Research going local

Unlike 25 years ago, academics in many parts of the country are engaging in research.

When it comes to the subject of research in Nepal, various academics have complained about the lack of research “culture”, “quality” and funding in Nepal. With respect to the academic journals that publish the written outcomes of research in the social sciences broadly defined, I have critiqued their irregularity (“For a plural publication landscape”, March 31, 2023) and the seemingly poor quality of the peer review process adopted by them (“Reading Nepali journals online”, June 7, 2024). But let us pause—borrowing the words of historian Surabhi Pudasaini—in this narrative of lack. Writing about the “architecture of production in the Gorkhali Polity” from the late 18th to the mid-20th century in the journal Studies in Nepal History and Society in 2024, she argues that the “focus on lack has … forestalled a pursuit of what was present.” She further adds, “Pursuing presence…as a historiographical posture opens up all manner of insights…”