‘Scooty Girls’: Mobility and Intimacy at the Margins of Kathmandu

ABSTRACT

The recent explosion in the number of scooters on the road in the Kathmandu Valley signifies a transformation of women's mobility. Scooters allow women to move from the back of a motorbike to the driver's seat. In a context in which most women were discouraged from leaving the house without a reason, the ability to drive oneself rather than call upon a male escort has pushed the gendered boundaries of acceptable behaviour for young women outwards, metaphorically and literally. This paper analyses young, unmarried women's newfound mobility and their capacity to drive to peripheral, ‘out-of-the-way’ places that offer respite from the bustle and pollution of the city, scenic views of the valley below, and something rarely achieved in the past – privacy. Scooters offer a way out of the policed realm of a young woman's home and neighbourhood, leading to exploration and a new space for the creation of intimacy.

KEYWORDS:

• Mobility
• out-of-the-way
• intimacy
• marginality
• Nepal

Acknowledgements

This article is the culmination of several years of research, but I would like to thank Bowdoin College for funding the two periods of research in 2009 and 2010 through the Faculty Development Fund. I am indebted to Manoj K. Shrestha for several years of research assistance, including being in the driver's seat and enabling much of my mobility around the Valley. I would like to thank Jennifer Aengst for originally inspiring this group of papers and being my coeditor for this Special Issue, and I am grateful to my coauthor Megan McCullough for her work on the Introduction and her camaraderie.

Notes

1. In contrast to how Truitt uses the phrase ‘on the back of a motorbike’, I use it more precisely to refer to the position of the person seated behind the driver. Operating a motorbike is a position of power, while riding on the back as a passenger is a passive and dependent position. This distinction, and a gendered analysis of it, is one of the major contributions of this paper.

2. Social governance, in this instance, refers only to the governing or policing of actions that takes place at a familial or community level. The young women in the paper are pushing the boundaries of local social mores, not the rules of a formal governing institution. Mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and neighbours conduct the policing, not the police, politicians, or government policies.

3. The Kathmandu Valley is referred to simply as ‘the Valley’ from this point.

4. It should also be noted that this article does not address all the reasons for purchasing a scooter. For example, working-class men often purchase scooters because they are cheaper and use less petrol due to their smaller engine size (Anna Stirr, personal communication, 23 March 2013).

5. Disciplinary power in this social context remains located mostly within one's family or one's community. Thus, while my thinking is influenced by the work of Michel Foucault on the topic of bodily discipline and self-policing (Foucault 1975 [1979], 1997), the socio-historical context is quite different.

6. National examination taken after class 10 prior to joining higher secondary or intermediate-level education.

7. www.scootygals.com regularly updates its images and slogans, so the two particular images referenced here are no longer featured on the website.