Nature of a nation: Monarchy, development, and culture in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area Project

This dissertation examines the establishment and management of the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), an environmentally protected area in north-central Nepal, and the country's most popular trekking destination. From its founding in 1986 until 2006, ACAP had a special status among Nepal's protected areas due to its high-profile association with the Nepali royal family. It was managed by the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, a quasi-non-governmental organization established in 1982 with King Birendra as the Trust's patron and Prince Gyanendra as its first chairman. This study argues that the royal family conspicuously associated itself with environmental conservation in a bid to renew monarchical legitimacy, which by the mid-1980s had been severely undermined by unfulfilled promises of development and a series of palace scandals.;ACAP's culture discourse extends as well to the images of "exotic" Nepali villages and villagers that ACAP promotes to attract foreign trekkers. This study argues that Annapurna residents accept ecotourist images of culture as accurate representations of themselves only insofar as they interpret such images as depicting the past. To the extent that they view the ecotourist images of culture as present signs of the poverty and stasis they seek to transcend, they contest them.;This dissertation also investigates the development concept of "participation," and contends that the performative dimension of participation---the everyday ways that ACAP staff interact with the local people they work with---is crucial for maintaining the appearance of a viable participatory project, even when the actual participation of Annapurna residents is shot through with contradictions, exceptions, and negotiations.;ACAP became internationally renowned as a successful example of a new generation of protected areas that seek local participation and the integration of culture into natural resource management. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2000--2001, the present work describes how ACAP's staff applies these principles in practice, and maintains that a discourse of culture allows ACAP staff to celebrate ethnic and caste differences strategically---in particular, during recruitment efforts when building trust and fostering a sense of ownership for the project are crucial.