Moving, staying and returning under uncertainty: Labour migration and identity formation among Young Nepali Men

Abstract

Increasing socio-economic opportunities for low skilled labour migration are drastically transforming villages in the rural Global South. Based on fieldwork in rural eastern Nepal, this article analyses how the possibility for mobility influences the ways young men craft their identities aspiring for development (bikāsa). The young men use mobility-staying-returning as a focal point for developing their identities as categorical yet fluid. They actively split and defend their identities against the opposing position yet remain flexible due to the high social, political and economic uncertainty that penetrates many spheres of their lives. Pro-migrants rationalize their identities of a ‘victim’ due to lack of development and a ‘modern man’ aspiring for mobility, pro-stayers position themselves as ‘developers’ of the village, defending their identity against migration and other ‘idle’ stayers. Pro-returnees, in turn, position themselves as ‘active doers’, share the notion of the ‘realization’ of local economic opportunities and their own role in their country’s development that they pursue via individual improvements to their livelihoods rather than through collective decision-making. This article demonstrates the need to analyse the multiple formation of identities through all three perspectives of moving, staying and returning rather than focusing on one type of identity formation, as is usually preferred. Moreover, it suggests the need to explore uncertainty in order to understand fluidity and tensions between positions in relation to migration, as well as the nuances of socio-economic differences.