- Betreuung: Martin Gaenszle
The master thesis deals with the bottom-up historiography of the Ādivāsī Janajāti-movement in a democratic Nepal after 1990. In alignment with the transnational or rather global movement of indigenous peoples and the discourse of indigeneity this movement formulates a new collective group identity for various different ethnic groups and developed from a loose movement to an institutionalised organisation. The collective concerns of indigenous groups, the advocacy efforts of the indigenous education-elite through different culture and identity politics and the organisational capacity building of indigenous groups are the main topics of this master thesis. At the same time the relationship between the dominant Hindū-groups and the subaltern ethnic groups is analysed, and the public institutionalisation (from above) within the existing legal framework is illuminated. Furthermore the organisational realms of the first two indigenous organisations in Nepal are defined: ‘Nepāl Ādivāsī Janajāti Mahāsaṃgh / Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities‘ (NEFIN) und ‘Ādivāsī Janajāti Utthān Rāṣṭriya Pratiṣṭhān / National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities‘ (NFDIN). On the level of theory, this master thesis positions itself in the field of Subaltern /Postcolonial Studies.