Embodied circular migration: lived experiences of education and work of Nepalese children and youth

Abstract

Research including trans-Himalayan children and youth experiences of circular migration is often amalgamated under wider migration discourses. From 22 semi-structured interviews and three focus group sessions with 22 trans-Himalayan children/youth, this paper examines intersections of embodiment, agency, and circular migration in Nepal through what this paper frames as embodied circular migration. It then delves into this by addressing the question of how young people periodically returning for work in trans-Himalayan villages contribute towards their educational security in Kathmandu. The paper outlines how young people's agency towards choosing to engage in circular migration for work, circumvented structural challenges of not having identity documents (citizenship/birth certificates) needed to legally work or pursue higher studies in Kathmandu. Secondly, circular migration patterns that young people embodied reflected spatio-temporal aspects of migration that differed from their previous generations based on relationships to education/work, citizenship, and gender expectations. Lastly, this paper found that youth circular migration was complicated by the Maoist Insurgency, which greatly (re)structured education/work, circular migration, and family relationships in the trans-Himalayan regions. Overall, this paper connects migration and youth studies by bringing embodied lived experiences of young people from a disparate region of the world to the foreground of this ethnographic study.

KEYWORDS:

• Work
• schooling
• rural children and youth
• citizenship
• lifestyles
• gender

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Participants were proficient in English from attending an English medium boarding school. Also, the researcher has extensive training with Nepali and encouraged participants to participate in their language of choice.

2 To ensure anonymity, all participants are given pseudonyms.

3 Sashi's brother recruited as a child soldier escaped to India. He visited Nepal twice, but out of fear of being ‘discovered,’ permanently migrated to India and severed all family ties.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council [Grant ID: Joseph-Armand Bombardier Master's Scholarship]; and the University of Toronto Doctoral Research Fellowship in Geography and Planning.