Making New Nepal by Amanda Snellinger

Making New Nepal by Amanda Snellinger

One of the most important political transitions to occur in South Asia in recent decades was the ouster of Nepal’s monarchy in 2006 and the institution of a democratic secular republic in 2008. Based on extensive ethnographic research between 2003 and 2015, Making New Nepal provides a snapshot of an activist generation’s political coming-of-age during a decade of civil war and ongoing democratic street protests.

Amanda Snellinger illustrates this generation’s entrée into politics through the stories of five young revolutionary activists as they shift to working within the newly established party system. She explores youth in Nepali national politics as a social mechanism for political reproduction and change, demonstrating the dynamic nature of democracy as a radical ongoing process.

"By tracing the political lives of five student activists over more than a decade, Amanda Snellinger makes an important contribution to political anthropology and South Asian studies as she illuminates the motivations that drive these young people’s entry into formal politics as well as the obstacles that they encounter in their efforts to realize their ambitions. . .her book is an insightful analysis of how political structures reproduce themselves by socializing young people into their organizational practices, disciplining youthful idealism with the pragmatics of party politics."

"[A] well-grounded and nuanced analysis of the process and dynamics of democratic politics in Nepal."

Amanda Thérèse Snellinger is an affiliate scholar and lecturer in South Asian studies at the University of Washington.