While the Gods Were Sleeping: A Journey Through Love and Rebellion in Nepal
by
Elizabeth Enslin
Order:
USA
Can
Seal, 2014 (2014)
Softcover, e-Book
Reviewed by Hilary Williamson
I
n
While the Gods Were Sleeping: A Journey Through Love and Rebellion in Nepal
, American anthropologist Elizabeth Enslin shares her experiences living - and giving birth to her son Amalesh - amongst an extended family of Brahman in-laws in the village of Gunjanagar in the lowland Chitwan Valley in Nepal. She must have been extraordinarily brave!
E
lizabeth, who grew up in Seattle, met her husband to be, Pramod Parajuli in 1985 at Stanford. She was a grad student in anthropology while he studied international development education. His father was a rural
pandit
(priest) and the family was not wealthy. He '
wanted to research popular education among grassroot movements in India.
' She arranged to do her dissertation on women's activism in India.
S
he describes meeting the extended family (and the relationships amongst them) in a '
place where menstruating women slept in the buffalo shed and family patriarchs dictated marriage partners for their children.
' Culture shock even for an anthropologist, especially for a young, relatively inexperienced one! She certainly tested it by '
giving birth in Nepal while learning another language and finding a new research project
'.
W
hat follows is an in-depth (though somewhat rambling) exploration of history, politics, culture, social mores and social inequities (particularly for lower class women but really for all women) in the region. There's also a critique of development policy, '
the first onslaught of a capitalist war against subsistence, self-sufficiency, autonomy ... The mission? Inspire people to want Coca-Cola and need baby formula.
'
I
have travelled and trekked in Nepal twice but never understood the culture around me. So I very much enjoyed this modern perspective on the country and its varied peoples. I especially liked reading of the wisdom and activism of Enslin's
Aama
(mother-in-law), and her songs. If you're looking for a simple travelogue, this might not be the book for you. But if you're interested in more depth, you'll appreciate
While the Gods Were Sleeping
as much as I did.
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