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ID: 098877

Cultural expression as political rhetoric: young Bhutanese refugees' collective action for social change / Evans, Rosalind

Evans, Rosalind	Journal Article
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2010.

Summary/Abstract

This article explores the experiences of young Bhutanese refugees growing up in long-term camps in eastern Nepal. It focuses on a period of political crisis in the camps in 2006-2007, when community members' opinions clashed over long-term solutions to the refugee situation. The article examines the use of cultural expression - song, poetry, dance, art and drama - as a form of political rhetoric employed to inspire collective action for social change. These methods are used both by international agencies engaging children in community-based advocacy for improved children's rights and by revolutionary political groups building support for armed struggle to enable the refugees' return to Bhutan. The article considers how various actors use cultural expression to transform individuals' consciousness and build collective identities, and questions to what political ends these identities are put.

Key Words

Refugees ; Social Change ; Bhutan ; Nepal ; Rhetoric ; Children - Rights

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ID: 099925

Perils of being a borderland people: on the Lhotshampas of Bhutan / Evans, Rosalind

Evans, Rosalind	Journal Article
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Publication

2010.

Summary/Abstract

This article responds to Baud and van Schendel's call for research into the history of borderland people in order to redress 'the imbalance of "state-centred" studies'. It does so by providing a study of borderlands from the periphery, analysing the experiences of the Lhotshampas - a borderland people of Bhutan - who migrated there from Nepal and India a few generations ago. In response to the Bhutanese Government's efforts to promote a homogeneous national identity during the 1980s, Lhotshampa political leaders campaigned for increased political and cultural rights. The suppression of their early protests by the Bhutanese authorities ushered in a period of instability and conflict in the south, eventually resulting in the exodus of tens of thousands of refugees who have been living in camps in Nepal since the early 1990s. Through the use of secondary literature and refugees' memories, the article investigates the perspectives of ordinary villagers caught between the Bhutanese state and local elite political activists. It highlights the important role that oral histories can play in furthering our understanding of social and political dynamics in borderland areas.

Key Words

Refugees ; Borders ; Bhutan ; Nepal ; Borderlands

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