Gendered dimensions of conflict : psychosocial impact on family members on enforced disappeared people; Kathmandu District, Nepal | |
| Author | Adhikari, Suvechha |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.GD-06-13 |
| Subject(s) | Disappeared persons--Nepal--Kathemandu Social conflict--Nepal--Kathmandu |
| Note | thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master in Science, School of Environment Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. GD-06-13 |
| Abstract | This thesis explores the gendered dimensions of internal political conflict in Nepal ongoing since 1996. The study focuses on the women family members of state-induced disappeared men in Kathmandu district, the capital of the country, which records highest number of disappearances. With the emergence of conflict and heightened situation unfolding itself, the government used a counterinsurgency method to fight the Maoist rebel movement by deploying security forces in 2001. Since then, there has been an increase in cases of disappearance by the state security forces. Most published work on women and war focuses on "men being the warriors and women being the mere victims," specifically of sexual violence, but does not look into the implications for women when male family members are victims of disappearance. However, women and men as social actors each experience violence and conflict differently as victims. And in the situation of disappearance of male family members, the impact on women will be affected by their socio-cultural positioning in the society. In patriarchal Nepal, women's position is derived from her relationship to a man, either as a wife, a mother or a daughter, relegating her own self-made identity to the background. Therefore the study looks at the changes in the lives of "mothers and wives" of men who have disappeared. This focus has received scant attention in the conflict between the Maoists and the state in Nepal, nor in other conflict situations. Based on 4 months of fieldwork, the study describes the lives of 17 women, six mothers and 11 wives of the disappeared, using repeated in-depth interviews and non-participant observation to follow them through their lives in the absence of their significant men. The needs, interests and the gendered power relations in the family and society were found to be affected differently for mothers and wives. The notion of achieved "motherhood" served mothers with greater power and positioned them at a higher social hierarchy resulting in fewer changes in their support system and rendering them less vulnerable to erosions in their emotional, social and physical health. Whereas for the wives, the notion of dependent "wifehood" without husbands to depend on, diminished their bargaining power inside and outside the family unit, thus reinforcing gender roles, shriveling previous support networks, and having fundamental impacts on their well-being leading to behavioral, emotional and psychosomatic symptoms. Mothers of the disappeared were in a financially more secure position, thus better able to pursue channels to locate their sons, whereas wives of the disappeared now found themselves to be liabilities in their natal and marital families, voiceless. The study elaborated how the mothers and wives develop social networks, adapt to their new roles, continue the routine of daily survival, and cope with the startling event. |
| Year | 2006 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. GD-06-13 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Earth, Barbara; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Resurrection, Babette P.; Arya, Gothom; Shivakoti, Ganesh; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Development Bank- Japan Scholarship Program; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2006 |