Making Mongols: Ethnic politics and emerging identities in Nepal

This dissertation examines the processes by which identity is constructed in ethnic political movements through an ethnographic study of the Mongol National Organization (MNO), a political party that has organized marginalized ethnic groups in order to end centuries of domination by high-caste Hindus in Nepal. Through their involvement in the MNO, people from numerous, diverse ethnic groups have begun to identify themselves in a new, unified way, as "Mongols." By demonstrating how a Mongol identity has emerged along with the mobilization of the MNO, the dissertation argues that the construction of identity is a central part of the mobilization of ethnic political movements.; Drawing on three years of research in rural Ilam district, the MNO's stronghold in eastern Nepal, this dissertation documents a movement that has mobilized a largely rural population on the basis of identity politics. The dissertation focuses on the emergence of identity both through the MNO's cultural productions and through the party's operations as an organization. Though the party is informally and erratically organized, and headed by charismatic leaders, party activities effectively create a political community and disseminate a critical discourse in rural Ilam. The MNO seeks to establish a unified Mongol identity by representing Mongols as racially and culturally distinct: Mongols are "not Hindu," they have their own languages, cultures, and religions, and a common history. In attempting to define Mongols in cultural terms, the MNO faces the same dilemmas encountered by all nations in the making: how to represent a heterogeneous population as a unified homogeneous group? MNO efforts to represent Mongols reveal the fragility of Mongol identity, which is constantly cross-cut by other competing and overlapping identities.; Identity, the dissertation illustrates, is shaped by both transnational and national discourses. The racial term "Mongol," which hails from 19th century ethnology, appeals to MNO supporters because they see it as an internationally recognized term that refers to a global community of Mongols. This dissertation thus demonstrates that rural political actors perceive themselves as acting on a global political stage, and are acutely aware of the currency of identity politics in the international political arena.