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The Evolution and Prospect of Tharu Adivasi Movement in Nepal

Presenter:

· Tatsuro Fujikura Kyoto University (Kyoto, Japan)

Timeslot:

07/29 | 11:00-11:20 UTC+2/CEST

Abstract

The Tharu are an indigenous people who live across the Tarai plain near the border between Nepal and India. This paper focuses on Tharu on the Nepal side. During the 19th century, the Nepali state defined Tharu as a ‘clean but enslavable’ jāt. Since Tharu were almost the only year-round residents in the malarial area of Tarai, they retained a relative degree of autonomy. However, after the malaria eradication programs in the 1950s and 60s, migration of the Nepalis of hill origin increased, and a large number of Tharus lost their land, and many of them became bonded laborers called ‘kamaiya’. With regards to Tharu movements, we first see Tharu elites coming together towards the end of the 1940s and organizing a ‘caste association’, seeking to improve the status of Tharu in the caste hierarchy. Towards the end of 1980s, on the other hand, we see a more development-oriented organization by the common youth, engaged in literacy and human rights education. This organization led a successful non-violent movement for the emancipation of kamaiya in 2000. During the ‘people’s war’ (1996-2006), the Maoists actively recruited Tharu, and many of them did participate in the movement. After the peace agreement, they demanded a Tharu federal state. Their demand was completely denied by the Constitution of 2015. Currently, some Tharu are engaged in efforts at the municipal level for official recognition of ‘traditional’ Tharu institutions of self-governance. Through reviewing the complex evolution of Tharu movements, the paper seeks illuminate multiple possibilities as well as challenges of Adivasi studies.