The rhetoric of return: Mingma or the contradictions of development in Nepal*

Abstract

Leaving for the city or going abroad to study, to later return and contribute to the development of the village. This notion is what we propose here as the rhetoric of return, a polysemic concept that is central to the narrative of development and education in Nepal. The migratory trajectory of Mingma, a young Sherpa who grew up in Sikkim (India), questions this notion based on her experience of returning to Gaun (Nepal), her family’s village. Her story allows us to understand the negotiations that stem from her ideals of development, her role as a teacher and her relationship with the villagers. The most important findings reveal the close link between mobility and knowledge regimes in Nepal and demonstrate the relevance of gender in the mobility-development nexus and its contradictions.