Description
In the wake of a ten-year civil insurgency in Nepal, scholars are looking back into the conflict to understand the social transformations influenced by the rise of the Maoist party. Using Stacy Pigg’s three seminal articles on Nepal and development as a baseline, I explore data from 63 surveys recorded in the Jumla Village Development Committee in summer 2009 to understand how the Maoist presence altered rural attitudes about development and the Nepalese government. My data suggest that rural people have shifted from an expectation and reliance on the government and international aid and toward a cooperative and more self-sufficient model of producing change. These findings, I suggest, have implications for sustaining Nepal’s recently-established republic as well as future work dedicated to improving rural livelihoods.
“Since the Fighting Stopped”: Changing attitudes about development in rural Nepal
In the wake of a ten-year civil insurgency in Nepal, scholars are looking back into the conflict to understand the social transformations influenced by the rise of the Maoist party. Using Stacy Pigg’s three seminal articles on Nepal and development as a baseline, I explore data from 63 surveys recorded in the Jumla Village Development Committee in summer 2009 to understand how the Maoist presence altered rural attitudes about development and the Nepalese government. My data suggest that rural people have shifted from an expectation and reliance on the government and international aid and toward a cooperative and more self-sufficient model of producing change. These findings, I suggest, have implications for sustaining Nepal’s recently-established republic as well as future work dedicated to improving rural livelihoods.