Transformation of Tharu Culture through the Market in Mid-Western, Nepal

Abstract

This paper examines how the market contributes to the transformation of the Tharu culture in western Nepal. This study employs the concept of the neoliberal self, or agency, to examine how market-mediated neoliberal self-mediation leads to changes in culture. Earlier research primarily focused on the general patterns of the economic practices of community, exchange, consumption, and distribution, but did not precisely answer how the market determines these processes. Similarly, previous studies overlooked how such changes in exchange, consumption, and distribution impact the everyday life of the community and their cultural practices. To explore and capture perspectives on both the market and the Tharu culture, an ethnographic approach is employed to collect qualitative data through observation, personal narratives, and key-informant interviews. A grounded theory was used to analyze the collected data. A Tanku village Ward no. 3 of Buddhabhumi Municipality was selected as the research site to collect primary data. The findings indicate that the market serves as a motivational factor driving transformation in the culture. Similarly, it depicts that the market reconstructs, reshapes, and innovates the culture and everyday life of the Tharu. Therefore, market principles are essential for promoting and developing a market-based society and culture. The paper concludes that market-based human agency, in the form of neoliberal self-consciousness, is responsible for the transformation of the Tharu culture.