Entangled in Big Events: Rise of Heroin Use Among Children of Ex-Gurkhas in Hong Kong

Abstract

Big event models have been developed to demonstrate the relationships between wars and socioeconomic political transitions, and between rise of drug use and HIV epidemic outbreaks. This ethnographic interview-based study of a Nepali, Hong Kong community, carried out between 2009 and 2011, explored increased heroin use among the children of Hong Kong's Nepali ex-Gurkhas since its political transition in 1997. Data from its 59 informants were coded and analyzed using the grounded-theory approach. Three derived themes influencing drug use among ex-Gurkha children were identified: (1) reorganization of social networks, (2) redefinition of social norms, and (3) renegotiation of self-identity. Their associated processes crossed the boundaries of time and space. These findings document that big event modeling variables can and do overlap, are interconnected in many different ways, and their relationships are dialectical and are culturally shaped even as individuals may and do influence these processes and outcomes. Study's limitations are noted.

Keywords :

• big events
• transnational migration
• heroin use
• Gurkha
• Hong Kong

THE AUTHORS

Wai-Man Tang, PhD, received his doctoral in anthropology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2013. His research interests are in drug addiction and rehabilitation, ethnicity, gender, transnational migration, Nepalese diaspora, and Gurkhas.

GLOSSARY

• Remittance economy: An economy which is significantly supported by remittances, the transfer of money by migrant workers to their homeland.

• The handover: Defined in this study as the historical event when the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from Britain to China in 1997.

Notes

¹ This relatively new term, introduced into the intervention literature by Friedman, Rossi, and Flom (2006), refers to major events such as mega-disasters that are natural as well as man-made, such as famine, conflict, genocide, disparities in health, epidemics, mass migrations, economic recessions, etc., which affect adaptation, functioning, and quality of life of individuals as well as systems. Existential threat, instability, and chaos are major dimensions and loss of control over one's life is experienced. (Reviewer's note)

² The term “Gurkhas” refers to the soldiers who served in the Gurkha regiment as well as the Tibeto-Burman linguistic and ethnic groups in Nepal's hill and mountainous regions, such as Gurungs, Magars, Rais, and Limbus. Gurungs are mainly from the eastern and western parts of Nepal, Magars from the middle part, and Rais and Limbus are from the eastern part. The male members of these groups have been historically recruited by the British Army since the early 19th century.

³ In the 1960s, the Nepali government carried out land reforms, improved infrastructure of major cities, and promoted market economy, which resulted in a large-scale rural -to-urban migration. In the 1990s, the government promoted a remittance economy and more than a million Nepalis were consequently employed in low-skilled sectors overseas. Yet, these reforms have failed to improve the economy, and Nepal remains one of the least developed countries in the world. According to the Human Development Index (HDI), Nepal belongs to the category of low human development.

⁴ Except for a brief experiment with parliamentary democracy in the 1950s, Nepal had been governed by an autocrat until 1990 when massive public demonstrations took place and forced the monarchy to accept constitutional reforms and re-establish a multiparty parliament. In 1996, the Maoists launched a civil war against the monarchy, which lasted for a decade. In 2006, nationwide protests resulted in the abolition of monarchy and declaration of Nepal as a federal republic.

⁵ The reader is reminded that the concepts of “risk factors” and “protective factors” are often noted in the literature, without adequately noting their dimensions (linear, nonlinear; rates of development; anchoring or integration; cessation, etc.), their “demands,” and the critical necessary conditions (endogenously as well as exogenously; from a micro to a meso to a macro level) which are necessary for them to operate (begin, continue, become anchored and integrate, change as de facto realities change, cease, etc.) or not, and whether their underpinnings are theory-driven, empirically based, individual, and/or systemic stake holder-bound, based on the “principles of faith,” historical observation, precedents, and traditions that accumulate over time, perceptual and judgmental constraints, and “transient public opinion.” This is necessary to consider and clarify if these terms are not to remain as yet additional shibboleth in a field of many stereotypes, tradition-driven activities, “principles of faith,” and stakeholder objectives. (Reviewer's note)

⁶ The reader is referred to Hills’ (1965) criteria for causation, which were developed to help assist researchers and clinicians determine if risk factors were the causes of a particular disease or outcomes, or merely associated. (Reviewer's note)

⁷ Gurkhas were first recruited in the Khalsa Army at Lahore by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1809 (Des Chene 1991, p. 235–236). They won several important battles and gained reputation. They were thus called lahure after Lahore.

⁸ In earlier times, the Gurkhas did not view mercenary service as a desirable choice. At that time, there were high casualties in the army and the pensions from the British Army were relatively small due to the two world wars. Mercenary service could hardly improve one's livelihood in the village.

⁹ According to the education policy, non-Chinese in Hong Kong can choose to study in any school. Yet, most schools in the mainstream do not prefer to admit ethnic minority students such as South Asians. Comparatively, some schools which are low-ranking or face the problem of under-enrollment recruit these students. Accordingly, the government has set up a policy that facilitates them to study in these schools.

¹⁰ This quote has been used in another paper (Tang, 2015) but the context and interpretation are different.

¹¹ As observed in the ethnographic data, the role of Britain toward the children of ex-Gurkhas has been changing. In 2004, the British government allowed ex-Gurkhas who retired after 1997 to settle in Britain. In 2009, this right of residence was given to all ex-Gurkhas. This created an important means for the children of ex-Gurkhas to exit and seek migration from Hong Kong. For those who are eligible to stay in the United Kingdom may no longer see themselves trapped in Hong Kong.