Unbecoming Citizens: Culture, Nationhood, and the Flight of Refugees from Bhutan

Description

This book recounts the plight of about a hundred thousand refugees of Nepali ethnic origin who claim to have been wrongfully evicted from Bhutan. They arrived in Nepal during the early 1990s and since then not a single one of them has returned. The author explains who these people are and analyses the Bhutanese government's new policies on citizenship, language, and dress that ultimately led to the flight of many erstwhile citizens. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of South Asian and Himalayan politics, anthropology, cultural studies, and refugee studies. - Michael Hutt is Professor in Nepali and Himalayan Studies and Dean in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. "[This] is a rich, carefully researched and important book. It provides a rare case study of the dynamics of nationalism in the Himalayas." --Journal of Refugee Studies "The most memorable parts of the book are the narratives, the stories the refugees try to tell, the memories they try to evoke." --Frontline "It is for the historical construction of the migration of Nepalis into South Bhutan and the recording of their history from their settlement to expulsion that the book is valuable." --Himal South Asia "In this absorbing book, Michael Hutt provides a cogent analysis of the problems and challenges of nation-building..." --Hindu - Preface - Acknowledgments - Illustrations 1. Introduction 1.1 Context: lands on a rim 1.2 Bhutan and the Bhutanese 1.3 Authenticity and historical truth 1.4 Unbecoming citizens 2. Matters of history 2.1 The history of _Umbho_ 2.2 Nepali migration to Bhutan: the historical context 2.3 ‘Since the time of the _Shabdrung'_ 2.4 ‘Priests and patrons’ 2.5 ‘To protect the land of _Dharmadeva_’ 3. Southern Bhutan in early British accounts 3.1 Early encounters 3.2 ‘A narrow slip of land’ 3.3 Bhutan and the Younghusband mission 3 .4 ‘First sightings’ 4. The legend of Garjaman Gurung 4.1 Ponlops and _thekadars_ 4.2 D.B. Gurung’s memoir 4.3 Using the legend 4.4 Questions of historicity 5. The settlement and administration of the south 5.1 A chronology of Nepali settlement 5.2 The ethnic boundary 5.3 The administration of southern Bhutan 5.4 The Paro Ponlop and the Dorjes 5.5 The _Mandals_ 5.6 Land ownership and registration 5.7 The payment of taxes 5.8 Revenue from below 5.9 The contribution of labour 6. The changing bases of subjecthood 6.1 Calling the _raiyats_ back home 6.2 The case of Akhal Singh 7. Lhotshampa culture 7.1 Bhutanese Nepaliness 7.2 Caste and ethnicity 7.3 Assumed characteristics 7.4 Ascribed characteristics 7.5 The absence of Nepali literature 7.6 Of pandits and _pathshalas_ 8. The first activists 8.1 ‘Jai Gorkha!’ 8.2 The death of Masur Chetri 8.3 The Bhutan State Congress 9. Coming closer to the King 9.1 Coming down from Tongsa 9.2 Political representation 9.3 The granting of citizenship 9.4 Opening the schools 9.5 Building the roads 9.6 Moving east 9.7 A sense of belonging 10. The conditions for belonging 10.1 Legislation on citizenship 10.2 Censuses 10.3 The 1988 census 11. Becoming the same 11.1 A homogenizing nationalism 11.2 Driglam Namzha 11.3 A national costume 11.4 Enforcing culture 11.5 Anxieties and dissent 11.6 A national language 11.7 Demoting Nepali 11.8 Bhutanizing buildings 12. ‘Now we will all be criminals’ 12.1 Nepali politics in India 12.2 The petition to the King 12.3 Early Lhotshampa dissidence 12.4 Arrests and reprisals 12.5 Demonstrations 1 3. The Ngolops 13.1 The creation of the _Ngolop_ 13.2 The propagation of fear 13.3 The closure of schools 13.4 ‘Voluntary emigrants’ 13.5 The punishment of Tek Nath Rizal 14. Dil Maya: fragments of a life 14.1 Refugees and life histories 14.2 Introducing ‘Dil Maya’ 14.3 Dil Maya’s life 14.4 Becoming afraid 14.5 Leaving Bhutan 14.6 The future 15. Refugees from Shangri—la 15.1 A postscript 15.2 The gaps between nation-states 15.3 The construction of national cultures 15.4 A small state, a. Shangri-la 15.5 Repairing the tear in the fabric 15.6 Some legal perspectives 15.7 The Brahmans Of Shambhala - Appendix - Bibliography - Index