplines, you're probably getting lucky, but i'll settle for world-weary discussions of failures of knowledge in the afganistan war, or the perverse incentive system that structures the development industry.

why we love the obamas
reason #48547259

terrible tv
don't get me wrong, i am a BIG fan of mediocre television programming, but i actually meant the absurdly offensive advertising campaigns that have cropped up recently, from the girl store to groupon to pepsi. because, i, for one, spent $160k on an education, the most striking effect of which is that i can't watch things like the superbowl or disney movies without getting frothy with indignation.

...but then again, there are reasons i'm still single.

...and speaking of self-promotion!
emily put up a nice post responding to my question about generationally different perceptions of agricultural labor in nepal and india.

also, if you voted for me in STA's world traveler internship, thanks so so much. if you haven't, it would be just swell if you took a second to check out my video. become a fan (the button's shoudl be to the right of my photo and bio, but some people have had problems) and/or leave a comment to help impress the fine folks at STA, and, if you like it, feel free to re-post, tweet, email it, or whatever social media the kids are dancing to these days. thanks bunches!

why the nepal gvt's secret deal is bad news.

2011-02-09T14:54:00.001+05:30

it was revealed today that the maoist party's apparent 11th hour support for the new UML PM khanal was, in fact, the result of a nearly year-long series of secret negotiations between one faction of the maoist party and the UML. it was the result of a seven-point agreement, with several very contentious arrangements. this is all, to employ a technical term, bad news bears.

one thing that probably won't be covered in the international press, but is really important, is the way this whole incident embodies the factionalism that pervades the three major parties: UCPN-maoist, CPN-UML (united marxist-leninist), and NC (nepali congress). infighting among factions is a major reason for the chronic ineffectiveness of nepal's democratic government(s) since the early 1990's, and one of the original rallying cries of the maoist insurgency. at the moment, there are probably three major factions of the maoists, and 2-3 in the UML, depending on who's counting. the negotiation of the secret agreement by certain factions of each party can be seen as internal power plays by those factions, as well as a bid for control of government as a whole. this ktm post article gives a pretty good run down of the situation, although it's a little hard to follow if you're not familiar with the players.

the factionalism in play also makes this deal even more precarious than it already otherwise clearly is. as this other ktm post article describes, dahal and khanal have agreed to "clarify" the meaning of the seven points, under pressure from the opposition parties. they are ALSO under pressure from their respective parties to stand firm by the points as articulated (dahal's maoists) and to hedge their asses off (khanal's UML). the points needing clarification are the most contentious ones:

"The opposition to the accord mainly revolves around the fourth point, which commits to the formation of a separate force for Maoist combatants and the sixth point, which states that the UML and the Maoists will lead the government on a rotational basis."

the NC reaction to the whole thing, but particularly those two points, has been, predictably, something along the lines, of "bitch, please...".

it's only a matter of time until the whole thing falls apart. either

1) the UML-maoist coalition won't be able to reconcile their differences over implementation, and so won't form a government, and we end up back where we were, if not worse off, three weeks ago.

or, 2) they work out something that allows them to form a government, but wherein both parties save face...which will of course be so vague and full of loopholes that one party will eventually inevitably claim that the other party has failed to abide by the agreement. for instance: "on a rotational basis"? what does that even MEAN? the UML is saying it be only on the "basis of broad based consensus — contrary to the sixth provision that commits for “long-term cooperation between the two parties.”" they may work out something suitably agreeable, but when it comes time to hand over the reins, an excuse will be found not to do so. furthermore, even is the parties weren't so heavily factionalized, this seems logistically infeasible to me: a rotation over what length of time? do you form a new cabinet every time you switch over? (because that SURELY won't obstruct the duties of government or anything.)

or, 3) the agreement is somehow hammered out, clearly and unambiguously, through actual compromise, to the satisfaction of both the UML and the maoists. except now that they've gotten an even tentative and unstable agreement to the effect, i doubt the maoists would agree to anything other than the wholesale integration of the PLA as a separate force, and so point four will have to go in as is. this is totally antithetical to the absolute good of the professionalization of the security sector in peacebuilding, not to mention a COMPLETE spoiler when it comes to getting to constitution written. the NC and opposition parties will never ratify a statute under those circumstances.

and that's what's ultimately at stake here.

vote for meeeee

2011-02-08T13:58:00.000+05:30

hey y'all,

i'm hoping you can take a second to watch a video and become a "fan" of my application for STA's 2011 world traveler internship.

interns tackle a 3-month itinerary drawn up by STA travel that includes 16 countries (a full around the world trip). they file blog entries, video and photos to document their trip.

if you feel comfortable re-posting, tweeting, emailing it out, or whatever other social media the kids are dancing to today, well, that would be just swell.

thanks bunches,
m

feb 7th quicklinks

2011-02-07T14:57:00.000+05:30

i'm not really so much for "coherent thinking" today. it's just not that kind of monday for me. so here's a collection of random links that i've enjoyed in the past couple days.

alien tort statute jurisprudence continues to evolve. particularly liked this:

"Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs, part of the September panel that ruled for Shell, wrote that the original ruling "has no great practical effect except for the considerable benefit of avoiding abuse of the courts to extort settlements [from corporations]."

oh, y'know, except for that whole accountability for the gross violation of human rights thing. have no doubt that this will go poorly if it ends up in the supreme court...well, "poorly" assuming you value human life and social and environmental justice, and you sort of resent the way that increasingly powerful international corporations crap all over the same for the sake of grotesque profit and even more so the way the roberts court actively helps them do it.

emily writes about the health and environmental impacts of quarrying in rural himachal pradesh. she notes that given the opportunity, people still express a preference for the polluting, unhealthy quarry work over traditional agriculture and husbandry, even if they could make the same amount of money. there's a possible additional factor that she didn't bring up in her speculation on the reasons for these preferences. in nepal, anyway, there seems to be a stigma associated with traditional agricultural and husbandry livelihoods among the younger generations. even when other factors might make agriculture a more viable option, it is viewed as undesirable and "backward" to continue the backbreaking labor of your parents' and grand-parents' generations. i wonder if this has an impact on what emily's seeing in india. regardless it's another example of the tension between progress and social and environmental welfare in developing countries, and the question of how much those members of the international community who benefited from the former without concern for the latter have the right to regulate it.

this is an old one from sociological images that i missed. it basically calls out avatar for being liberal guilt porn that should in no way be taken as a critical post-colonial narrative. i still haven't seen it, but i'm glad i can go into my next movie night with some pre-loaded righteous indignation.

oh my GOD do i miss good beer....

....almost as much as i miss electricity for 14 hours a day.

i didn't think it was possible for my crush on ted leo to get any bigger...but there ya go.

feb 14th: get in on flashmob kathmandu.

stars on NPR's tiny desk concerts: come for the unplugged version of "fixed" at 3:25; stay for the jokes about tote bags at the end.

spotting local power in aid interventions: preliminary thoughts

2011-02-04T12:22:00.003+05:30

talesfromthehood is a perennial favorite on my google reader. it tends to be a smart, funny, and no nonsense commentary on aid and development (and the author is a co-blogger on the incomparable stuff expat aid workers like). i especially enjoyed the recent critique of three cups of tea's popularity.

i found today's post, "power", engaging as well, although i question the connection between the points made in the intro and the example chosen to illustrate them (although, to be fair, the intro and concluding bits seemed to be a kind of analytical dressing for the sake of drawing a lesson from the very very funny anecdote). TFTH says,

"Understanding who has power in a community is vital to doing good aid. And yet we very frequently get it wrong. We miss the cues. Local power often hides in plain sight in the eyes of outsiders."

right. i've been chewing on another post about positionality in development research and my experience in humla, so much more on this later, but for now: yes, blindness to the myriad and overlapping local structures of power is a really fast way to screw up a development intervention. but TFTH's example doesn't really turn out to be about that. his anecdote about an interaction with a "camp leader" in haiti is about an inability to spot locally powerful individuals, something that is only one small part of the manifestation of local power structures...and something that, in my experience, is actually not all that hard figure out. i'm working with much more limited, and possibly very different (community development, as opposed to humanitarian aid) experience, but i would say that local leaders are pretty easy to spot. they're the ones who will dominate group discussions, and the ones who will feel most comfortable approaching local NGO staff and engaging with them seriously and sometimes even contentiously; they speak with authority and are treated with visible respect. i mean, no assumptions about local power and local leaders should be taken without a grain of salt (and significant amounts of open-minded observation). however, it seems to me that identifying local leaders is only the first, and the least challenging, step of mapping the narratives that are made visible and invisible by local power structures, and, most importantly, making visible the invisible ones and incorporating them into planning and implementation.

bombing the everloving sh*t out of civilians may not be a great COIN stategy: now with 100% more statistical evidence

2011-02-04T11:46:00.001+05:30

it absolutely made my morning to find an ungated copy* of kocher, pepinsky, and kalyvas' new article "aerial bombing and counterinsurgency in the vietnam war," which just appeared in the american journal of political science. they use just awesomely fine-grained data available from the hamlet evaluation system (HES), used by the US during vietnam, to assess the way indiscriminate violence in the form of aerial bombing affected insurgent control of the hamlets bombed (rather than occurrence of subsequent insurgent violence, which is more imprecise, but more commonly used out of necessity). they conclude that "A variety of estimation methods, including instrumental variables and genetic matching, show that bombing civilians systematically shifted control in favor of the Viet Cong insurgents."

on a personal note, i was lucky to have a lot of really great professors in college, but matt kocher was one of the best. he helped define what kind of teacher i hope to be, if i ever end up teaching...and i swear that has nothing to do with the slight crush on him that i may or may not have harbored.

anyway! if COIN and/or BALLER statistical analysis is your thing, definitely check it out. do people know if there's an equivalent data set for other conflicts? obviously, i'm thinking about the most immediately pertinent example of af-pak.

*thanks, dave!

did NOT see that one coming

2011-02-04T11:27:00.001+05:30

honestly, i've been meaning to blog about nepal's revised PM-election process for about two weeks, but i assumed i'd have, like, three rounds of elections and run-offs to do it (and, cynically, that it would all end up going nowhere, anyway). much to my shock though, as of last night, nepal has a new prime minister. that the UML candidate, khanal, won isn't so suprising in and of itself; after the madhesi alliance threw in their own candidate instead of supporting the maoists' dahal, it became drastically less likely that the new government would be formed under maoist leadership. their 11th hour withdrawal and support of khanal makes sense, and it actually means the government might get moving, but...you know, that's just such a rare state of affairs in nepali politics.

of course the issue remains that there are only four months left for this government to draft the constitution. to "promulgate the statute in a timely manner", as they put it here, really really major issues have to be resolved. most immediate, and most contentious, is the integration of the PLA into the national security forces (i can't even find one or two links that summarize this back and forth; just google it). there's even a significant difference of opinion between groups as to whether the resolving the integration of combatants and other peace process issues is a prerequisite to writing the constitution or vice versa. you've also got other major hot button issues like federalism and land reform, which have been pushed aside in the attempt to form a government over the last seven months, but which will have to be addressed while writing the constitution.

anyway. it'll be an interesting four months.

new english-language online weekly from nepal

2011-02-01T14:25:00.000+05:30

The Reporter
[h/t my roomie]

dear girl store: stop. just stop.

2011-02-01T13:50:00.003+05:30

there is just so so much wrong with the girl store, but the three major points to be made are 1) the unsavory pitch, 2) the oversimplified "girl effect" logic, and 3) the lack of transparency.

the girl store ostensibly offers you the chance to support indian girls' access to education, by donating money through the purchase of school supplies for one of the girls pictured on the website. the logic is that education will prevent the sale of these girls into sexual slavery, forced labor or early marriage in a society rife with gender inequality, where sons are often prized over daughters, and where, among poor families, a daughter is an unwanted mouth to feed.

image from the girl store website

ok. so what's so wrong about this?

1) the fundamental cringe-worthiness of the pitch: there's a lot going on here for me, but imma try to articulate it as clearly as i can. i'm sure the theme of "commodification" is deliberate here; it's meant to emphasize the way these girls' lives are commodified and devalued by their societies and their families, particularly compared to sons. the problem for me is that, like a failed satire of racist attitudes, the girl store's presentation doesn't sufficiently undermine this concept through the appropriation of the theme. the girls pictured on the website appear, to me, dehumanized; they are precious little brown girl dolls that you, you white in shining armor, can make your very own. you can even dress her up (accessories not included)! the deliberately provocative commodification/child trafficking connection is also poorly served by the explicit appropriation of the language of child prostitution. like, i get where you were going with this one, girl store, but seriously: creepy. really really creepy.

2) the "girl effect" logic behind it: so, there's a lot of strong, reliable evidence that (some) aid is most effective when targeted at women and girls, but along with complexity and failure, "the girl effect" is set to be among the most overused and under-critically-analyzed buzz concepts in development in 2011 (self-promotion: i sort of wrote about this in regards to climate change a couple of months ago). the debate is well summarized elsewhere, so i'll just point out that the girl store seems to take a drastically oversimplified view of the causal connection between (specifically) lack of girls education and gender inequality as expressed by trafficking and early marriage*. it's just more, well, complex than that.

3) lack of transparency for donors: seriously we JUST WENT THROUGH THIS with the Great Kiva Debate. if you aren't familiar: basically, there was a huge blow up a few months ago over the way kiva, a micro-loan provider, told (or at least implied) to donors it did business, in comparison to how it actually did business. the story which kiva sold was that you, as a donor, are selecting an actual individual human to whom you are making a loan, kiva gives them the money, they do nice things, and you get to follow their progress and feel good about yourself. the reality, it was revealed, is much more complicated, and necessarily so. kiva partners with a microfinance organization in a developing country, the organization disburses loans to people and THEN the stories are posted. when you choose a loan to fund, partially or fully, you're actually sending your money to the organization that disbursed that loan, not the individual in question. bear in mind, this is the only ethical and effective way to go about doing this. you don't put people up all over the internet and then not give them money. you can't have a single US-based organization centrally disburse almost $200 million to individuals scattered throughout the third world. (well you could try, but it wouldn't work as well, if at all). the real debate was not over the necessity or propriety of the real model, but about the propriety of using implying that your money was doing something that it's not, because faces and personal stories are more compelling fund-raising tools than slightly more complex micro-finance mechanisms. it was about transparency.

the girl store does kiva one better (worse?). nowhere, but NOWHERE, on its website does it provide any information about the mechanics of how your donation is disbursed. it leaves you to assume that your $10 are actually buying little shruti's school uniform. now, this means that one of two unacceptable things is happening. we might have kiva redux, whereby the the girl store is providing reimbursement to its partners for support already given to girls whose photos are features on the website...and thus irresponsibly misleading its donors. alternatively, (and in my mind this is the worse, if less likely option) you have an organization that is promising actual individual children support for their education, posting their pictures on the internet (in a dehumanizing, colonial, and sexually objectified way, i will reiterate), and just stone cold hopin' that some money comes through. both options represent a drastic abdication of responsibility, the first, to donors, the second, to beneficiaries.

for any or all of these reasons, i say, "dear girl store: just stop."

*afterthought: this post doesn't even touch on the monolithic image of "indian" culture and society that the girl store creates.

no progress without a price?

2011-01-28T15:06:00.004+05:30

so, i was just on a particularly wild vacation with a travel writer friend of mine. we went on the eastern & oriental express' (yes, THAT orient express) from singapore to bangkok. i may try to pitch some stories about the week, so i'll hold off on writing more about the trip itself for the time being, but i've read a couple things since getting back that were pertinent to the experience, and i wanted to talk about.

like i said, the trip started in singapore, and we spent, as one might imagine, a fair amount of time in malaysia. i can't really imagine places on the asian continent that could be more different from nepal, where the bulk of my experience with asia lies. i was, as usual, just blown away by the cleanliness, efficiency, and infrastructure. i'm hard pressed to think of more than five places in kathmandu where smoking is prohibited. in singapore, you can receive a $200 fine for chewing gum on the street. and it's amazing to think of the progress that kuala lumpur has made from what was basically a mining camp at the confluence of two muddy river banks (the literal translation of "kuala lumpur") 100 years ago to this:

as one of our tour guides told us, malaysia hopes to become recognized as a "developed" country by 2020, and by many measures it's on its way...including the exploitation and systemic marginalization of immigrant labor. this post on the guardian development blog describes the experience of burmese migrant workers in malaysia, common to migrant workers around the world (including nepalis in the gulf), who are exploited by employers and, stripped of rights or a support network, are left without redress for fear of imprisonment or worse.

in, well, i won't say "defense" of malaysia, but perhaps the interest of maintaining perspective, i'll point to this other guardian post. countries like malaysia that are trying to play with the big boys, have to play by the rules the big boys set. in some ways, it's tremendously hypocritical of the international community to criticize these countries for their labor practices when the bretton woods institutions are pulling janus-faced crap like holding meetings with international labor organizations and committing to extension of social protections, while simultaneously releasing reports that laud countries with the greatest zeal for deregulation, including of labor standards. as the guardian reports:

In the 2010 edition of [The World Bank's "Doing Business" Report] , the "top reformer" prize was won by Rwanda, because employers were no longer required to consult with the employees' representatives or notify the labour inspector before announcing job cuts.

is it possible for developing countries to reach the level of the most developed without going through the labor (not mention environmental) abuses that all currently developed countries went through during their biggest surge(s) in development, the industrial revolution? by holding developing nations to higher standards than we did ourselves during our own economic coming of age, are we dooming them to lag behind forever? i'm skittish when it comes to this borderline economic/moral relativism, but i think that donor countries do have a responsibility to facilitate and support sustainable production and consumption abroad, as well as at home. that is why i'm going to follow initiatives like the EU's SwitchAsia program with a great deal of interest, in the hopes that it will be a model, in opposition to the world bank and IMF's examples, that supports economic development of developing nations, without demanding the sacrifice of social and environmental welfare.

perhaps something to think about when i finally get around to posting more pictures of the luxury train trip, like the ones below. this isn't meant as a criticism of the trip itself, which was pretty fantastic, but it behooves me to remember that, at least for now, there is no luxury, and no "progress", without a price.

right. this is why i'm such a "hit" at dinner parties. sigh.

today's quicklinks

2011-01-28T13:30:00.001+05:30

from find what works, what i think is the first really constructive discussion of celebrity advocacy in development and humanitarian aid. this smart, even-handed post actually breaks down the reasons behind the endless outpouring of snark from the development and aid blogging community over the like of bono and george clooney's satellite sentinel project. i particularly like that he admits that celebs are unlikely to get out of the advocacy game any time soon, and that the challenge is to channel their efforts productively. i agree with his major recommendation:

Maybe one principle would be that celebrities should only advocate for coalitions, rather than for specific projects or organizations. Celebrity endorsement can spark donations and political action from the general public, but I’d like to see that energy directed by a group of issue experts who have to come to some kind of consensus, rather than by whomever George Clooney happens to know. On a similar note, another principle might be to have celebrities advocate together for general issues, rather than carving up issues and competing for the public’s attention. Another principle would be to always encourage further education, in addition to action.

this story is not good, no matter how you slice it, but i thought it was interesting to see how different news sources from different countries write their headlines about the same incident. i always have (sometimes frothing at the mouth style) fun analyzing western foreign press coverage of stuff in this region.

and unrelated to development OR south asia, imma let my geek flag fly and also pimp out a friend who's an aspiring writer in LA. on his new blog, he takes a semi-randomly generated collection of eight images off the internet and uses them as the basis for short exercises in gritty, often futuristic genre fiction, reminiscent of neil gaiman and, to a lesser degree, books like david mitchell's cloud atlas (both personal favorites of mine). show him some love and check it out.

out of town

2011-01-14T16:39:00.000+05:30

so the stars aligned and i am taking off on a last minute train journey through singapore, malaysia, and thailand for the next week and a half...for once an excellent excuse for a lack of posts.

back on the 24th. cheers!

this is progress

2011-01-14T16:37:00.000+05:30

i shit you not, i am pretty sure that, 16 undecided prime ministerial votes later, the last candidate bowing out is the most progress that has happened since i wrote this post giving a brief snapshot of nepali politics in JULY. literally...nothing. so now they start from scratch, with a grand total of five months to form a government, pass a budget, and oh, y'know, write an entire constitution. this feels familiar....

in other (less sarcastic) news, nepal's most effective legislator, sushil babu pant, once again pushes nepal past the US in terms of gender and sexuality justice, by getting the category "third gender" approved for use on the upcoming national census.

also, i'm apparently now a sagittarius ("concerned with philosophy, higher education and global thinking... typically interested in expanding their horizons through traveling abroad, learning foreign languages, or immersing themselves in unique cultures... thrive on higher education") and not a capricorn ("a businesslike approach to most everything they do... extremely dedicated to their goals, almost to the point of stubbornness...so that they can reap the benefits of success, namely fame, prestige and money... the recognition and social status they so fervently crave...They are traditional...and somewhat inhibited"), which i think makes a LOT more sense. although i do dig goats.

one of my many goat pictures from humla

a good read for a new year

2011-01-12T15:21:00.000+05:30

this new yorker piece is unrelated to anything having to do with nepal, international development, climate, shenanigans or whatever it is i usually write about. however, it does dovetail nicely with the thoughts i've been having about my next, post-nepal steps, as well as the happiness i've felt today as i've gotten birthday wishes from all over the world, from the people i've been lucky enough to meet in the past few years (thanks, facebook). despite my general annoyance over the irresponsible and sensationalist ways scientific research gets written about in popular media, i found this blend of pop neuroscience, cultural commentary, and personal affirmation hilariously funny (particularly the description of the Composure Class), exceptionally well-written, and at times profoundly moving. i particularly liked this quote:

"Happiness is a measure of how thickly the unconscious parts of our minds are intertwined with other people and with activities. Happiness is determined by how much information and affection flows through us covertly every day and year.”

Something to bear in mind, perhaps.

summer of '69 in kathmandu

2011-01-12T14:33:00.000+05:30

this week, i'll be picking up my tickets for bryan adams' (that's right, bryan adams) scheduled february concert in kathmandu. this is probably the biggest (foreign) musical act to come to kathmandu in, oh, ever? let's go with ever. i will admit, i actually HATE "summer of '69", but people here, nepali and foreign, are pretty psyched about it. the tickets are about 2000Nrs ($27), and for the chance to experience this, i figure, cheap at the price.

a 25th birthday present to myself

2011-01-11T10:30:00.000+05:30

i have been trying to write topical and informative, rather than "personal reflection" type posts (oh and i will! one of my many many new year's resolutions is to blog three times a week...i figure if i make enough resolutions, i can't actually break ALL of them), but i wanted to fill my, like, two loyal readers in on this massive, the clouds open and angels sing, weight off my shoulders realization i had yesterday.

so i've spent the last two months or so mired in this sort of disgustingly cliched quarter life crisis-y bog of angst. a not insignificant part of that was the persistent anxiety about what i'm doing after i leave nepal. what kind of job should i try to get? what am i qualified for? how will it affect future jobs? where do i even want to end up? maybe i should get a master's after all...no it's a waste of money. i'd like to travel but it all depends on the job situation and how can i plan? and on and ON and on. and you know what? it's really impeded my ability to focus on, not to mention actually enjoy, what i'm doing right now. and yesterday, i just thought:

eff it. eff. that. noise.

for my 25th birthday, i'm giving myself a gift i'm not sure i've actually ever had in my life. i am letting go of my anxiety about future advancement and achievement. my new plan is to be in nepal for the next six months or so, and to just NAIL it: rock my projects for work, hang out with my awesome friends, have adventures, see the country...and not even think about applying for jobs. then i'm giving myself three months (or until i run out of funds) to travel. who knows when i'll be back on this side of the world again, right? i'm going to see angkor wat, learn to surf in indonesia, eat thai street food, and all that filthy backpacker crap. my travel writer friend even said he'd help me work on pitches so that i can do some writing and maybe even get paid (or at least make my meager funds stretch).

i'm going to end in australia, because over the last year and a half i have been lucky enough to acquire a surfeit of australians in my life...and let's be real: they are just totally my kind of people. i'll road trip, see friends, pick up some part time work, and only then will i settle in to find a "real" job. i can do it as easily from australia as i can from home, and i can do it WAY more easily than i can while trying to get on with things here.

SO if you have suggestions for south and south-east asia travel, or want to come along and be a travel buddy, hit me up.

in the meantime: viva la epiphany.

50 reasons to love nepal

2011-01-10T10:30:00.000+05:30

a list for the new year, from wave magazine.
it is an awesome thing to read as load shedding (on the list twice at #31 and #32) gets heavier and the weather gets colder...

oh, she is so so right.

2010-12-22T20:05:00.000+05:30

once you've experienced actual, free-range monkeys, you will never feel the same about them again.

my friend emily, working in shimla, india on energy issues, writes more.

english as the global language and some implications for development

2010-12-22T19:43:00.001+05:30

i am reminded here, pretty much every day, how lucky i am to be an english speaker. both socially and professionally, i have it pretty darn easy being fluent in english and more or less conversational in nepali...and i know plenty of foreigners who get by just fine with no nepali at all (although i think you have a MUCH more fun time here if you learn).

this article [h/t virtual linguist] talks about the rise of english to its current status as the global language. it is, unsurprisingly, a story in which oppressive power structures and pervasive inequalities play a leading role. just a reminder that privilege and power are inherently self-reinforcing.

another things that this article made me consider is the degree to which the professional circles in which i run are highly english-medium. development is an industry that has a lot of rhetoric about decentralization, local ownership and empowerment, capacity building, etc in the global south. but the power and priorities are all too often driven by donors in the global north, for whom english is the lingua franca.

for instance, at my organization, everyone except for the director and myself is nepali, with anywhere from limited to proficient english. what language we use casually and conversationally depends on the speakers and the topic, but we inevitably file much of our nuts-and-bolts work in english...because we're communicating with northern donors or headquarters in DC. we mostly implement through (ie in partnership with/supervising) local, district-level NGOs. there are lots of good arguments for the functionality of this model, and they shouldn't be ignored (more on this later?). however, these reasons talk mostly about the constraints on us implementing directly, rather than why these local groups aren't being directly funded. the arguments don't fully articulate the implicitly symbiotic nature of the relationship. we need them for lots of reasons, and they need us because they (theoretically "as yet") "lack capacity". speaking generally, local-level/grassroots NGOs, especially new ones, often do lack familiarity with the donor standards of accountability, have green personnel, are (in nepal, anyway) affiliated with local political parties etc, but most foundationally they lack the language, both literally (in terms of english skills) and more broadly (in terms of connections and the familiarty with the norms, terminology, and dance specific to the industry) to be able to appeal directly to those with the money.

**let me be totally clear that this is not meant as any criticism of the organization i work for, specifically. i actually think they are pretty darn great at what they do. overwhelmingly, i think we put our (or, i suppose, our donors') money where our collective mouth is and really commit to local planning, priorities, and capacity building. the model used is, under the circumstances, entirely necessary and largely effective. i've worked with some of our local partners and have tremendous respect for their abilities and dedication. one day i'll get around to writing about some of our programming and give you specific examples of this. **

this also isn't one of those "the WHO creates epidemics" conspiracy theories (yes, i have heard that one). however, i am saying, in a broader practical and philosophical sense, that the current structure of the development industry restricts access to resources to those who possess a certain figurative proficiency in the industry's "language" (including the latest trends in jargon and practice), and, by extension, a certain literal fluency in english. this often necessitates a trickle down method of program implementation, which is intuitively at odds with the industry's rhetoric, and can make fulfilling its ostensible aims even more challenging. it is one of the many things that leads one to ask...whose aid is it anyway?

china exerting undue influence? say it ain't so...

2010-12-21T15:35:00.000+05:30

two posts in one day? someone has a backlog of possible blogging topics and a report due for work, hm?

right then.

so, i'm not sure why the revelation in the leaked Delhi cables , that China may be directly paying off Nepali police to arrest Tibetans crossing Nepal's northern border, is a particularly newsworthy one (and maybe it isn't...aside from the syndicated news story, there doesn't seem to be much commentary on teh interwebs). China makes no bones about its priorities as concerns its diminutive neighbor to the south. About two years ago, China pledged $2.6million in non-lethal security aid, in the same breath praising Nepal's support for the one-China policy. It doesn't exactly take a career diplomat to decode the expectations associated with that aid money.

what is presumably supposed to be more shocking is the direct incentivization (read: bribes) provided by the government of one country to the security forces of another country to bypass nationally and internationally sanctioned immigration policies to deliver illegal immigrants directly back to their country of origin.

but come on now...the Chinese government's reputation is not exactly one of the highest respect for international norms, and the Nepali security sector is notoriously corrupt and inefficient (in a country where there is a historically instantiated, institutionally incentivized and generally accepted attitude of official impunity in pretty much every sector). surely this can't be that much of a shock.

what's also always interesting for me is the huge disparity between Nepalis' opinions of India (and Indians) and China. there is a LOT of distrust and dislike for India and Indians* (which, to be fair, is reciprocated by the feelings I've heard some Indians express about Nepalis, which are more than a little racist). dislike for the Indian government stems from what Nepalis describe as a long history of gross interference in Nepali politics. now, i'll give you that India likes to keep its hand in, so to speak, and that there has been a history of border disputes going back to the formation of Nepal as a country.

on the other hand, China has just as much interest in influencing Nepali politics, especially as it seeks to maintain regional dominance. Nepali hydropower, for instance, is an area in which China is eager to have a say, and one in which Chinese investment is probably going to be detrimental to India's interest...with no particular stake in promoting Nepal's interest except as a tool for gaining geopolitical leverage. while it's not like that's a zero sum game for Nepal, hydropower is essential both as the main power source for Nepal and as one of the only exploitable natural resources in this small, landlocked country defined by its lack of development and inaccessible terrain....and it's not like the Nepali government or private sectors have the capacity to really compete (let alone cooperate to compete together) against the staggering efficiency and economic power of Chinese state-owned hydropower interests.

i happen to think that China does these things more "quietly", exerting economic influence both openly and discreetly, while India tends to exert more open political pressure on its neighbor. it's for others to decide if one of these is "better" or "worse", but i guess i find it kind of ironic that some individuals rail against India, but have no concerns about China, and especially odd that political parties, mostly certain maoist factions, rally popular sentiment against India to score political points, while still cuddling up to Beijing.

* i am in no way arguing that a nation's people and its government SHOULD be conflated, i'm just saying that they are here, inevitably for worse.

tongba time

2010-12-21T12:15:00.000+05:30

so i am sick, tired, and, since the gas heater in my office is producing more odor than warmth, increasingly unable to type as my fingers seize up with the cold and i go lightheaded from the fumes.

however, i am warmed by the discovery of this article, "20 iconic and unusual hot drinks from around the world", and the realization that it has become the most magical time of the year in kathmandu. yes, the pollution gets worse every day there's no rain (aka until monsoon starts again in june). yes, we are already facing electricity and water shortages. yes, you have to sleep with two comforters and your sleeping bag, because there's no way to heat the brick and concrete bunkers in which we live.

my own bunker in happier (warmer) times. we had about 6 people living in 3 rooms

during a one-week bandh, not to mention the friends who live nearby and wandered

over for meals, etc. this is when our house got nicknamed "the commune".

i won't pretend for a second that i don't love it.

that said...the onset of winter means that it's TONGBA TIME. the list in the article above includes the two kinds of tea served in nepal, the chiya of the plains and hill folks (like masala chai in india), and the butter tea of the high mountain and tibetan ethnic groups (which tastes like the salted inside of a yak...in a good way). but no tongba, which is a tragedy.

when my brother came to visit last year (almost exactly a year ago, actually) for a month, he and i discovered tongba together. we first had some when we went out to see my friend annie, who lived in boudha, an area of town dominated by the tibetan community (which is unusual, most parts of the city aren't really very ethnically segregated, with maybe a couple of exceptions). dave and i were pretty much instantly addicted, and made a habit of going a few times a week to the hole in the wall joint right near our place (called "separate choice kitchen", which never ceases to please me) to grab some after work.

my brother's first taste of tongba.

so what is tongba? you might rightly ask, having read this far. well. tongba is a warm, lightly alcoholic beverage served throughout eastern nepal. it's made of fermented millet grains, which are steeped in hot water in a wooden vessel, and sipped through a perforated metal straw in a process not unlike drinking mate. the wooden vessel (also satisfying to warm your hands on) will be refilled with boiling water until the grains have lost all their flavor (usually about three or four times). it has a sort of sour, grassy, and slightly nutty taste, and is very warming, but even after three hefty refills (or even a second serving of millet), you don't feel unpleasantly drunk, and never wake up with a hangover. basically, it's the ultimate session brew for the long winter nights in nepal, when the lack of electricity makes your best choice sitting around with friends, trying to stay warm, and shooting the breeze. when my brother visited, it was the first time we had lived together, independently from the parents, as (something resembling) adults. it was both really fun and a really interesting time in our relationship, and we did a lot of that interpersonal re-negotiation with tongba in hand.

anyway, i'll spare you (for now) the tongba-inspired, tired, proust-ian reflections on the passage of time and my life in nepal...but i will advise you to try to find a nepali/tibetan grocery or restaurant and try some if you can. i haven't had my first serving this winter, but i'll definitely be going for it this week. it's just that time of year.

update: wikipedia tells me tongba refers to the vessel, not the drink. could be, although i've never heard it distinguished that way.

this week in bandhs (and other news)

2010-12-15T12:46:00.000+05:30

so probably the biggest new story this week is the arrest of former prince (and international playboy?) paras shah for firing off a gun at a resort in chitwan after a disagreement with the daughter and son-in-law of the current deputy prime minister. although that arrest seems pretty fair to me (history demonstrates it's wise to be nervous about the combination of nepali royals and firearms), the royalist party blocked roads in basantapur, protesting his arrest. classic.

in other news, loadshedding (scheduled power outages) goes up to 56 hours a week due to hrydo shortages. bad news for those of us who like a hot shower in january.

#statingtheobvious: 'Roads in Nepal Substandard'

spot on aid humor

2010-12-14T10:34:00.000+05:30

like i said, i've been getting into reading development blogs lately. many of the authors of these fall into the category of practitioner/skeptic, and i've enjoyed expanding my reading list (suggestions welcome!). but i have to say, i particularly love when these skeptical insiders just let. it. rip. about all the absurdities of the industry.

two hilarious blogs featuring self-deprecating commentary on international aid/development work are:

Hand Relief International: it's a submission-based parody blog, and so the post quality is a little uneven, but the "do i work for an HRI affiliate?" post is BRILLIANT.

Stuff Expat Aid Workers Like : really funny spin on the ever popular stuff white people like trend, by a couple of talented aid/development bloggers, including j. from tales from the hood, which is another new favorite. i totally want to submit one of these.

yay my roomie

2010-12-12T22:25:00.002+05:30

aside from the joy of promoting a good friend's work (my own roomie's in this case), there is a lots to be learned from reading articles like this, which are entirely typical of research that (rightly) focus on the local benefits (or lack thereof) to international schemes for carbon offset.

climate change: more local changes with geopolitical implications

2010-12-12T22:17:00.000+05:30

check it.

Can Technology End Poverty?

2010-12-11T17:06:00.000+05:30

...this is the title of an ongoing boston review forum debating just that. i've only gotten through a few of them, but i particularly like this installment by kentaro toyama. after five years working on ICT4D (information and communications technologies for development) research for microsoft in india, he comes to a conclusion that really should strike us as common sense (but then, i'm often struck by how little common sense sometimes plays a role in development)....

This myth of scale is the religion of telecenter proponents, who believe that bringing the Internet into villages is enough to transform them. Most recently, there is the cult of the mobile phone: one New York Times Magazine headline ran, “Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?” The article went on to assert, “the possibilities afforded by a proliferation of cellphones are potentially revolutionary.”

“Revolutionary.” The myth of scale is seductive because it is easier to spread technology than to effect extensive change in social attitudes and human capacity. In other words, it is much less painful to purchase a hundred thousand PCs than to provide a real education for a hundred thousand children; it is easier to run a text-messaging health hotline than to convince people to boil water before ingesting it; it is easier to write an app that helps people find out where they can buy medicine than it is to persuade them that medicine is good for their health.

my (fun) humla reading list...

2010-12-10T16:06:00.000+05:30

right, so, understandably, i didn't just pickle my brain in the brine of academic lit while i was out there. i also read trashy (and not so trashy) escapist fiction! there is an odd mathematics to my field visits so far, almost a rule of physics, that no matter how many novels i bring, i will read each of them twice. this time i brought three and owe a hat tip to rae and tim for the first two, and to eli for the third.

Motorcycle Diaries: read pretty much all of this on my layover day in nepalgunj on the way there (the first time). this may or may not have influenced my decision to keep a journal (which i will post, emo queen that i am). don't make fun of me; it's a good book. if you ARE going to make fun of me, make fun of me for seeing the movie when it first came out, getting to the end, reading the subtitles and going "wait a second...that was about CHE guevara?!"

The 19th Wife: oh my god. polygamy, cults, murder, historical fiction/period stuff. WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE??? (oh, that's right, they made a lifetime movie and made the main character not gay. way to be awesome, lifetime network.)

Cloud Atlas: man, i can not recommend this book enough. it is six resonating narratives, nested like russian dolls and stretching from the 19th century sea voyage and commentary on colonialism through a post-apocalyptic narrative set on hawaii which has plenty to say, unintentionally or not, about the role of the anthropologist. exactly what i needed to be reading, and exactly what i would write if i were that smart and creative and wanted to write a dystopian fantasy. there's ALSO a movie in the works for this one, and i can't wait to see how they do it.

my humla reading list, and a couple extrapolations based thereon...

2010-12-10T15:20:00.000+05:30

i'll be getting a post-trip update on my research and my experiences up over the weekend/early next week, but i thought i'd throw in a couple of additions to the bibliography for those of you who are into those things (you know who you are...all two of you).

far and away the two most important books i've read for this project are Barry Bishop's Karnali Under Stress: Livelihood Strategies and Seasonal Rhythms in a Changing Nepal Himalaya, and Jagannath Adhikari's Food Crisis in Karnali: A Historical and Politico-economic Perspective.

Bishop was a geographer who spent 1969/1970 doing GOD's work (ethnographically speaking), collecting some incredibly detailed data on the land and people of the karnali region. specifically, he looks at people's livelihood strategies, or how they make their living, and the way that had changed over time up to 1970. basically he did what i was/am intending to do (more on this later) in an inevitably more superficial way. it's daunting as hell looking at what he did (seriously, i lack words for the quality of the appendices), but it's also GREAT because it basically gives me baseline data for a pre-civil war, pre-major aid intervention period. one of the things that's unbelievably striking is how little has changed, at least superficially. with the addition of massive deforestation and cell phones, pictures bishop took 40 years ago look almost exactly like the ones i took two weeks ago. i'll try to scan a page in and do a side-by-side example.

Adhikari does a much broader sweep of an update through 2006 (the conclusion of the civil conflict, and basically where i sort of pick my research up), including a chapter on the effects of government and foreign aid. unfortunately, he doesn't go to humla, where i'm working, but at least i don't feel geographically redundant. his thesis is that "much of the problems in Karnali relates to the hegemonic and exploitative relationship imposed by Kathmandu (the power center) over Karnali (a peripheral region treated as colony) since its unification in Nepal", and i'd say that's pretty accurate. it's not the whole story, and especially in combination with the Bishop, you can see how much is attributed to other factors as well....

aw hell, i was going to wait to put up a more complete research update, but i'll start with this one set of thoughts and how it's sort of refined my thinking...

basically, i finished the Bishop while i was in humla, it struck me (literally, at the top of a mountain), that you could conceptualize pretty much all of the observable, substantive livelihood changes that have happened there since 1970 as a function of one of these variables:

1) population growth
2) climate change and environmental degredation (not unrelated to 1)
3) externally driven political/economic developments (most importantly: the closure/restrictions on the northern border with tibet, and the penetration of roads, and access to india, from the south and west)
4) political upheaval, most recently, the maoist conflict
5) direct aid intervention by the government and NGOs (with most of it being from NGOs)

please don't be TOO harsh with this, those of you more knowledgeable than i (although kind, critical feedback more than welcome). since it's just sort of a rough rubric to consolidate my thoughts and refine my future research. ideally, now, what i'm doing is trying to understand the changes that have been wrought by factor 5, bearing in mind that it's probably impossible to fully isolate these causes from each other, as they're all part of a complicated system. going forward, i'm trying to understand those changes both, to some degree, etic-ly (that is, through the collection of "hard data" on livelihood adaptations from the field and secondary sources), and, in my mind more importantly, emic-ly (that is, locally situated understandings of those changes as informed by participants' narratives), and to try and start to get at the way those changes have affected people's understandings of themselves and their relationships to larger institutions, specifically, the government and (vs) non-governmental organizations.

well. if you're still reading, you'll probably find the following list interesting. it's what i'm sort of continuing to pick my way through as background reading. these are the books anyway, and pretty much just the tip of the iceberg of the canon. at some point maybe i'll do a list of the articles as well, although it's a LOT of sort of dry, methodological stuff....

Ferguson, James The Anti-politics Machine: Development, Depoliticization and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho
Fisher, Julie Nongovernments: NGOs and the Political Development of the Third World
Scott, James Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes

i've also started reading a LOT of development blogs, thanks to my google reader, so i think i'm going to start trying to link to some of those and comment on the debates, insofar as i can follow them.

the prodigal returns

2010-12-08T11:55:00.000+05:30

i got back to ktm on sunday evening after a pretty grueling trip. it was...in many ways not as bad as i feared, and in certain moments worse than i could have imagined. after i get life/work straightened i'll come back with more details, but for now, enjoy these photos of the trip.

blog pimping

2010-11-19T14:56:00.001+05:30

yaaaaay my awesome hilarious friend and newly arrived-AYAD liz has a blog.

check this girl out.

out to the wild west

2010-11-19T11:42:00.001+05:30

so, i think the one of the last substantive posts i did was just a lazy copying and pasting of my research proposal for this year. what that post managed to conceal, of course, is that it is the fruit of years and years of secondary-source research practice, strong analytical and verbal skills...and a tremendous ability to bullshit my way into situations in which i feel ultimately out of my depth. i certainly never concealed the fact that i have virtually nothing (ok, just nothing) in the way of field research experience. but, given my blithe confidence (and, to be fair to myself, legitimate excitement at the possibility of new data sets...god, how do i have friends), it didn't, y'know, really come up.

and now, my friends it is time to pay the piper. i leave tomorrow for humla (which, if you look back at the original proposal, is a change of plan), which is, arguably the most remote district in nepal...one of the last truly roadless places in the world....'cause that sounds like just the sort of thing i do for fun, right? i am going to be using methodologies (rapid assessment/participatory rural appraisal), with which i have only a desk-chair familiarity in a place where the language barrier will be significant, working with a translator whose english skills are about at the level of my nepali skills (if that).

basically, there is no part of this little adventure that doesn't turn me into a quivering, gelatinous pile of anxiety.

i am a jello mold of neuroses.

with that said, i had a long chat with a friend who's just spent about eight months out in humla. i don't know whether it was the sage advice or the multiple beers, but it really helped. he helped me recalibrate my expectations of myself and this trip significantly, reminding me that field work is always unpredictable, no matter how prepared you are, and that this will be a valuable experience, no matter what kind of data i get on this particular jaunt. and he said, and i believed, if only for a second, the magic words: "and that's ok".

we'll see if i still feel that way when i haven't showered or eaten anything but buckwheat pancakes for two weeks, and am trying to hitch a ride out of the district on a WFP rice 'copter before i get snowed in...but i guess we'll have the answer to that when i get back in a few weeks.

let's dance.

Girls' Education and Climate Change Mitigation

2010-11-19T11:17:00.001+05:30

Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education just released a report called "Gender Equality and Education: A Report Card on South Asia Living and Learning for Future -The Power of Adult Learning", which ranks girls' access to education among South Asian countries. Sri Lanka comes in first, India second, with Nepal trailing at fifth, and Afghanistan last. It's not clear how many countries they're including in South Asia, but with 60% of girls without access to a secondary education, Nepal obviously has some work to do.

...especially in light of this paper by David Wheeler and Dan Hammer at the Center for Global Development. The paper suggests, based on projections that developing countries will contribute as much as 50% of global carbon emission by 2030, that the best dollar-for-dollar impact in aid programming targeting climate change mitigation is...a combination of family planning and girls' education.

Now, I think there may be some potential issues with this, although I'll admit to sort of skimming at this point. For instance, the 2030 projection is based on a definition of "developing" (from a 2007 study by Wheeler) that equates the term with the Global South, which includes China. While China ranks first in emissions, family planning isn't exactly a problem. I don't know how much this affects projections, but since China isn't really getting a royal share of foreign aid, maybe it doesn't matter. The second issue I have is that two major sources of CO2 from developing countries cited by Wheeler and Hammer and are "rapidly industrializing countries" (like India, China, and South Africa), and massive deforestation, like in Brazil. Now, I'm not going to summon the statistics to back up what I'm about to contend (just now, anyway), but I would say that we need to think about to what degree the unsustainability of those systems of production is driven by unsustainable patterns of consumption in the global North. I'm not sure Wheeler's 2007 "inconvenient truth" ("A Carbon-Intensive South Faces Environmental Disaster, No Matter What the North Does") is so true; I think we have a moral imperative to change our consumption patterns to reflect a dedication to sustainable systems of production (something I think they are ignoring in their critique of Naucler and Enkvist).

However, that said: there is an awful lot of money being thrown at climate change right now, especially in places like Nepal (and rightfully so, given that, according to ICIMOD the Himalayas are suffering temperature changes at eight times the global rate). Some of that money is going to effective mitigation and prevention programming...but then you have the motherload of climate mitigation aid: REDD. I can't necessarily speak to other countries, but in Nepal, for instance, I can't really see REDD working in practice, for a whole slew of reasons, despite a robust tradition of decentralized forest management. Despite my tentative reservations about Wheeler and Hammer's conclusions, and especially taking into account the other proven economic development outcomes of programs aimed at women's empowerment, they make a compelling argument to look at other strategies before diving headlong into REDD and other similarly expensive and expansive, yet largely unproven, systems.

moments of clarity for goats

2010-09-20T10:04:00.002+05:30

"a meal? what do you mean a m--oh, crap."

just slightly off the mark

2010-09-16T11:03:00.000+05:30

dear afp,
google maps: ur doin' it rong.

today's headline 14/10/2010

2010-09-14T11:17:00.000+05:30

Nepal Fashion Week stuns the senses in resplendent finery
"The event also marked the first public appearance of the newly crowned Miss Nepal Sadiccha Shrestha, who shimmered and radiated ethereal beauty in her shimmering ethnic wear."

i love that this style of prose characterizes a major english language daily.

also, i SWEAR i'll be posting something less cheap than just skewering the english press here soon. been really busy, but have a whole list of topics to post on.

nepal's first gay marriage

2010-08-18T11:05:00.000+05:30

so, granted, the legal status of this couple is a bit ambiguous. however, for a country that still practices chaupadi pratha (confining women to cowsheds during menstruation) in some rural areas, and is still hammering out the practice of will-based inheritance and the implementation of women's property rights, this is pretty damn progressive.

the progression of LGBTQ rights in nepal has largely been the result of the efforts of sunil babu pant, the first openly gay MP in south asia, and the advocacy group he founded, the blue diamond society. after BDS filed a complaint, the nepali supreme court ruled in 2008 that

"The government of Nepal should formulate new laws and amend existing laws in order to safeguard the rights of these people....Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex are natural persons irrespective of their masculine and feminine gender and they have the right to exercise their rights and live an independent life in society."

since the constitution still yet to be drafted, there are no laws yet that define these rights more specifically (a major part of the legal limbo in which the couple above found themselves). however, it's both awesome (for nepal) and distressing (for LGBTQ and allies in the states) that nepal has gone further* than the US in making progress towards equality.

looking forward to going to the gai jatra pride festival scheduled for aug 25. if you're in the 'du, i hope i'll see you there!

*in terms of US equivalence...sort of like if lawrence had been decided based on equal protection rather than privacy/due process? or like what the legal (if not political) implications of what will happen if perry is not overturned? dunno. law school friends will have to help this weak analogy out.

BEST. THING. EVAR.

2010-08-15T21:14:00.000+05:30

so this is only vaguely (at best) related to nepal, but it is legitimately one of the best things i have ever seen (and this in an afternoon where i watched a clip of a chubby taiwanese boy do a spot on whitney houston impersonation).

today's headline 09/08/2010

2010-08-09T15:18:00.002+05:30

Govt to probe local bodies' shenanigans

i'm pretty sure my grandmother is going to buy me a billion of these...

2010-08-04T15:34:00.000+05:30

so! i had planned to write an entry about the auspicious hindu month of shravan (approx july 18-august 17 this year), when married women pray for the health of their husbands and unmarried women pray for a decent husband, but my friend, the articulate and charming ajnabee, beat me to it.

i'll add that i was equally clueless a few weeks ago when presented with green bangles by a friend of mine. i, always the awkward bideshi, immediately broke two trying to get them on. the next night i asked the same friend and her husband why i was wearing bangles all month, and subsequently accused her of tricking me into matrimonial aspirations. her husband laughed and tried to soothe me by offering a slightly different (if totally unorthodox, foreign feminist friendly) explanation. the month is holy to shiva, who's consort is parvati. shiva and parvati are among the most important manifestations of the male/female divine, and so their love/consortship is supposed to represent a sort ultimate, divine balance in a relationship. so, when you're praying during shravan, you aren't (or don't have to be) asking to find a traditionally "good" husband (with its hints of patriarchy and heteronormativity), but to find someone, like shiva and parvati, who will balance and empower...a complement and life partner.

i sort of thought i could live with that.

today's headline 01/08/2010

2010-08-01T18:56:00.002+05:30

classic (and mildly self-promoting? sure).
the kathmandu post: Nepali film features foreign actors.

a children's treasury of terrifying apocalyptic scenarios

2010-07-30T12:33:00.000+05:30

"The non-profit organization “Geohazards” ranks Kathmandu at the highest risk for earthquake fatalities than any other city in the world."

USGS
NepalNews
AFP: After Haiti, Nepal braces for big quake
AlertNet
Nepal National Seismological Centre

i actually lose sleep over this. i would take some sleeping pills...but i'm afraid they'd make me sleep through the apocalyptic earthquake.

^this doesn't really help

what i'll be doing this year...

2010-07-28T16:25:00.000+05:30

...aside from stocking up on candles and immodium, like always.
so at the risk of cursing this whole situation (because things can always go wrong in truly unexpected ways in nepal...adds spice to life), it looks like i've got a visa AND a project i'm really excited about coming up. as the only native english speaker in the office aside from my boss, the director, it's sort of inevitable that i write a lot of grants and edit a lot of reports. this is fine. it's necessary, i'm pretty decent at it, and it's even enjoyable...but it's not really super productive in terms of career path for me. so imagine my glee now that it looks like i'll be doing research for TMI (where i've been for the last year) and the UN World Food Programme for whom TMI implements food aid delivery in karnali. hopefully i'll be producing a more theoretically informed, academic piece, as well as a more slimmed-down publication for an NGO audience. ANYWAY... i figured i would just post my proposal below for people who are interested. feedback and reading recommendations totally welcome.

The NGO-ization of Service Delivery: Food Security and Community Response in Jumla District, Nepal

In countries where governments have little capacity to address basic social service delivery, the responsibility for service delivery across multiple sectors often shifts to non-governmental and/or non-profit organizations, funded (in the case of developing countries) largely by foreign donors. Focusing on food insecurity in Jumla district, in the remote Karnali region of Nepal, I aim to describe the division of labor (and changes in that division over time) between government and non-governmental organizations as a function of social, historical, and political processes. Then, I aim to analyze the effect of this division of labor on the strategies and understandings of local communities, specifically, how systems and methods of delivery affect local food security and livelihood adaptation strategies (for instance, crop choices or labor migration patterns).

I intend to conduct my research in partnership with the UN World Food Programme and The Mountain Institute (TMI). TMI, as the implementing partner for the WFP’s Food for Work (FFW) project (part of its Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations in the country) has a working presence in eight of the most vulnerable VDCs in Jumla district, in which research will be conducted. Jumla was selected based on its overall Human Development Index (HDI), which ranks 69th out of Nepal’s 75 districts, with 74.1 percent of children under five classified as chronically malnourished. Since 2008 TMI has distributed over 1,170.15 metric tons of rice and built strong relationships and trust with the some of the most vulnerable members of the district. These eight VDCs, identified as the most vulnerable clusters in the district, based on the WFP’s mapping for food sufficiency, include 4,591 households with a total population of 26,928 people.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

There is significant debate in the literature concerning the pros and cons of the “NGO-ization” of service delivery (as well as capacity building, good governance promotion, and other functions); the legitimacy of INGOs; and their effects on state sovereignty, capacity, and governance structures. This debate is extensive and largely beyond the scope of a brief research proposal, although it will be considered in more detail as background in the final report resulting from this research. It does, however, inform the framework of inquiry. This research is aimed at contributing to the broader debates outlined above, as well as those on the efficacy of food aid paradigms, but seeks to do so through a necessarily limited case study.

The first component of this research, describing the division of responsibilities between governmental and non-governmental agencies in the delivery of food security services in Jumla district, seeks to identify the structural and historical causes of the current status of service delivery. Currently, government capacity to deliver basic services is at such a nadir in the region that most service delivery is performed by non-governmental organizations. This project seeks to identify more accurately and specifically the extent to which “NGO-ization” of service delivery has taken place in the region, and the factors that have influenced this outcome (ie levels of centralized and local corruption, lack of government presence, political instability, etc) both in current moment and historically. Furthermore it seeks to address questions of future service delivery: who is best placed to provide social protection? To what extent can NGO and donors work through local government and what needs to happen to shift the balance so that major development partners can begin to work through local governments? This research also aims to be a sort of organizational ethnography, describing the understandings of actors within organizations as well as the organizational cultures that influence the formulation of policy.

The second component of the research takes as a premise that food aid does not merely serve as a supplement to local livelihoods. Instead, communities will adapt their existing livelihood practices (for instance crop choice, patterns of labor migration, and/or production of marketable goods), in order to effectively leverage the new inputs while managing risk and conserving energies. By focusing first on how current food aid systems affect local livelihood practices, the research hopes to offer insight on how to create more sustainable and effective delivery mechanisms, both governmental and non-governmental, and how to transition successfully from short-term aid delivery to a long-term sustainable development model.

METHODS

In addition to a literature review and development of a theoretical framework, my research will be based on qualitative data collection, primarily through a semi-structured interview format. Since the project concerns both the formation of service delivery policy and strategy, as well as community responses to that strategy, interviews will include those with the staffs of NGOs concerned with food security service delivery in Jumla, specifically the World Food Programme, The Mountain Institute, TMI’s local NGO partner (Integrated Community Development-Jumla), and concerned government entities, such as the Ministries of Local Development and Health and Population.

Although research staff will be based in Kathmandu, extended field trips to Jumla district, of three to five weeks each, are planned for both the Fall and Spring, when travel remains easier. This timing also coincides with major planting and harvesting phases, which will allow research staff to simultaneously observe and discuss subsistence and livelihood choices with residents. The trusted nature of the relationship that exists between TMI and their local NGO partner staff and local communities will allow research staff to reduce the amount of time normally required to build relationships necessary for deeper qualitative research and to access local knowledge. As research staff will be working closely with NGO staff implementing programming in the area, there will also be a component of participation observation to the research.

Interviews will be conducted in English and Nepali, as necessary, with a translator present if the situation demands, although all members of the research team will possess at least basic Nepali language skills.

TIMELINE

Literature review and the development of a theoretical framework will be done in the summer months before the fall field trip. Winter months will be utilized to build relationships and conduct the majority of NGO-based research in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj, as well as to analyze findings from the first half of the research period. The spring field trip to Jumla will be used to deepen the understanding of the issues initially researched in the fall, and explore issues uncovered during the Kathmandu phase of the research. After returning from spring fieldwork, research will be compiled into several formats: a policy briefing appropriate for NGO and government reference, as well as a more extended and theoretically informed piece suitable for distribution in academic contexts. Information sharing will also be facilitated by two workshops, one for each component of the project, a) the “NGO-ization” of food security service delivery policy as a function of historical, economic, and political processes and b) community response to delivery policy in terms of livelihood strategy adaptation.

originally, i had planned a third "component" to the research, which i've posted below. unfortunately, it's a pretty big project already, and it's not really in WFP or TMI's wheelhouse. i still think it's pretty cool though, so i'm going to try to answer the question anyway, and maybe write something separately.

This research is also concerned with local communities’ understandings of and aspirations for governance, particularly at this critical political juncture in the country. Although food aid (governmental and non-governmental) fashions itself as deliberately apolitical, this research takes as a starting point that the delivery by non-state actors of any basic service that is commonly understood as the province of the state will fundamentally affect people’s understandings of what a government should be, as well as their rights and responsibilities, and those of non-governmental actors. This component of the research seeks to reveal the unintended consequences of even “non-political” service delivery on communities’ political understandings and participation.

today's headline 28/07/10

2010-07-28T15:32:00.000+05:30

nepali papers may not have particularly in depth coverage...or impartial reporting...or copy editors, apparently, but they do have an ineffable charm to them. thus, i bring you headlines of the day: screen grabs, headlines, and quotes from nepal's finest english-language journalism.

the himalayan times 25 july 2010: HURPES Probe Panel

ok, so it isn't the HT's fault that Human Rights and Peace Society took such an unintentionally hilarious acronym. so i'll make up for it with what ranks as my current all time favorite from the kathmandu post (11 may 2010):

Govt colleges dungeons of poo

to be fair, i think we all had a shitty time in high school (BA DA BING. tip your waitress, goodnight!)

yet more proof that hindus are JUST like jews

2010-07-27T16:45:00.000+05:30

i wore my new kurta salwaar today.
a coworker told me i looked just like his mother.

he meant it as a compliment.

question time, kiddies!

2010-07-23T15:05:00.003+05:30

so, i think i'm going to start soliciting questions from you good folks, my few but dedicated (dedicated? sure, let's go with dedicated) readers (hi, mom). anything you want to know about nepal or related topics, i will try my best to answer through personal experience, research, or just asking around. we'll call it "prasnaa chha?" which means "any questions?".

i figure it will be a good way to keep me blogging and to "crowdsource" content (am i using that correctly? eh, who cares, i don't know what crazy technology you kids are dancing to today anyway...damn kids).

you can submit to me at mollyclarkbarol at gmail. wheeee.

THE ARISTOCRATS! (or the reader's digest version of the last 15 years of nepali politics)

2010-07-23T14:05:00.006+05:30

starting to blog again resolution: do not fear the short and mediocre in posts.

now, i'm not an expert, but i do try to keep my finger on the pulse of just what is going on in nepali politics. it is absolutely fascinating, for the most part. as a (really) brief rundown: 1991 was really the first true seated multiparty parliament (a sort of royal parliamentary system with the king in place) since nepal was "unified" in 1768. after a series of schisms, the Communist Party Nepal-Moaist (CPN-M) began a civil war in 1996 to topple the monarchy (among other things) that lasted for 10 years in which about 12000 people died. in 2001, the crown prince went on a shooting spree (conspiracy theories abound) and killed most of his family and himself, leaving his significantly less popular uncle to take the throne. in 2005, the king dissolved parliament and took over all executive powers, ostensibly to better control the insurgency (the political parties' success was...mixed). in late 2005/early 2006, a people's democracy movement forced the king to restrict his power. subsequently, a parliament was reinstated, the comprehensive peace agreement being written, and everyone started getting ready for the 2008 elections... which, when they happened, were considered, y'know, more or less free and fair, and in which the CPNM won the largest number of seats, one of the big three that include the . fast forward another year, and the Maoists leave the government after being prevented from firing the army chief, UML candidate MK Nepal becomes PM. fast forward yet another year (spring 2010)...the constitution remains undrafted a month from its deadline. the CPNM stage an indefinite (turned out to be weeklong) strike (called bandh in nepali), shutting down the country to push for their demands to be met (resignation of PM, consensus government under CPNM, among other things). at the 12th (no, not even 11th, literally 12th) hour, the parties came together to extend that madate of the constituent assembly (CA, the constitution writing body) under the interim constitution for another year. however, agitation against MK Nepal continued. he resigned last month, and this week elections have been held to try to replace him.

ANYWAY...sorry this was such a half-baked post. i actually wrote all of the above as a prelude to my expression of astonishment (well maybe not "astonishment") and confusion at the state of things today. again, i'm not an expert, but i usually have SOME clue what's going on. today, i'm pretty much stumped. on the bright side, now you've got the basics...if you bear with me, i promise more coherent/in depth posts on nepali politics in the future!

in the meantime, for more about nepal since the CPA (2006), check out the carter center's reports. they've been monitoring the implementation of the peace accords and constitution writing.

back on the blogging horse

2010-07-08T22:55:00.000+05:30

Hey there folks. So this blog definitely seems to have fallen off the agenda in the last year. BUT as many of you likely know, I’m back in Nepal for another year. I want to do a better job maintaining this, and doing more writing about Nepal in general, rather than just my experiences here. When I was home for a visit, I was psyched to find out how much people were interested in the country and culture. However, I’m going to start out with more a “personal” “entry”…also known as my 6-month report for my fellowship (handed in at a cool 10 months…oops). I figure it will give people at least a rough idea of what the last year was like. (I didn’t realize it was supposed to be in narrative form until I’d done all the questions separately, so sorry that it’s kind of choppy/awkwardly transitioned!). I also realize there’s not a whole hell of a lot about my job in here, so I’ll do another post on that later.

Also, in case you don’t have facebook, I’ve got public links up to some of my photos from the last year, just to the right in the sidebar.

For better or worse, I always come over all cynical whenever someone claims to be doing something in order to “find themselves.” It’s sort of like the inherent contradiction when someone uses the term “classy” un-ironically. If you’re saying it, you’re probably missing the point of what the term is supposed to convey. Did I go to Kathmandu to hone the personal and professional skills in a new and challenging environment where I could meet people and see things that I wouldn’t have otherwise? Yes. Did I go to “find myself”? Why don’t you just excise $160,000-in-tuition’s worth of self-righteous (and yet elitist) class warriorship from my brain, and call it a day. Did I, nonetheless, find out the true meaning if the phrase “finding yourself”? Surprisingly, yes. Did I do so by actually pooping myself? Oh, you betcha.

It was spring, when the hills of the Kathmandu valley are covered in blooming flowers, and the waters are filled with blooming parasite populations. We were all down with something those days, and I did what every foreigner I know in Kathmandu does when faced with gastro-intestinal issues: firebomb your system with a cocktail of anti-diarrheals, heavy duty antibiotics, and a parasite-killer for good measure (all available over the counter!), and stay near a damn toilet. Well, I did it for a few days, anyway. And then—I got cocky. I was leaving a meeting fully across town from my apartment, looking for a café from which to work with a friend. We were turning around at a dead end, and my stomach began to gurgle ominously. No sooner than I thought, “Man, was drinking that coffee a bad idea,” I stopped dead.

“Roger” I hissed at my friend. He turned around. “I just…I just POOPED MYSELF” I whispered, overwhelmed with a sense of horrified violation.

“Well, do you, uh, need a bathroom?” He asked with remarkable aplomb.

“I’m pretty sure it’s too late for that one, dude.”

We hustled (or, in my case, waddled damply) to the first cabs we could find. In my second great shock of the afternoon, the cab driver agreed to put the meter on, rather than make me negotiate a price. I didn’t wish to question my good fortune, but it did present me with a dilemma. Since the nice man had given me meter, actually sitting down in the seat seemed, well, karmic-ly injudicious. And so I spent twenty minutes making polite conversation in Nepali made all the more stilted by fact that I was hovering not terribly casually an inch above the seat…only to discover that my road was closed, the cabbie didn’t have change, and that I was beginning to get leakage down my leg. I threw almost double fare at the cabbie, waddled as quickly as possible through my neighborhood, past my landlord’s demon dog, and up four flights of stairs, only to discover that there was no water in our apartment—at all. At this point I called a neighbor and friend whose apartment had unusually consistent water supply, and confessed my problem. “Oh,” she said, “happens all time, lovely. Come on over and shower.” I received similar confirmation from other friends to whom I related the story, over (many) beers. (“Happened to me twice last week” ) And so occurred a major moment in my journey of self-discovery, a rite of passage, it seems—the realization that no matter what age you are, or where you’re from, you should never, EVER take for granted being able fart with confidence.

Realizing that, in other parts of the world, discussing your bowel movements is NOT the conversational equivalent of commentary on the weather was only one of many small adjustments I had to make when I came back to the States for a visit this summer. I didn’t even realize how many things were just normalized for me in Nepal until I came back and people asked me about “culture shock”. I guess don’t know what “culture shock” really means. When I first got to Nepal, I suppose it meant feeling like everything was a little bit more difficult, or that everywhere I went I went with an air of incompetence palpable enough to be conspicuous across the street. I called them my “big, stupid bideshi [foreigner] days.” The reverse culture shock was those little, quotidian things that you internalize until they become instinctive, because that’s, y’know, just what one does where one happens to be. When I came back to the States, it took me a while to adjust back: drinking the tap water felt like secret agent-level sexy danger (look ma, no parasites!), and ditto eating unwashed vegetables; wearing a sundress made me feel self-conscious in ways I haven’t felt in skimpy clothing since sophomore year of high school; and, speaking of feeling naked, I totally did without my cell phone fully charged and a second computer battery in my bag, even in the carnival of infrastructure that is the USA.

And just when I’ve stopped reflexively “Namaste-ing” every time I get to the check out counter, I’m heading back to do it all over again. I imagine it will just be a matter of slipping back into familiar patterns. People ask what my life is like “over there”, and seem to expect some really wild answers. In fact, it’s a lot like my life as a young professional anywhere else in the world would be: work and friends, eating and drinking, paying bills and getting out of town for a weekend…I just do it with a lot less electricity. Being back in the States for a month really clarified how much, for better or worse, Kathmandu doesn’t feel like “an experience”; it feels like home. Moving there was like moving anywhere else, a series of relatively minor adjustments and accommodations that eventually add up to sneaky feeling of belonging.

As much as I appreciate how normalized my life IS there, I do want to do a few things differently the second time around. This past year, I did a yoga class here, an afternoon at an orphanage there, but I really haven’t consistently been involved in much. I was just at the National Gallery of Art in DC with a friend who lives there, and we both agreed how much living in a place makes you stop “taking advantage” of it. That said, now that I’ve got my life established in Nepal, I’m really going to start looking for ways to integrate other things into my life, especially: some form of exercise, and independent projects that will bring issues and complexities of Nepal to the States when I’m back (hopefully while raising some money for worthwhile organizations). I’m also going to work on designing and doing some research, and trying to get it published.

I suppose I did forget one significant extracurricular: my “Kollywood” debut. Some friends and I were involved in filming a Nepali movie where they needed some foreigners to be…well, foreign. Granted, we were playing “gangsters”, and “Kollywood” seems to be just as campy (“Kampy”?) as Bollywood, but, as a friend pointed out, we were playing un-ironically exaggerated versions of Nepali conceptions of foreigners. Women were dressed suggestively (by Nepali standards), those of us who were too “ethnic” looking (ie had brown hair and light tans) had blonde streaks put in our hair (with face makeup!), and my friend’s gangster “bling” was an enormous crucifix. So there you go: wealthy, promiscuous, blonde, and Christian (that’s the response I get when I try to explain being Jewish: ”so…you’re like a Christian?”… I usually just go with it). The assumptions that I, personally, run into most are the assumptions that get made about Western women. It can be exhausting and frustrating sometimes, but eventually you figure out ways to negotiate interactions and to ignore comments and interactions that you can’t defuse. And most importantly, like anywhere in the world, once you actually make friends with people, the assumptions tend to dissolve.

In fact, one of my biggest pet peeves has to do with the foreign conception of Nepal. At the risk of generalization, Nepalis are really very lovely, friendly, generous people; the mountain views are, in fact, stunning; and of course I’m aware that Nepal is not really of the greatest geopolitical importance. However, there’s this incredibly oversimplified, ill-informed notion of Nepal as this harmonious land of poor but smiling, mountain-dwelling Buddhists, all of whom are Sherpas--never mind that Sherpas are an ethnic group (one of over 100 in Nepal) and not a profession, that there was a civil war raging from 1996-2006, or that 80% of the population identifies as Hindu (in fact, Nepal was the world’s only constitutionally-defined “Hindu” country until 2008). In the news, for instance—despite the fact the world’s youngest democracy was on the edge of collapse this spring, you had to pull proverbial teeth to get international media attention about anything if it didn’t involve trekking, animal sacrifice, or festive ethnic garb. It all makes a very pretty postcard. However, aside from being good for tourism (which, when it comes to the Nepalese economy, is actually nothing to sneeze at), I find it pretty outrageous when people come to Nepal and don’t bother to educate themselves enough about the country to recognize the complexity, diversity, sophistication, and, yes, conflict that is represented there. Those are the things that make Nepal an amazing place to live, not the nuns with nunchucks (yes, this was actually a news piece).

Although my life may seem to be all glamour, what with the poop and the blackouts and the makeup in my hair, I actually work, too! As the only native English speaker in the office (aside from the director of the NGO), a fair amount of my job has been editing and proposal writing (in fact, researching and writing grants was the majority of my job description for the last three months I was there). On the one hand, it’s not the most thrilling work. On the other hand, there was something satisfying about using skills I already have (strong writing and logical thinking) and applying them to gaining fluency in the grant-writing jargon/skill set. I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it (we’re batting about .500 for major grants so far), and, maybe more importantly, I’m doing something no one else really can. I’m also proud that my coworkers trust me to help them improve the presentation of their own work. It leaves them more time to do the things they’re really good at, many of which are based on knowledge and skills that I don’t have, at least not yet.

The major project I worked on (an enterprise-development opportunity assessment) was also interesting, and I did the best I could with it. Honestly, my spoken Nepali and subject knowledge was probably not initially (in the fall) at a level to make the most of it. I also didn’t know enough organizationally (or, again, in terms of content, since I’ve never been exposed to this kind of work before) to contribute to or question the way the project was structured. During my first year I’ve learned a lot about the kind work I’m doing (both through direct work experience, and by attempting to read things and engage with people outside of the office in a way that will extend my development “education”), the organization I’m working in (what its strengths and weaknesses are, and how to exploit or compensate for them), and about the language and cultural milieu of Nepal. I think this will allow me to take a more proactive role in the program design and monitoring components of my work, which is something I’m really looking forward to.

In fact, as I head back to Kathmandu for another year, I’m looking forward to many things. It has really struck me, both coming and going this summer, how incredibly lucky (dare I risk my cynicism street cred by saying “blessed”?) I am to feel at home in multiple places. I feel as excited about going to one place as I do sad about leaving another, by virtue of being able to be with people whom I love in both locations. Except my colon, of course. We still aren’t on speaking terms.

photos

2009-10-01T15:11:00.001+05:30

so i realize that there are people who read this blog who don't actually have this facebook that all the kids are dancing to these days. for you, i've added links on the side, to my facebook photo albums. i should probably just do flickr or something, but i'm just so lazy, you see.

“trekking” and the process of forming a healthy resistance to metonymic thinking

2009-09-25T18:03:00.001+05:30

it’s hard to know where to start this one, mostly because admitting failure is, frankly, such a bitch.

so, for the dasain holiday week, i made plans to go trekking with my friend, annie. after a few changes in plan, we finally settled on helambu, a mild (?) seven-day trek that you can actually begin and end in the kathmandu valley (a major advantage when your other option is getting up at 4:30am to battle hundreds of nepalis trying to go home for the holidays for a couple seats on the crowded roof of a bus).

on the one hand, going into this, i definitely had some reasonable doubts. annie is from colorado and hikes at least once a week. i, however, have spent pretty much my entire life at sea level, and have not, so far as i can remember, been on a trek, hike, or even gently uphill walk that extended beyond a single day. camping has always seemed like some sort of perverse, bourgeois exercise in bug-infested masochism (or as i’ve also heard it put, “white people—what the f*ck?”). my instincts? not those of a sportswoman, per se. it’s a bad sign when you’re debating what to leave out of your pack so that you can include some light reading. Infinite Jest or 20th Century Land Ownership in Nepal, perhaps. in general, i exercise dutifully, at best.

on the other hand, while i refuse to feign actual relish in a lack of plumbing, i really do enjoy being outdoors. although i don’t think i project it, i AM the kind of person who goes for long walks in the woods to clear her head. i’ve even done some things that people would call “hikes” before, some of them even NOT on junior high school field trips. even though, between work and nepali lessons, i’ve pretty much been riding a desk for a month, i was working out before i moved here; now, i walk everywhere, and i do it briskly, even in the pollution of kathmandu. my coworker even told me i’ve lost weight, although i’m “still very fat” (more on what might be considered that rather remarkable statement, later). and i had been looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about--why people come half way around the world literally just to walk up and down hills. and not just foreigners, either. i mean, you don’t catch nepalis trekking just for “fun” (as far as i can tell), but every nepali who i told about the plans was happy that i was getting out of the city and going to see “real nepal.” (in theory, that line is as odd to me as it is consistently expressed. i happen to like kathmandu, right down to the pollution and the traffic, but i get what they mean. i desperately want to see how the 90% of the population in non-urban areas lives here; it’s the whole reason i’m here, after all). at the end of the day, i pretty much operated as i always do when faced with the prospect of something new and mildly scary: i focus on minutiae and logistics--iodine tablets or chlorine drops for water purification?--and try to keep the big picture only in the proverbial corner of my eye.

anyway, bags packed, route picked, guide acquired, we took a taxi to the base of the trail. i chatted away in nepali with our guide and the taxi driver, and annie and i made plans to spoil ourselves with mud packs and sushi after we got back. the city bustle (and smog) dissipated, and the hills became visible above the startlingly bright green rice terracing. The landscape was punctuated by the ivory spire of a small buddhist stupa here, and the gold embellishment on a crimson hindu temple, there. at a store by the side of the road, a little girl mimicked the dance of a bollywood chanteuse playing on a small grainy TV. “this is going to be AWESOME,” i thought. now i know better. now i think: “hey, false confidence-reinforcing bilingual good cheer and insanely bucolic scenery? yeah, you. screw you.”

i probably should have sensed trouble when i realized that our guide’s description of the trail as “ukaalo,” far more so than my nepali-english dictionary would suggest, means “STEEP SO VERY VERY STEEP OH SWEET JESUS.” within 15 minutes, i was sucking wind and dripping sweat, although annie was plowing ahead with great enthusiasm. “mm,” i thought, gamely, “this is, ah, bracing.” a little while later, i paused to let an old woman with a mattress lashed to her forehead and back breeze by me. as i took the opportunity to grab some water, our guide reassured me, “it’s ok, we can keep going slowly, slowly.” this would have been a more effective platitude if i had actually been aware that he considered this a leisurely pace. he kept an increasingly concerned eye on me as we went, and, when, a little while later, he insisted on switching his lighter pack for mine, i finally expressed to the rest of the small party, grudgingly and between gasps, my growing doubts about the wisdom of the whole adventure. after a brief discussion, we decided that i could figure it out when we got to chisopani, the first overnight stop, in a few hours. well before that, though, my doubts were becoming cemented into serious regret.

at the entrance to the conservation zone, annie looked at me doubtfully. it was, so to speak, the point of no return. if i decided to turn back, it was a short walk back to buses and taxis to kathmandu. if not…well, there was a week ahead, the first three days of which at least, i had been reassured earlier, were pretty much “ukaalo” as well. “i really want you to come,” annie said, “but i don’t want you to be miserable. do you really want to keep going?” at that point, trekking buddy, guide, and handsome conservation zone checkpoint guard waiting expectantly, i had to admit that i didn’t. in fact, beyond not wanting to, was simply not going to physically be able to. “but i told everyone i was going…” i said plaintively. but, when it comes down to it, pride isn’t really a sufficient reason to make myself and two other people miserable for a whole week. i waived my two erstwhile companions off, and set off back down the trail. quickly, though, i found myself needing to sit down to catch my breath, this time, not from exertion, but from panic. slowly getting control, i had to figure what it was about this that meant that not doing it, literally, knocked the wind out of me.

i put the pieces together on my only slightly more dignified descent, as i passed chain-smoking old men on their way up, and got trod upon by a herd of goats (my only consolation, in my bitterness, was the fate awaiting the goats during dasain. they are such important traditional sacrifices that a shortage in kathmandu this year inspired a national radio campaign urging farmers to sell their stocks to traders in the city). the issues are myriad, i think.

pride, certainly, is a factor. failure to accomplish something one starts is, as i said, a total bitch, and not just considered in the eyes of others. for me, not known for my tendency towards moderation or gradualism, being unable to just dive into what i (think i) want to do is like a serious personal affront.

but, more than that, i think my panic and shame results from the metonymic role i had allowed this trip to play in my understanding of my professional and personal accomplishments in nepal.

much like my long neglected interest in learning about wines, on some level i DO want to be one of those people who actually really enjoys trekking and other such rugged athletic expressions of personal health and vigor. it feels like some sort of serious character deficit that i don’t. i wanted to come back from this week not only having DONE it, but LOVING it, my opinions on trekking/camping completely reformed. it’s not like the perverse pride i felt in going to florence and not seeing the david. it’s just so hammered into you that trekking is an integral, if not most important, part of being in nepal. it feel wasteful and shameful not to be gung-ho about it. what am i even doing here? do i even have the right to say i like it here if i don’t trek?

more practically, i viewed this as a dry run for field trips I’ll be making for work to MUCH more remote parts of the country. so much of what i love about the organization i work for is their deeply community and field-based (dare i say ethnographic) orientation. it’s the kind of thing i would feel good about doing for the rest of my life. just like speaking nepali, though, how can i possibly contribute if i can’t do this sort of thing? and, by extension, how much does this abortive excursion cast doubt on my ability make a career in a field-based area like development or anthropology?

and, because no bout with self-doubt would be complete without a dose of class-based guilt, i realized, as i sat, a white face conspicuously alone in a van whose counterparts were filled to the brim, that being so spectacularly out of shape while wearing such spectacularly expensive hiking shoes, is a profound statement on privilege. as a young man chatting with me said as we walked around boudha stupa this morning on my way to meet annie, “you’re from america, right? everyone gets an education there. and you get to go international. you are very lucky.”

in an effort to be philosophical about this, i know this wound to my pride and self-concept as intrepid traveler will heal. i’m not willing to write off trekking just yet. i’ll just have to take a more gradualist approach, doing shorter, milder hikes that are more my current speed, and work up to being able to do what i feel like i need to do. you know, training… like, oh, normal people with well-managed expectations of themselves do. and, at the end of the day, if i still can’t find the joy in trekking, and feel like shlepping up and down hills is still just a way to get to my field sites, then so be it. that doesn’t make me a bad person or less capable (or deserving) of appreciating the beauty of the places and people around me. this week, i’ll enjoy my vacation, do some of those hikes around the valley, and maybe go to pokhara and do some yoga. i’ll build on strengths, and practice nepali and do some work. i’ll tweak my veggie momo recipe and play with the dogs where i’m housesitting.

anyway, enough of that nonsense. as everyone knows, you should wash a wound before it heals, and i’m off to wash this particular wound with a hot shower, and a stiff whiskey/isley brothers combo.

nepali nibble: film south asia 2009

2009-09-21T20:43:00.003+05:30

so, on saturday i went to the film south asia festival and spent an blissful afternoon ensconced in air conditioned darkness, watching documentaries, and not trying to speak nepali to anyone. i managed to catch three films, two of which i would for sure recommend to people.

the first film, "out of thin air," in hindi and ladakhi with english subtitles, was about leh, ladakh in the indian himalayas, "last india", as the townspeople call it. more specifically, it's about ladakh vision group, a small production company that was worked the small miracle of displacing bollywood in the local film market (a not insignificant market, once the winter snows come on). lvg is made up entirely of teachers, taxi drivers, cops, monks, and homemakers, all of whom take time from their regular jobs to shoot during the scant summer months in ladakh, just for love of doing it. it was fifty minutes of pure charm, and i want to move there and be best friends of all of them. (you can read more about the documentary here and here)

the other great film, which was rescreened the next day, selling out both times, was "in search of the riyal", a documentary that traces the journey of a few of the thousands upon thousands of nepali migrant workers who go from their home villages to work in the gulf, via frequently corrupt "manpower brokers" in kathmandu. their remittances provide 17% of the nepali GDP. this documentary puts a deeply human face on the phenomenon of exploitative international migrant labor, but, helpfully, it does not proselytize or moralize. on the one hand, a scene where a young man recounts, in meticulous detail and with a bit of wonder and no small amount of anxiety, the training he had received on airplane protocol ("the tray is in front. you fold it down, and put the food on it, and eat it.") is heartbreaking to a member of an aware audience. we know, as this young man only suspects, the sometimes lonely and often dehumanizing conditions he will be entering, at great expense and for seemingly pitiful reward, far far from home. it is tempting to feel as one audience member clearly did, demanding during the question and answer to know where the "social outrage" is at this "modern day slavery". in response, the filmmaker articulated the important point. we should be absolutely be cognizant of and indignant about the exploitation that exists in the system; people should work to reform labor laws and regulate the international labor industry. however, we shouldn't let this blind us to the reality that, at the end of the day, 10,000 Nrs over four years is infinitely better than no rupees over four years. although we, the "aware" and very privileged audience, will probably never have to consider selling ourselves to get that 10,000 Nrs for our families, some people have to. in doing so, they are not only supporting their families (and, collectively, the nepali economy), they are exerting their agency as humans, and for that, deserve our respect and consideration.

anyway! check out both of these if you can get your hands on them.

banma baa:darharuko dherai bhandaharu bhandaa bandaaharu chha, or, a brief(?) and incomplete(!) introduction to nepali language.

2009-09-20T23:31:00.008+05:30

ahhh yes. the best summary of my language skills so far is this: despite at least 25 hours of intensive one-on-one lessons and at least as much time studying over the past three weeks, i am suddenly much more like a stroke victim with a severe aphasia than i ever wanted to be.

when i speak nepali*, i know what i want to be saying. i don’t expect to have great grammer, but, hey, i’ve got, like, nouns and pronouns and verbs, and i’m stringin’ ‘em together…that’s BASICALLY understandable…basically… right? and yet, inevitably, whether i’m speaking to a coworker who’s gamely letting me practice or asking directions of a shopkeeper (or, really, addressing anyone except my nepali teacher with anything but the most basic pleasantries), the responses are almost always a bewildered but encouraging smile, and a sort of desperate glance at someone nearby to see if they had, possibly, deciphered my garbled grammar, heinous mispronunciation, and/or apparent non-sequitor. (eg the time i cheerfully responded to my officemate in nepali that yes! i have many pens! so glad was i to be able to extend a helping hand, office-supply-sharing our way over the language barrier. in fact, he had asked me if i wanted the fan on…in english. as he said later, “we have communication problems.”)

caveat: i wrote this first bit above about a week ago. since then, i think i’ve gotten over some sort of hump, whether it’s just a matter of relinquishing my last bits of self-consciousness or it’s actually a skill-based breakthrough. in any case, when i first meet nepalis now, they are generally impressed by how much i speak after a month here (“hajur? ek mainaa matraai?”). this could very well be because relatively few foreigners learn more nepali than absolutely necessary, particularly with the ferocity that i’m attacking the task (given that my work is paying for me lessons, i feel obligated to give them a return on this significant investment); or because they’re just being nice, which would be typical. now my problem is more commonly being credited with too MUCH language skill…i get a coherent sentence out, and people graciously and mistakenly assume that i’ll understand rapid fire nepali. what i’m trying to say is that this place in the anti-france.

whatever. my mom says i’m good at languages. or maybe more to the point, i shouldn’t expect to be fluent after three weeks of studying a language that is wildly, WILDLY different than any of the other five languages i have forgotten…er, learned, at some point in my life.

~nerd alert~
many normal humans might find the next couple of paragraphs of linguistic detail less than thrilling. short version: nepali is kinda hard to pick up. (however, if you stick with me, i’ll tell you what the post title means).

ANYWAY. the vagaries of learning nepali: on the one hand, nepali is an indo-aryan language closely related to sanskrit…which means complex. for instance, you get things like FIFTEEN 3rd person subject pronouns, based on number, physical proximity to the speaker, and level of formality [there are three levels for 2nd and 3rd person pronouns, as opposed to the two levels in the 2nd person address you find in french (tu and vous), for instance…more on the implications of this, another time.]

for a native english (or french or spanish) speaker, word order is pretty counterintuitive as a result of postpositions and verbs. postpositions are prepositions, just more, er, after the fact. verbs go at the end of the sentence, often after convoluted appositives (i’m sure there are ways to avoid this that i just haven’t learned yet), and conjugations have both a postive and negative conjugation, rather than the appendage of “not”, “ne…pas”, or “no”, as in english, french, or spanish.

eg the sentence “today after work i am not going home. i am going from the office to her house” is “ajaa, kaam-garepacchi mero gharma jaadina. officebata wahaa:ko gharma jaanchhu:”…
- TO someone’s house is ghar(house)+ma(to, in, at)
- one kind of possessive is formed by attaching KO to the end of a pronouns, as in wahaa(he/she)+KO. mero (my) is irregular.
- AFTER work is kaam-garnu(to work) + epachhi (AFTER), dropping the –nu infinitive ending
- the two endings of jaanu (to go), above, indicate both subject (i) and positive or negative action (i do or do not go).
on the bright side, almost all plurals are formed by the addition of –haru to the noun, and verbs are pretty regular, only getting tricky when it comes to appending certain non-postposition structures.

then there’s the pronunciation. while not tonal, like chinese, there are lots of distinctions in sounds that we just don’t recognize in english. for instance, there are four ways one would pronounce the each of the english letters “d” and “t”, best envisioned on a two-by-two grid. on one axis you have aspirated (with a strong release of breath) and non-aspirated (without breath); on the other is “dental” (pronounced with tongue against upper teeth) and “retroflex” (pronounced with tongue against the hard palate). there are also aspirated/non-aspirated versions of “b”, “p”, “k”, “c”, “j” and “g”; and a few kinds of “s” and “n” that i’ve got even less of a grip on. for me, though, the REAL kicker were the “a”s. one a, written आ in long form, is transliterated as “aa” and pronounced “ah”. the other, written अ in long form, is transliterated “a” and pronounced as “uh”. ON TOP of that, vowels are often “nasalized”, meaning you kinda close down or add a light “ng” to the vowel. this changes how they are written in any number of ways, and is transliterated with : or ~.

on the bright side (?), there are different written characters for each of these distinctions. in that way, it’s more directly phonetic than english. it makes total sense…if, y’know, you’re a native speaker…otherwise, still a total bitch to get the hang of.

just to give you a sense of what a huge difference this makes when you’re speaking: the root of pretty much every word in the title of this post, until about a week ago, sounded roughly like “banda” to me. however, pronounced properly, it reads (i think?) “in the forest, monkeys have more cabbages than political demonstrations/strikes.”

hey, the more you know, right?

~mild nerd alert~
well I think the next couple of paragraphs are interesting, but if you’re feelin’ all incurious and shit…short version: nepali is kinda hard to pick up, but not as bad as the stuff written above would indicate. molly clearly loves to complain.

…on the other hand, the ethnolinguistic composition of the nepal (92 languages were officially recognized in the 2001 census) means several things…

1) there are fascinating issues of language and identity going on

2) many nepalis i’ve met speak anywhere from 2-6 languages. they are like the dutch of south asia. a common repetoire might include: at least a little english (if they’re talking to me), nepali (the lingua franca of the country), hindi (often at least understood, picked up from bollywood movies or other media), their “mother-tongue”, and maybe another non-nepali lanaguage, just for kicks. certainly makes all the english-nativist rhetoric floated around in the US look absurd.

2.5) although demographics are shifting these days towards more primary nepali acquisition, for about 50% of nepalis, nepali is their second, or even third language. the “mother-tongue” is the language spoken at home and in a family’s village or region of origin. many are in the tibeto-burman language family, there are other indo-aryan languages, and there are even some apparent isolates, for good measure**.

3) as a result of 1-2.5, commonly spoken nepali is way more simplified than literary nepali. for instance, i get away with learning only about half of the 3rd person pronouns, and their accompanying conjugations.

this post turned out to be quite a bit longer than i had imagined, so sorry about that…long story belatedly short: it’s a huge relief to be making progress. the professional necessity of my learning nepali aside, i find myself really discomfited by being unable to speak the language of the place i’m visiting/living, on several levels. it strikes me as vaguely disrespectful, for sure, but i also find it profoundly alienating. i don’t feel like i can possibly connect with the people around me, if i can’t understand how they speak…and by extension, think and exist. anyway, looking forward to learning more about nepali and nepalis as my time continues.

* there are some significant language politics issues in nepal. my use of “nepali” to describe the lingua-franca of the political entity of nepal is not meant to be normative. nepali is most commonly used to describe the language that I’m stumbling my way through. however, among newars, for example, the newari language is often referred to as “nepal bhasa” (“language of nepal”). maybe more on language politics and language and the state in another post.

** so for some probably mildly to moderately inaccurate context gleaned from nowhere more reliable than wikipedia, idle conversation, and other dubious sources: indo-aryan is sort of a spectrum of languages in south asia that grew out of sanskrit (having varying degrees of persian/arabic influence thanks to the mughals), similar to the way romance languages all developed from latin. urdu/hindi/nepali are as mutually intelligible as spanish/italian/french are. tibeto-burman is nowhere as coherent as a grouping, and these are more likely to be mutually unintelligible from each other than indo-aryan languages. the t-b languages in nepal are of the “himalayish” subfamily.

if you want a non-dubious source: i’ve been working my way through John Whelpton’s “A History of Nepal” (2005, Cambridge U Press), which is pretty much the only up-to-date, single volume, historical survey i’ve managed to find. although it focuses on political history since 1950, the first few chapters are a dense, but well-written and comprehensive review of the history of the area to that point, including some notes on linguistic history. and if you're ever looking for MAD political intrigue, you can not do better than 17th-early 20th century nepal.

nepal nibble 9/15/09: yak attack

2009-09-15T08:01:00.007+05:30

so, as i've mentioned to some people, my schedule here is pretty nuts right now (full time job, about 20 hours of nepali/week) so my time to sight see, take pictures, and write well-thought out, informative, and entertaining blog posts (not to mention sleep) is limited. HOWEVER. i do run across all kinds of odd, sometimes delightful, often disconcerting, tidbits: nepal-related nibbles, if you will. so i'm going to post these more regularly while i write the others incrementally.

so the first thing i wish i had known coming to nepal:
yaks. not sort of hairy, harmless buggers, it turns out. according to my coworkers, who i'm pretty sure (?) were not just messing with me, if you end up in a meadow with a yak (bull), it will definitely charge your sorry butt. you can run if you want, but the only way you're avoiding this is if you can actually find a tree to climb, as yaks have incredible speed and endurance running over hills. i was told this shortly after being told i'll be going to the field in western nepal soon-ish, a place i now imagine to be 80% livid, charging yak by volume.

in the mean time, be sure to enjoy the nepal news links on the right, and this bonus video of an inexplicable yak situation.

cutting my own hair during a power outtage

2009-09-10T21:07:00.005+05:30

...with two elastics, a bobby pin, a pair of bathroom scissors, and a headlamp. yeah. not something i do. sure, it was getting a little bit unmanageable...but i do NOT do rash things with my hair. i pay $40-$50 a chop just to be guaranteed not to look like that that chick from dilbert or this.

all i can chalk it up to is the sudden realization i had today that i've jumped into a job where workplace competence can be measured in part by the ability to identify remarkably picturesque, exceptionally tall and snow-covered, but otherwise more or less non-descript mountain peaks in a language closely related to sanskrit, AND THEN CROSS THEM if necessary.

so i guess i figured, damn. if you can't even do a little thing like cut your hair on your own, dead ends are the least of your problems. and it turns out, you just kind of take it curl by curl, feel out the parts that are dry and give 'em a little snip. i'd like to think that even if it had turned out terribly, i'd have been philosophical about it, but let's be real, i probably would have sobbed for an hour and hidden under the covers all weekend. fortunately, though, when the lights came on, it had all turned out pretty well.

in which the heroine goes for a walk.

2009-09-06T14:15:00.004+05:30

puru, the business manager for TMI and one of the nicest people you could hope to be greeted by upon arrival in a foreign country, met me at the airport. after we maneuvered my approximately one billion pounds of luggage (75% shampoo and bras by volume) into his car, we began the process of actually getting out of the parking lot. “it is too bad that this is the first impression people have of nepal,” he lamented, as we dodged loiterers, seemingly randomly placed traffic cones, and cars oncoming from no particular direction, “there is no order.”

with respect to puru, it wouldn’t matter if the parking lot of tribhuvan international ran with the precision of an austrian music box. assuming visitors actually planned on leaving the airport, the game would be up within ten yards of the gate. although puru clearly had things well in hand, it was only my jetlag that kept me from becoming seriously alarmed as we plunged headlong INTO a chaotic stream of cars, motorcycles, bikes, and pedestrians…or as they plunged into us. it’s a little hard to make that call when there are no speed limits or right of way. on the other hand, as there are relatively few fiery wrecks littering the side of the road, i suppose the system works

after sleeping for about 20 hours straight, i figured i’d head out from my hotel for an early sunday morning walk to explore the neighborhood*, blithely disregarding my brief experience with traffic from the day before…and this is when I discovered that one of the most radically immersive, and seemingly most death-defying, experiences you can have in kathmandu is just walking down the street (an experience you probably couldn’t avoid if you wanted to). and of course, perversely and in defiance of all sense of self-preservation, it’s one i’ve come to relish.

really, you need no fewer than six sets of eyes and ears to comfortably navigate the streets of kathmandu. first, there’s the terrain. "sidewalks" range from uneven brickwork (around the palace/museum complex) to the unofficially designated pedestrian strips of varying and insignificant width situated next to open gutters filled with unidentified brown and green fluids (everywhere else). underfoot, you should be aware of trash piles of varying sizes, which get collected relatively regularly with wheelbarrows pulled or attached to bikes, and prolific droppings from dogs, cows, and the occasional goat, not to mention the actual animals which wander, sleep, and eat relatively free range.

as you pass other pedestrians (in both directions), you never, EVER step out without checking over your shoulder. the lack of traffic laws, as well as lanes that seem to function as the merest of suggestions, mean that traffic comes from any direction, including over actual sidewalks. the solution that’s evolved, especially turning corners, is to honk loudly and constantly to alert the other drivers of your presence. cars and taxis abound, as well as full size buses and shorter micros, but by far the most popular (and probably most practical) are the scores of motorcycles and scooter weaving at high speed in and out of all other vehicles. crossing streets is like trying to jump in on a game of double dutch played with razor-embedded jump ropes. hesitation is not an option. it’s incumbent on the pedestrian to walk confidently but unhurriedly across a perilous hellscape of black-masked**, shiny-domed, two-wheeled demons bearing down on you at high speed while belching smoke, amidst a cacophony of blasted warnings. i’ve resourcefully adopted the strategy of following the little schoolgirls and cane-using old men who do this with an total lack concern.

the trade-off is, y’know, being in kathmandu. the sensory experiences of being on the street more than compensate for the perceived threats to your life (which, after a couple of weeks, actually go from terrifying to thrilling to almost mundane). i’ve heard an expat acquaintance who spent most of his childhood here wax rhapsodic about the “spiciness” of the air. i would say that doesn’t really do justice to the, mm, say, “robustness” of the mix of odors that permeates the city, not all of which you always want to take a deep inhalation. my reluctance to romanticize the difference overmuch aside, i’ll say: even in cities in the states, you just don’t get the dizzying combinations of sensations that you do here. there’s exhaust and garbage and excrement, but there’s a cloud of cumin from a spice grinding shop mixed with motor oil from the cycle repair shop next door. there’s the back of the mouth tangy smell of blood from the goat’s hindquarters flopped over the butcher’s counter, with its hooves sticking out into the street, and the smoke from the incense at the hindu sidewalk shrines, where commuters ring the bells and mark themselves with tikka powder as they do morning puja on their way to work.

“spicy”, “robust”, or whatever you want to call it, the jumble of odors, both identifiable and unidentifiable, really do require a certain intentional shift in attitude. it’s sort of hard to articulate clearly, but, in the states, for instance, you can focus on a single set of sensory inputs, by virtue of them being comparatively few. if they’re bad, you register that, and if they’re good, you appreciate that as well. here, if you did tried to single out, or identify and process all the sensory input you get all the time, you’d strain your ability, and your nerves, to the snapping point. the trick to the sensations, just as the traffic, seems to be unconscious awareness. you have to relax your brain enough to absorb what’s going on without trying to actively foreground or background anything. it’s not like commuter autopilot, or really like anything else i’ve had to do in the states, it’s a new and not entirely easy process, especially when you realize that the goat’s (?) blood’s dribbled on your foot, but like so much else in kathmandu, i find that the more time i spend adapting to the different way of being that the city inspires, the more i come to appreciate it.

*a brief note on directions and neighborhoods in kathmandu: there are (almost) no street names in the city. well, there are designations of sorts on the blue and white signs posted around, but these are almost universally ignored. to get around, you generally ask for landmarks or major intersections, which do generally have names. for instance, right now, if i’m lucky, i can get away with saying i live near tangal marg (minor intersection)…but more likely to get me where i need to go is saying i live across from the police station near bhat bhateni, next road down from the ganesh temple, across from the trekking company parking lot. neighborhoods, like baluwatar, where my office is, are loosely defined areas which take the name of the largest proximate street or intersection. maps. they would be essential.

**many people, especially riding bikes or motorcycles, wear black woven masks to filter out the pollution.

welcome to nepal

2009-08-23T13:45:00.004+05:30

so, it's my second full day in kathmandu (sort of), and i already feel behind on what i should be writing...i expect this will be a pattern. unfortunately, i won't be able to post pictures for a little while, but should be able to get them up in a week at the latest. until then, everyone will just have to make do with my weak prose.

one of the many things that is truly mind-blowing about coming to nepal is the sheer distance. seeing a 30 hour travel itinerary on paper and actually doing it are two wildly different things...it defintely does not compute in theory and barely does even when you're in the midst of it. incidentally, i definitely recommend jet airlines...the layovers may have been long (3 hours with delay in brussels and 8 hours in dehli), but they are totally worth it for the individualized video consoles and menus that allow you to start and stop your own movies, both hollywood and bollywood. mmm...trash viewing...delicious in any language.

my travel experience also got a major boost by getting quasi-adopted by a small cadre of nepalis in the dehli airport. on arrival, everyone going to kathmandu got shunted into this fairly barren transfer area; there was as much nescafe as you could drink, but not much else in the way of creature comforts between 10pm and 6am. however, i ended up spending most of the time talking to a guy returning to kathmandu from getting his master's at washu in st. louis. in addition to some great discussions about the state of development in nepal, he and two older couples (in translation and between naps), fielded some questions about life in kathmandu, and even withstood my crude attempts at nepali greetings and pleasantries. one thing definitely made an impression for me, though: seeing how elegant and comfortable the two women looked in their light kurta salwaar, compared to my own bedraggled and sweaty state, made me even more determined to get some of the light tunic, trouser, and scarf ensembles made.

the flight from dehli to kathmandu was only about an hour and a half, and i will say, without reservation, that the early morning view coming into the valley made the previous 30 hours of travel, the layovers and airline food and general exhaustion, worth it. at some point, you look across the cloud cover at some odd, sharp formations in the distance and go, "huh. those aren't clouds". no, indeed, they're the snow capped jagged heights of the himalayas cutting up through the clouds. it's beautiful and jarring and distinctly unsettling, especially if you've gotten complacent about the kind of superiority of human innovation represented by, say, airplanes. humbling, i suppose, is the term. then, as you break through the clouds, you descend along the green "hills" that rim the kathmandu valley. these are not what those of us on the east coast would think of a "hills"...you know, the things you roll down in the summer and sled down in winter? no, these are freakin' mountains, with occaisional winding dirt roads and spotted with small buildings clinging to the sides.

as we got closer and closer to the ground, we were flying over more and more heavily developed landscape which covers the valley floor, and eventually as we pulled into the airport, i caught first sight of the colorful, dirty apartment buildings, spotted with billboards and laced with crowded streets full of careening cars, trucks, motorbikes and pedestrians. kathmandu.

anyway, internet time is almost up and i feel a jet lag nap coming on, so i'll talk more about my first day on the ground later.

pre-departure update!

2009-08-13T21:08:00.007+05:30

my lack of posting over the past months had much more to do with me blithely ignoring the reality of moving across the world, and much less with a lack of actual developments in my plans... having snapped out of it and realized that i am, in fact, moving IN A MATTER OF DAYS (and having received a few inquiries about those developments), i thought i'd put out an update (y'know, instead of packing).

travel: at this point, i've pretty much got visas, vaccines, and tickets under control. i'll be leaving falmouth on the 18th and traveling to kathmandu by way of new jersey (family time), new york city, brussels, and dehli. tragically the only place i'll be spending more than 8 hours is jersey (no offense, jerz). my actual trip clocks in at just over 30 hours, which is more or less par for the course; it's just really really not easy to get to kathmandu, it turns out. (however, it appears to be CAKE compared to getting to sikkim, where i will also be spending some time this year. i haven't done full due diligence on that yet, but, lacking an airport AND train tracks, it looks like i'll have to take a bus from west bengal...which should be interesting. more on that, below).

accommodations: upon arrival, i'll start apartment hunting, with lots of help promised from the director, brian, and the rest of the mountain institute (hereafter, TMI) staff. (side note: brian and the staff seem like the kindest, most helpful group of people. the communications so far make me think that i'm heading into a really close, supportive work environment...no nepalese devil wears prada action, kind of a relief in any new work situation). anyway, from what i can tell, kathmandu is composed of LOTS of little neighborhoods. my office is in baluwatar, across from the PM's palace, so i'll probably look for a place within walking distance, either in lazimpat or bhat bhateni. both are pretty ex-pat heavy neighborhoods; lazimpat is known for its proliferation of embassies, and bhat bhateni (among other things, presumably) for its supermarket. this supermarket is apparently one of the major reasons why you can really find anything you need in kathmandu (no bringing a year's worth of tampons), except for things like contact lenses, and, oddly enough, ziploc bags. go figure. i'm hoping to find a roommate, for the sake of having someone to help me get off the ground, socially, if nothing else. regardless, i've been told this process isn't exceedingly difficult, and i've set aside a couple of days before i start work to recover, acclimate and start looking for an apartment.

language: as i think i've mentioned, the lingua franca of nepal is nepali, although given to the incredible ethno-linguisitic diversity of the country, it's only about 50% of the population's mother tongue. the script is devanagari (the same as hindi), which, due to the fact that the only guide i could find for a while required its users to become literate as they become conversant, i've learned to read and write haltingly. that's less impressive/useful than it sounds, given that a) i don't have any idea, for the most part, what i'm reading or writing and b) only about 50% of the country is literate anyway. ah well. in any case, i'm getting more and more vocab and grammar now, and brian has said he'll help set me up with some language lessons, so hopefully those skills will shape up quickly. unfortunately, i'm leaving without most of the phrase that my mother has decided will be the most important for me to know: "excuse me (elder) brother! subhya deen [good afternoon]. could you tell me where i might acquire treatment for this rabid monkey bite? dhanyabad [thank you]"

work: who is the dirtiest hippie in all the land, and super excited about it? this guy. for starts, some people have asked me what sustainable development actually means. my understanding (from a class at the forestry school and some strategic googling) is that sustainable development aims to balance the goals of preserving environmental resources with promoting the economic (and social) well-being of communities who are locally dependent on those resources (see handy wikipedia venn diagram below? WOOHOO VISUAL AIDS). TMI works on several projects in the region, but it seems like the one i'll be working on most is sort of a suite of projects operating in a geographically distinct, transboundary region of exceptional biodiversity in eastern nepal and sikkim, india. partly as a result of this multi-country mission, and partly for visa reasons, it looks like i'll be spending a few months in the sikkim office during my year at TMI. one project, more in sikkim than nepal, is about trying alternative livestock management techniques that allow for a reduction of herd size, and thus pastureland, which is otherwise an important habitat for the threatened red panda species (cute little devils, but not what you'd imagine, i discovered). the project also develops livelihood opportunities for the same herders as caretakers and shareholders in sustainable ecotourism projects in the region. the part of the project more in eastern nepal than sikkim, focuses on getting farmers to cultivate medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) instead of harvesting the quickly disappearing wild stocks. the next step in this process is forming a farmer's cooperative, to give these farmers greater collective bargaining power in the market. to be totally honest, i'm not sure what a lot of this entails, but i'm doing what i normally do in such circumstances: gathering a bibliography. nerd alert.

anyway, i think that's more than enough for now, but i will post again when i get to kathmandu and get some internet access.

quick catch up

2009-06-24T02:36:00.002+05:30

hmmm so i still can't figure out how to export individual blogposts...however, here are the three brief ones about nepal that i had on my other blog.

a fresh space

2009-06-24T02:00:00.005+05:30

some few of you may actually read my other blog...and if you do, you know i'm not always particularly good with updating it. this may make starting a second blog seem a bit like killing a pet cactus and deciding to have a kid. however, i'm assuming that there are those to whom i'm planning on sending this who might, inconceivably, not actually be interested in reading my more or less uninformed thoughts about pre-mixed seasonings (bomb them) or the latest mos def single...there does seem to be some interest in hearing about my next year, though. so here we are. (if you DO happen to enjoy my little self-indulgent brain gobbits, though, dial-a-ttante will remain alive and well)

for those of you just joining me, trust me, you haven't missed much. a very long and blood-pressure spiking story short, i've been lucky enough to get a princetion in asia fellowship to go to nepal, and even luckier to get one of the ngo fellowships that they offer. for the next year (at least), i will be learning a new language, navigating a new city, and working in a completely new kind of job at the mountain institute. i've never done development work before, or really, something that isn't academic or activist-oriented, but i'm absolutely looking forward to new challenges.

in response to the questions i've gotten so far...
- no, i don't know when i'm leaving just yet, but at this point, i am assuming the end of july/early august.
- no, i don't know where i'll be living. kathmandu housing doesn't seem to be such a big problem though. subletting from a member of the (relatively large) expat population seems to be a popular choice.
- no, it's not actually that cold. or, to be precise, kathmandu has similar winters to san francisco. the kicker there being that there isn't anything in the way of central heating...at all. so, y'know, if you're thinking about a goodbye present, i'm going to suggest long underwear.
- yes there was a bit of a civil war, and yes, the communist party nepal-maoist now has a majority in the CA, but it ultimately came about through an actual democratic process...so the country is a bit of a unique position. check this out for more on the political situation.
- as far as i can make out, 'nepali' is the noun, 'nepalese' is the adjective.
- no, i am not going to start greeting everyone with 'namaste'. i think we can all agree on that one.

and, of course, everyone's got an open couch in kathmandu starting in august!