Transnational Labour Migration, Livelihoods and Agrarian Change in Nepal : The Remittance Village

Through the prism of a Nepali remittance village, this book critically examines poverty and livelihood dynamics remade through transnational labour migration and remittances, and their interrelationships with land, rural labour and agriculture. The concept of __The Remittance Village__ emphasises rural people’s transnational mobilities as a key feature of contemporary dynamics in many parts of the Global South, which are reconfiguring rural social, economic and ecological textures. Sunam challenges complacent linear narratives that assume new opportunities such as transnational migration, and remittances provide better pathways for the rural poor to come out of poverty, as well as narratives that understate the importance of land and farming for the rural poor. He demonstrates both that new opportunities are inaccessible for many poor people and that accessing these opportunities often engenders increased precarity and vulnerability. In __The Remittance Village__, he finds that even those accessing new opportunities are successful only when their household member(s) are simultaneously engaged in in-situ (non-)agricultural activities. This book is a valuable resource for scholars and students from a range of interdisciplinary backgrounds, including human geography, anthropology of development, and sociology. It is also recommended reading for policy makers, international development agencies and I/NGOs working on rural development in the Global South. Chapter 3 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of Figures 7 List of Tables 8 Acknowledgements 9 List of Abbreviations 11 Chapter 1: Introduction: The remittance village 12 Key poverty and livelihood debates in the Global South 15 Pathways out of poverty 19 Pathways into poverty 21 Beyond reinventing the wheel 22 Research process 24 A road map to the book 28 Note 29 Chapter 2: Texture of rural livelihoods and poverty 30 Socio-economic geography of Panchayan 30 Caste relations 33 Stories of livelihood trajectory 34 Escaping poverty 35 Remaining poor 37 Staying well-off 38 Falling into poverty 39 Poverty dynamics: stepping up or stepping down? 40 Key drivers of poverty dynamics 42 Conclusion 43 Note 44 Chapter 3: More than the soil: Land remains a rural pivot 45 Resurgence of the land-poverty debate 46 Patterns of land ownership 47 Linking land to rural poverty and prosperity 50 Land accumulation and dispossession 55 Recent mechanisms of access to land 57 Enhanced access 58 Land enclosure 60 Misplaced land reform activism 62 Access to forests 64 Conclusion 66 Notes 68 Chapter 4: Mobile labour, remittance and agrarian change 69 Exit from agriculture? 69 Rural agrarian context of Nepal 71 Agrarian patterns and poverty dynamics 72 Deactivation of agriculture 75 Agricultural labouring 79 Young people as future farmers 81 Conclusion 84 Note 85 Chapter 5: Rural non-agricultural pathways 86 Non-farm wage labour 86 Framing workers’ choices 88 Small businesses and petty trade 90 Government employment 93 Conclusion 95 Chapter 6: Transnational labour migration, remittances and livelihood dynamics 97 From lahures to transnational labourers 98 Patterns of migration in Panchayan 100 Poverty effects of migration 103 Escaping poverty or treading water? 103 Reproducing poverty 109 Beyond financial remittances 111 Labour and land relations 111 Social relations: family, caste and gender 112 Conclusion 114 Note 117 Chapter 7: Conclusion: Joining the dots 118 Livelihood change amidst complex agrarian dynamics 118 (Precarious) non-agrarian pathways 121 In support of diversified livelihoods 123 Revisiting policy narratives 125 References 128 Index 139 Through the prism of a Nepali remittance village, this book critically examines poverty and livelihood dynamics remade through transnational labour migration and remittances, and their interrelationships with land, rural labour and agriculture.The concept of The Remittance Village emphasises rural people's transnational mobilities as a key feature of contemporary dynamics in many parts of the Global South, which are reconfiguring rural social, economic and ecological textures. Sunam challenges complacent linear narratives that assume new opportunities such as transnational migration, and remittances provide better pathways for the rural poor to come out of poverty, as well as narratives that understate the importance of land and farming for the rural poor. He demonstrates both that new opportunities are inaccessible for many poor people and that accessing these opportunities often engenders increased precarity and vulnerability. In The Remittance Village, he finds that even those accessing new opportunities are successful only when their household member(s) are simultaneously engaged in in-situ (non-)agricultural activities.This book is a valuable resource for scholars and students from a range of interdisciplinary backgrounds, including human geography, anthropology of development, and sociology. It is also recommended reading for policy makers, international development agencies and I/NGOs working on rural development in the Global South.Chapter 3 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. "Through the prism of a Nepali remittance village, this book critically examines poverty and livelihood dynamics remade through transnational labour migration and remittances, and their interrelationships with land, rural labour and agriculture. The concept of the Remittance Village emphasises rural people's transnational mobilities as a key feature of contemporary dynamics in many parts of the Global South, which are reconfiguring rural social, economic and ecological textures. Sunam challenges complacent linear narratives that assume new opportunities such as transnational migration and remittances provide better pathways for the rural poor to come out of poverty, as well as narratives that understate the importance of land and farming for the rural poor. He demonstrates both that new opportunities are inaccessible for many poor people, and that accessing these opportunities often engenders increased precarity and vulnerability. In the remittance village, he finds that even those accessing new opportunities are successful only when their household member(s) are simultaneously engaged in in-situ (non-)agricultural activities. This book is a valuable resource for scholars and students from a range of interdisciplinary backgrounds, including human geography, anthropology of development, and sociology. It is also a recommended reading for policy makers, international development agencies and I/NGOs working on rural development in the Global South"-- Provided by publisher.