Crossing the Border to India: Youth, Migration, and Masculinities in Nepal(Global Youth)

Given the limited economic opportunities in rural Nepal, the desire of young men of all income and education levels, castes and ethnicities to migrate has never been higher. Crossing the Border to India provides an ethnography of male labor migration from the western hills of Nepal to Indian cities. Jeevan Sharma shows how a migrant’s livelihood and gender, as well as structural violence impacts his perceptions, experiences, and aspirations.  Based on long-term fieldwork, Sharma captures the actual experiences of crossing the border. He shows that Nepali migration to India does not just allow young men from poorer backgrounds to “save there and eat here,” but also offers a strategy to escape the more regimented social order of the village. Additionally, migrants may benefit from the opportunities offered by the “open-border” between India and Nepal to attain independence and experience a distant world. However, Nepali migrants are subjected to high levels of ill treatment. Thus, while the idea of freedom remains extremely important in Nepali men’s migration decisions, their actual experience is often met with unfreedom and suffering.

About the Author :
Jeevan R. Sharma is Lecturer in South Asia and International Development at the University of Edinburgh.

Review :
"Crossing the Border to India is an important contribution to the scholarship on migration, development, and masculinities. Sharma provides a new perspective for understanding the complex relationship between immigration, work, and gender."--Men and Masculinities "Sharma’s Crossing the Border to India is a sensitive ethnography that conveys what it is like to be a Nepali migrant in India. Especially valuable is the fact that gender (masculinity) and the life course are central to this cultural account of a phenomenon that has hitherto been dominated by quantitative analyses. The vignettes are excellent and the characters are recognizable throughout the book."-David N. Gellner, Professor of Anthropology, University of Oxford, author of The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes, and editor of Borderland Lives in Northern South Asia "Sharma views migrants not as victims whose choices are determined solely by lack of economic opportunities, but as dynamic actors in a process in which their actions are shaped by a gendered masculine social experience.... The book is illuminating in showing how rural livelihoods have been progressively divorced from farming and the land.... His gendered masculine approach may be on controversial ground, at odds with campaigners and activists, but it gives a fresh and challenging perspective on an important matter of current debate."-Asian Affairs "Noting migrants’ invisibility in the Nepalese public debate, Sharma’s Crossing the Border to India pays tribute to hundreds of thousands of men who toil in India for their family’s survival in Nepal. Sharma’s book is a welcome study of circular labor migration through the lens of masculinity.... Based on fieldwork spanning over ten years, Sharma’s demonstration is convincing, bringing food for thought to several topics relating to labor migration, an ubiquitous and decisive social phenomena nowadays in Nepal.... Sharma’s book is fully recommendable, both for those interested in migration and masculinity studies and for those who want to better understand migrants’ mindset in a time of mass migration from Nepal." -Himalaya, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies “Some of the most evocative ethnographic analyses in the book describe in detail how migration is a complex response to changing masculinities in rapidly globalizing rural Nepal…. One of the strengths of this book is the thorough treatment given to the political economy of Nepali migration…. Crossing the Border to India contributes a significant account of a seldom-studied phenomenon…. [T]his book is essential reading for scholars, students, and civil society activists who want to better understand the lives of young male migrants, both in Nepal and in other contexts.”-Journal of Asian Studies "[T]he findings from this book are interesting, thought-provoking, and highly policy-relevant…. [T]his is indeed a great book to have on our bookshelves for research scholars, students, and policymakers who are interested in migration. [It] will provide an eye-opening message to those engaged in improving the situation of day-to-day cross-border travel, living, and working conditions of migrants."-International Migration Review "The author has done an exemplary job by conducting...high-quality research about the problems being faced by Nepali migrant workers in India and giving voice to [the] voiceless[.] This book, hence, will be useful not only for researchers and academics but also for policy makers, political leaders and common readers alike."-Nepal Live Today