Simultaneous identities: ethnicity and nationalism in mother tongue education in Nepal^*

Abstract

The scholarly works on ethnicity and nationalism have been highly dominated by binary frameworks. In addition, the normative preference for civic consciousness and the concerns of national disintegration often separate the notions of ethnicity and nationalism. This article suggests that the notions of ethnicity and nationalism cannot be understood exclusively as a choice between maintaining the integrity of the nation and completely rejecting it. Drawing on fieldwork in mother tongue schools in Nepal, the article draws attention to the ways in which school actors discursively positioned ethnic identity as imperative to national identity, the one that bolsters the notion of Nepali nationhood. By paying close attention to the everyday context within which discourses of nationalism are situated, this article argues for an analytical necessity to approach ethnicity and nationalism in relation to each other to appreciate the process of symbolic negotiations in public spaces.

Diversity, Multilingualism and Democratic Practices in Nepal

“…Anjan echoed a similar belief saying, "The recognition of linguistic diversity in the macro policies is the result of democracy". From the observation of their claims and, also with support from the available literature (e.g., Sonntag 1995Sonntag , 2007Pradhan 2019;Poudel and Choi 2020), it can be strongly claimed that the establishment of multiparty democracy in 1990 in Nepal contributed to the wider recognition of linguistic diversity. Also, "The Nepali-only policy was discarded in favor of an official language policy that recognized Nepal's linguistic diversity" (Sonntag 2007, 205).…”

Producing the disciplined English-speaking subjects: Language policing, development ideology, and English medium of instruction policy

“…In Nepal, since the beginning of mass-based formal education in the 1950s, MoI policies have been used as tools to promote the state ideology. Until the 1990s, national education policies had focused on strengthening nationalism through a monolingual policy (Nepali-only medium) and nationalized curricula (Pradhan 2019). In its 'national development plans', the Panchayat regime focused on a nation-building project by producing educated people (Skinner & Holland 1996) who were not only literate in Nepali but also loyal to the one-nation-one-culture-one-language ideology.…”

“…In its ‘national development plans’, the Panchayat regime (1960–1990) focused on a nation-building project by producing educated people (Skinner & Holland 1996) who were not only literate in Nepali but also loyal to the one-nation-one-culture-one-language ideology. With a broad vision to ‘modernize’ and ‘democratize’ education, the Nepal National Education Planning Commission (1956), for example, defined education as a ‘national’ and ‘unitary program’ to support the nation-building project (Pradhan 2019). Written by Dr. Hugh Wood, the Commission's report recommended Nepali as the sole medium of instruction to develop it as ‘the true national language’ (Weinberg 2013).…”