Social Science Research Council

"Migration, Gender and Nation in Nepali Dohori Performance"

This study examines Nepali migrants’ construction of gendered national identity through language and music. Specifically, it concentrates on the emerging commercial genre of improvised male-female duets known as dohori, in which romantic love, migration and social issues are addressed through humorous lyrical play. Dohori has become widely popular during the past three years of violent conflict, and is increasingly presented in terms of national cultural heritage.

Using ethnographic and ethnomusicological methods in multiple sites—urban Kathmandu, migrants’ rural villages and the routes in between—this project will seek to understand the expressive means by which Nepali migrants negotiate the massive changes in their daily lives, and the changing ideas of gender and nation emergent in this musical discourse.