Political activism in the context of Nepal´s democratic transition

Contact person: Dan Hirslund

This PhD project investigates the processes through which political participation among young activists in Kathmandu is negotiated and constructed. In spite of the political stability introduced by the nation-wide elections and the Constituent Assembly in the spring, large and popular socio-political movements like the Young Communist League (YCL) continue to push their own agendas of 'street-justice' and 'ideological education' that both complement and challenge existing state institutions.

The goal is to provide a frame for an anthropological analysis of activism through an attention to how young people navigate 'political society', and thereby contribute to notions of politics, through a focus on negotiations of sociality on the margins of the political, and youth, in the dialectical understanding of the struggle between generation and social becoming. Through a double focus on the mobilization of young people for political purposes, and the way in which youth 'survive' through political movements, the study will investigate how the political field is constructed, and discuss how specific forms and perceptions of participation emerge as hegemonic.

Keywords: Mobilization, violence, political networks, social movements, conflict, transitional societies.

The project is part of a larger programme about youth and violent political organisations.