Impact of Globalization in the Rural Setting of Nepal
Pratap Sharma
Nepal, a landlocked country sandwiched between China to the north and India to our south, has been acutely affected by the activities of these two economic and political giants, and this affect has occurred in terms of both the cultural and political hegemony of our country. There has been one resounding and all encompassing theme that continues to repeat itself, in politics, in the media, in the conversations taking place amongst people in the streets every day, and even in my own personal sociological research. That overwhelming theme, that unavoidable fact which has been impossible to ignore, is that village life in Nepal has undergone a dramatic cultural transformation in recent years as a direct result of globalization, and what some people refer to as "westernization". Moreover, within the last ten years this transformation has been accelerated in ways that we could never have predicted, and as researchers and scientists are now scurrying to document and understand. This historical development includes a verifiable wave of conversion from Hinduism to Christianity, a nation-wide technological revolution that is quickly catching us up to the rest of the world, the progressive urbanization of Nepal, the increase of literacy and education, and a complete remodeling of our view of sex, of women, and of their place in society. The list goes on, but for my purpose I will touch on a few major changes that have taken place in the last decade, illustrating Nepal's rapid adaptation to our new global environment.
One of the most astounding cultural adjustments that I have found during my research was the mass conversion to Christianity, a development that I must confess I genuinely did not expect. My own research (and similar research done by hundreds of students across the country) has shown that this shift is truly undeniable. For my own part, amongst the respondents that I interviewed during my research, I found that Hinduism decreased from 67.30% in 2006 to 23.84% in 2016, and reversely Christianity increased from only 3.84% in 2006 to an impressive 42.30% in 2016. This does not necessarily reflect nation-wide percentages in and of itself, and it's difficult to know exact percentages where religion is concerned, but national statistics agree with the shift displayed in my own research. Mass conversion from Hinduism to Christianity is taking place. I want to make it clear that as a researcher I take no position on religion, but none the less this change is shocking. There are two primary contributing factors in the conversion rate; the first being that many people (especially dalits) are seeking to escape the rigid social stratification that the Hindu caste system imposes on them, especially as their economic status is increasing. The second factor is the increase in Christian missionaries who often times offer gifts and payment in exchange for conversions.
According to the Department of Foreign Employment, the number or Nepalese peoples receiving wages in foreign countries has more than doubled in just the past five years, and this surge shows no sign of slowing down. As a result, the income of many Nepalese families has increased in life-impacting ways for the citizens of Nepal. Firstly, there has been a mass migration of people from the villages into the cities. In my own research 79.92% of the village families I interviewed had moved to the city. Other elements that have more than doubled in recent years are the amount families are spending on cosmetic products, cell phones, computers, televisions, electrical appliances for cooking, and now most families own a private vehicle as well.
The increase in income and access to modern products and facilities are not the only factors improving the every-day lives of Nepalese citizens. Perhaps the most influential means of advancement in their quality of life is the increase in education, access to education, and the standards of education therein. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics in Nepal, the literacy rate has increased from 51.4% in 2006 to 65.9% in 2016, and this increase in education will surely effect the way people make decisions for themselves, the way they make political decisions in a democracy that is still in its infancy, and the way they make financial decisions in a rapidly evolving national economy.
Unfortunately men often still take president over women where education is concerned, with the male literacy rate at 75.1% compared to women's 57.4%, but this gap is slowly closing in as well, and women are making impacts in their fight for equality in Nepal. Historically weighed down under the heavy burden of patriarchal oppression, women are now taking positions as professors, doctors, and politicians, and are making their presence known in terms of foreign employment. Women at home in Nepal, with husbands in foreign countries, often become the primary decision makers in their homes. Women, and young people in general are placing greater emphasis on fashion (usually heavily influenced by western trends), and their views towards sex and sexually is becoming increasingly more liberal. The strong obligation to obey the wishes of one's father and family, which could once be expected and relied upon, is now being replaced by a sense of independence and entitlement to personal freedom. Women clearly still have a long journey ahead of them in gaining equality in Nepal, but the current strides that are being made are not only remarkable, they are culture changing.
In this essay I have not intended to necessarily take a position as to whether or not the dramatic and rapid evolution which is unquestionably taking place is necessarily an overall "good thing" or a "bad thing," but rather I've attempted to illustrate Nepal's development in recent years in as relevant a way as I can. I've done this in hopes that the Nepalese people might put themselves in the driver's seat, and positively direct where these changes might take us as a nation. Nepal is adapting to the global environment that it now exists in, in much the same way the tiger has been forced to adapt to his changing environment, but unlike the tiger we human beings are able to see and understand these changes in a complex way, and drive our own development for the future of our country and our culture.
One of the most astounding cultural adjustments that I have found during my research was the mass conversion to Christianity, a development that I must confess I genuinely did not expect. My own research (and similar research done by hundreds of students across the country) has shown that this shift is truly undeniable. For my own part, amongst the respondents that I interviewed during my research, I found that Hinduism decreased from 67.30% in 2006 to 23.84% in 2016, and reversely Christianity increased from only 3.84% in 2006 to an impressive 42.30% in 2016. This does not necessarily reflect nation-wide percentages in and of itself, and it's difficult to know exact percentages where religion is concerned, but national statistics agree with the shift displayed in my own research. Mass conversion from Hinduism to Christianity is taking place. I want to make it clear that as a researcher I take no position on religion, but none the less this change is shocking. There are two primary contributing factors in the conversion rate; the first being that many people (especially dalits) are seeking to escape the rigid social stratification that the Hindu caste system imposes on them, especially as their economic status is increasing. The second factor is the increase in Christian missionaries who often times offer gifts and payment in exchange for conversions.
According to the Department of Foreign Employment, the number or Nepalese peoples receiving wages in foreign countries has more than doubled in just the past five years, and this surge shows no sign of slowing down. As a result, the income of many Nepalese families has increased in life-impacting ways for the citizens of Nepal. Firstly, there has been a mass migration of people from the villages into the cities. In my own research 79.92% of the village families I interviewed had moved to the city. Other elements that have more than doubled in recent years are the amount families are spending on cosmetic products, cell phones, computers, televisions, electrical appliances for cooking, and now most families own a private vehicle as well.
The increase in income and access to modern products and facilities are not the only factors improving the every-day lives of Nepalese citizens. Perhaps the most influential means of advancement in their quality of life is the increase in education, access to education, and the standards of education therein. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics in Nepal, the literacy rate has increased from 51.4% in 2006 to 65.9% in 2016, and this increase in education will surely effect the way people make decisions for themselves, the way they make political decisions in a democracy that is still in its infancy, and the way they make financial decisions in a rapidly evolving national economy.
Unfortunately men often still take president over women where education is concerned, with the male literacy rate at 75.1% compared to women's 57.4%, but this gap is slowly closing in as well, and women are making impacts in their fight for equality in Nepal. Historically weighed down under the heavy burden of patriarchal oppression, women are now taking positions as professors, doctors, and politicians, and are making their presence known in terms of foreign employment. Women at home in Nepal, with husbands in foreign countries, often become the primary decision makers in their homes. Women, and young people in general are placing greater emphasis on fashion (usually heavily influenced by western trends), and their views towards sex and sexually is becoming increasingly more liberal. The strong obligation to obey the wishes of one's father and family, which could once be expected and relied upon, is now being replaced by a sense of independence and entitlement to personal freedom. Women clearly still have a long journey ahead of them in gaining equality in Nepal, but the current strides that are being made are not only remarkable, they are culture changing.
In this essay I have not intended to necessarily take a position as to whether or not the dramatic and rapid evolution which is unquestionably taking place is necessarily an overall "good thing" or a "bad thing," but rather I've attempted to illustrate Nepal's development in recent years in as relevant a way as I can. I've done this in hopes that the Nepalese people might put themselves in the driver's seat, and positively direct where these changes might take us as a nation. Nepal is adapting to the global environment that it now exists in, in much the same way the tiger has been forced to adapt to his changing environment, but unlike the tiger we human beings are able to see and understand these changes in a complex way, and drive our own development for the future of our country and our culture.
प्रतिकृया दिनुहोस्
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