The Material Politics of Citizenship: Struggles over Resources, Authority and Belonging in the New Federal Republic of Nepal. Issue 5 (3rd September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nightingale, Andrea J.; Lenaerts, Lutgart; Shrestha, Ankita; Lama 'Tsumpa', Pema Norbu; Ojha, Hemant R.
• Is Part Of: South Asia. Volume 42:Issue 5(2019)
• Page Start: 886
• Page End: 902
• Publication Date: 2019-09-03
• Subjects: Boundary-making -- disasters -- earthquake reconstruction -- federalism -- Nepal -- political ecology -- resource conflicts -- socio-environmental state -- state formation; South Asia -- Periodicals; South Asia -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 954.005
• DOI: 10.1080/00856401.2019.1639111
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0085-6401

Abstract

Abstract: Examining the boundaries of state–society–citizen–environment after the federal restructuring in Nepal, we ask how do people claim authority or citizenship rights? We theorise state power through the socio-environmental state framework as a set of socio-natural relations in the making, formed by struggles over authority, recognition and environment. Using qualitative data from Barpak, the epicentre of the 2015 earthquake, we capture the politics of natural resource governance that (re)emerged during earthquake reconstruction and local-level elections, illustrating how control over resources is negotiated, disputed, and inscribed in law (land titles and water sources) and landscapes (water sources, earthquake resettlement area, an open-air museum).