Nationalism and Ethnicity in a Hindu Kingdom: The Po
Author: David N. Gellner, Joanna Ptait-Czarnecka
Category: Anthropology   
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The Book

Nepal is the only officially Hindu Kingdom in the world and has remained so through successive changes of political regime. Since the nineteenth century it has experienced the autocracy of the Ranas, guided partyless democracy led by the king, and, following the people's revolution of 1990, a multiparty constitutional monarchy. For nine months in 1994 and 1995 it even had an elected Communist government, the first time a national government has been formed by Communists in South Asia.

This volume takes a long-term view of the various processes of ethnic and national development which have occurred both before and after 1990 and examines the ways that different political regimes have framed and attempted to control them. It brings together twelve carefully chosen ethnographic and historical chapters covering the major ethnic groups and regions of Nepal. Two leading Nepali intellectuals, Prayag Raj Sharma and Harka Gurung, provide concluding commentaries.

Nationalism and Ethnicity in a Hindu Kingdom is an ideal case study for all students of modernization, effinicity, nationalism, and the interconnections of culture and politics. With its systematic coverage of different groups, it demonstrates how similar trends of ethnic formation are affecting all parts of Nepal. Yet, within the boundaries of a single, culturally diverse state, very different forms of ethnicity have emerged.