Faculty Advisor

Gardner, Andrew

Area of Study

Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Publication Date

Summer 2019

Abstract

This project examines the ways in which outmigration from Nepal is impacting the built landscape of Kathmandu. This project employed ethnographic methods to explore transnational labor migration through the lens of the city and the use and construction of urban spaces. While outmigration was the original focus of the project, it became clear through the research process that internal migration, the first step in the transnational migration process, plays a more direct role in the development of the city. This research was based on nineteen interviews conducted in Kathmandu as well as photo ethnography. Transnational labor migration is an exceedingly complex system that has a wide variety of causes and outcomes. This research project was not designed to gain a comprehensive understanding of this system, but to delve deeply into one aspect of labor migration that is often over-looked and is relatively understudied. By understanding how systems of transnational labor migration impact the environment in which people live, we can more clearly see the relationship between internal and external migration and perhaps gain a more nuanced understanding of outmigration in Nepal.

Award

Delta Phi

Publisher

University of Puget Sound

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