From the peaks and back: mapping the emotions of trans-Himalayan children education migration journeys in Kathmandu, Nepal

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how children who have migrated to Kathmandu from Trans-Himalayan regions of Nepal experience conditions of emotional disconnect in the process of migration-for-education. Using a child-centred methodology, I review children’s feelings of fear and moments of joy as they prepare to leave home at a young age. This paper depicts the heavily emotional journeys to Kathmandu, often done by foot and limited ground transport. I then explore how children experience educational integration in an urban boarding school. From many years of separation, the paper shows how children are often emotionally disconnected from their mountainous homelands. I show how disconnection creates complicated feelings, and I highlight children’s affective articulations of ‘return’, and their lived experiences of homecoming. In mapping the emotive realities of children, the paper also reminds the reader how the researcher’s own positionality needs to be reflexively critiqued when doing child-centred research on the emotions of migration.

KEYWORDS:

• Migration
• emotions
• identity
• family
• school journey
• Asia

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) under the Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master’s Scholarship. I would like to thank the participants in this study, for your valuable time and support. I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 To ensure anonymity, all participants are given pseudonyms.

2 Two participants (Dhargey and Ngawang) were unsure of their exact age due to not having citizenship records have contributed to this study. They estimate their age to be approximately 17–21 during the time of the interview. They strongly felt they were 17 at the time of the interview. Nevertheless, they actively reflect upon their migration experiences as children. Other participants at the time of interviews were between 15 and 17 years old, according to their citizenship records.

3 I previously know all of the trans-Himalayan boarding school participants in this study through my NGO experience In Nepal dating from April 2010 to the present. It is also important to note that the Maoist revolution between 1996 and 2006 was a factor for migration for participants since many parents were afraid of child recruitment into the armed force. Refer to the paper by Khan and Hyndman (2015) for detailed accounts of the interplay between forced migration, emotion, and education.

4 All interviews were conducted in English since all participants attended an English medium boarding school and had great proficiency with the language.

5 Dhargey got funds for her trip from assistance of boarding school sponsors.

6 See: Khan and Hyndman (2015) for more details on the Lhudup’s community development initiatives in relation to discussion around social capital, youth agency, and his lived experiences with civil war.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) [grant number Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master’s Scholarship].