Navigating Double Alienation: A Narrative Inquiry into Educational Resilience and Identity Negotiations among Dhimal Students in Eastern Nepal

Abstract

This article explores the educational resilience and identity negotiation among Dhimal students from Morang district in Nepal. There is growing attention to the educational deprivation of indigenous communities. However, Dhimal, as an indigenous community, and their education, how they navigate, negotiate, and perpetuate learning despite language barriers, cultural, and economic constraints. Using narrative inquiry based on life history interviews to explore students' lived experiences at school, at home, and in the community, it was found that students were subjected to double marginalization. Specifically, students faced challenges from land loss and poverty while experiencing cultural exclusion in Nepali medium schools where Dhimal language, history, and identity are remarkably absent. Yet, education among Dhimal students remained strong due to family encouragement, peer support, teachers’ guidance, and a sense of responsibility for prospects. There are, however, tensions between cultural identity and the gradual weakening of everyday practices. This article concludes that resilience among Dhimal students is not a subjective characteristic, but a relational and culturally contextual process shaped by identity, family, and community in lived experience.