Dependent convenience: Migration, agrarian change, and socioecological sustainability in Dakshinkali, Nepal

Pearly Wong

Economic Anthropology, 2021, vol. 8, issue 2, 287-299

Abstract: Rural transformation in Nepal is characterized by accelerating out‐migration, along with shifting aspirations for becoming “developed” or “modern,” which are associated with urban and foreign infrastructure and consumption. In this context, I examine how convenience practices and technologies interact with the social processes of migration and how they together impact people's life choices and produce socioenvironmental and health consequences. Using the term dependent convenience, I argue that “dependency” and “convenience” are two sides of the same coin. Dependent convenience operates by (a) shifting tastes and norms across generations, (b) perpetuating reliance on labor out‐migration and undermining subsistence production, and (c) producing new environmental and health consequences, the resolution of which is in turn dependent on a range of other yet‐to‐be‐developed supporting infrastructure. The study shows that the development of market economy and convenience technologies drives entangled, path‐dependent processes that ultimately undermine socioenvironmental sustainability. A focus on convenience offers a new perspective to illustrate the entanglement of social, economic, technological, and ecological processes in rural Nepal. The study aims to validate or reaffirm the necessity of grassroots interventions for reorienting development toward meaningfully addressing local needs and sustainability.

Date: 2021
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