Crossing the Border to India

Youth, Migration, and Masculinities in Nepal

Jeevan R Sharma author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Temple University Press,U.S.

Published:16th May '18

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Crossing the Border to India cover

Given the limited economic opportunities in rural Nepal, the desire of young men of all income and education levels, castes and ethnicities to migrate has never been higher. Crossing the Border to India provides an ethnography of male labor migration from the western hills of Nepal to Indian cities. Jeevan Sharma shows how a migrant’s livelihood and gender, as well as structural violence impacts his perceptions, experiences, and aspirations. 

Based on long-term fieldwork, Sharma captures the actual experiences of crossing the border. He shows that Nepali migration to India does not just allow young men from poorer backgrounds to “save there and eat here,” but also offers a strategy to escape the more regimented social order of the village. Additionally, migrants may benefit from the opportunities offered by the “open-border” between India and Nepal to attain independence and experience a distant world. However, Nepali migrants are subjected to high levels of ill treatment. Thus, while the idea of freedom remains extremely important in Nepali men’s migration decisions, their actual experience is often met with unfreedom and suffering.

"Crossing the Border to India is an important contribution to the scholarship on migration, development, and masculinities. Sharma provides a new perspective for understanding the complex relationship between immigration, work, and gender."--Men and Masculinities

ISBN: 9781439914267

Dimensions: 216mm x 133mm x 18mm

Weight: unknown

204 pages