This strikingly original and impeccably researched account offers an unique insight into the workings of a complex society through the experiences of social, political and economic upheavals brought about by a peoples war. Rich in paradoxes, Punam Yadavs powerfully argued thesis is supported by the wealth of idiographic detail, and sureness of touch in assessing micro-level changes, that only an insider can offer. It is, at the same time, firmly situated in a framework of cutting-edge scholarship, to which it makes a significant contribution.
Jake Lynch, Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney
This volume is timely in presenting us with a new and sophisticated analysis of social transformation as we experience ever-changing global relations in conflict and post-conflict settings. In reclaiming our humanness as central to any notion of social transformation: gender emerges as a defining category in our tool kit.
Lynda-ann Blanchard, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney, Australia
Offering a unique insight into the lives and views of Nepali women post-conflict, Punam Yadavs book is a great read and will be of interest to anyone interested in processes of social change. Her interview material is fascinating and by foregrounding the experiences of women she provides an important and novel contribution to theorizing social transformation from an under-represented perspective.
Kiran Grewal, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Social Justice, Australian Catholic University
A major contribution in the field of social transformation and post-conflict studies which examines in details the insights of womens lived experiences and the first study to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between armed conflict and social transformation through womens perspectives in Nepal.
Erik Paul, Vice President, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney, Australia
This book gives unique insight into the lives of Nepalese women and womens determination to exploit the changes wrought by war.
Lucy Fiske, Chancellors Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Technology, Sydney
Social Transformation in Post-conflict Nepal
The concept of social transformation has been increasingly used in social science to study significant political, socio-economic and cultural changes affected by individuals and groups. This book explores the ways in which social transformation may be understood and its underlying dynamics constructed if womens lived experiences become a basis for theorizing.
Through extensive interviews with women in post-conflict Nepal, this book analyses the intended and unintended impacts of conflict and traces the transformations in womens understandings of themselves and their positions in public life. It raises important questions for the international community about the inevitable victimization of women during mass violence, but it also identifies positive impacts of armed conflict. The book also discusses how the Maoist insurgency had empowering effects on women.
The first study to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between armed conflict and social transformation from genders perspectives, this book is a major contribution to the field of transitional justice and peacebuilding in post-armed-conflict Nepal. It is of interest to academics researching South Asia, Gender, Peace and Security Studies and Development Studies.
Punam Yadav is a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at London School of Economics, UK. Prior to starting her academic career, she worked in the Development Sector for over ten years. She is interested in examining womens lived experiences in post-conflict spaces.
Routledge Research on Gender in Asia Series
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
1 Women, Identity and Indias Call Centre Industry
JK Tina Bas
2 Feminist Research Methodology
Making Meanings of Meaning-Making
Maithree Wickramasinghe
3 Sex Trafficking in South Asia
Telling Mayas Story
Mary Crawford
4 Religion, Gender and Politics in Indonesia
Disputing the Muslim Body
Sonja van Wichelen
5 Gender and Family in East Asia
Edited by Siumi Maria Tam, Wai-ching Angela Wong and Danning Wang
6 Dalit Womens Education in Modern India
Double Discrimination
Shailaja Paik
7 New Modern Chinese Women and Gender Politics
Ya-chen Chen
8 Women and the Politics of Representation in Southeast Asia
Engendering Discourse in Singapore and Malaysia
Edited by Adeline Koh and Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
9 Women and Conflict in India
Sanghamitra Choudhury
10 Gender, Governance and Empowerment in India
Sreevidya Kalaramadam
11 Social Transformation in Post-conflict Nepal
A Gender Perspective
Punam Yadav
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2016 Punam Yadav
The right of Punam Yadav to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Yadav, Punam K. (Punam Kumari), author.
Title: Social transformation in post-conflict Nepal : a gender perspective /
Punam Yadav.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY : Routledge, 2015. | Series:
Routledge research on gender in Asia series; 11 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015047130 | ISBN 9781138955813 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315666037 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: WomenSocial conditions21st century. | Feminism
Nepal. | NepalSocial conditions21st century. | NepalHistoryCivil
War, 1996-2006Social aspects.
Classification: LCC HQ1735.9.Y33 2015 | DDC 305.4095496dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047130
ISBN: 978-1-138-95581-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-66603-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
In memory of my mother, my brother Satish, and my best friend Gyanendra Tripathi, who disappeared during the civil war in Nepal in 2003.
