The Khachchara of Kathmandu – mobility, situatedness and ethnic identification

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the role of mobility and settlement in reworking ethnic identification among the Khachchara in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Khachchara are a small group of around 350 families, the descendants of Tibetan mothers and Newar fathers, who predominantly worked and lived as traders in Tibet. After the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Khachchara had the option of obtaining citizenship, yet many returned to Nepal with their spouses and children. On relocating to Nepal, caste considerations of purity came into play for the descendants of mixed marriages, forcing the Khachcharas to re-evaluate their ethnic identities as well as their place in Nepali society. Exploring Khachchara genesis through their history, mobility stories and their present hybrid affiliations shows how mobility disembeds identity and engages elective belonging. In this paper, the paradox of Khachchara ethnicity negotiating common ground in terms of their distinctiveness as a group, particularly through self-help organisations such as the skyid sdug (Tib.), and their assimilation into other ethnicities, is set in a discussion of translocal and transnational geographies, addressing both situatedness and de-territorialisation.