SINHAS Vol 30 No 2 Pitamber Sharma
Reframing Global Asias: Marginalities, Mobilities and Modernities – The Nepal Perspective
Pitamber Sharma
Abstract
The paper examines Nepal’s position within the framework of Global Asias, focusing on the interplay of marginalities, mobilities, and modernities. Geopolitically marginalized as a buffer state between China and India, Nepal navigates power asymmetries while confronting internal inequalities rooted in caste, ethnicity, and gender. The paper highlights how mobilities—internal migration, urbanization, and labor exodus—reshape Nepal’s socioeconomic landscape, driving remittance-dependent growth yet exacerbating rural depopulation and urban strain. Meanwhile, Nepal’s modernities emerge as hybrid formations: indigenous knowledge systems (e.g., Newar urban planning, community forestry) coexist with globalized influences from tourism, Gorkha diaspora, and neoliberal reforms. The analysis reveals Nepal’s paradoxical role as both a peripheral actor and a microcosm of Global Asias’ diversity, where marginality fosters resilience but also perpetuates dependency. By centering Nepal’s experience, the paper challenges homogenized narratives of Asian ascendancy, advocating for inclusive frameworks that address structural inequalities, sustainable mobility, and pluralistic pathways to modernity.
Keywords: Global Asias, Nepal, marginalities, mobilities, modernities, remittance economy, tourism
Reframing Global Asias: Marginalities, Mobilities and Modernities – The Nepal Perspective
Pitamber Sharma
Abstract
The paper examines Nepal’s position within the framework of Global Asias, focusing on the interplay of marginalities, mobilities, and modernities. Geopolitically marginalized as a buffer state between China and India, Nepal navigates power asymmetries while confronting internal inequalities rooted in caste, ethnicity, and gender. The paper highlights how mobilities—internal migration, urbanization, and labor exodus—reshape Nepal’s socioeconomic landscape, driving remittance-dependent growth yet exacerbating rural depopulation and urban strain. Meanwhile, Nepal’s modernities emerge as hybrid formations: indigenous knowledge systems (e.g., Newar urban planning, community forestry) coexist with globalized influences from tourism, Gorkha diaspora, and neoliberal reforms. The analysis reveals Nepal’s paradoxical role as both a peripheral actor and a microcosm of Global Asias’ diversity, where marginality fosters resilience but also perpetuates dependency. By centering Nepal’s experience, the paper challenges homogenized narratives of Asian ascendancy, advocating for inclusive frameworks that address structural inequalities, sustainable mobility, and pluralistic pathways to modernity.
Keywords: Global Asias, Nepal, marginalities, mobilities, modernities, remittance economy, tourism