International Migration, Globalization, and the Threatened Well-Being of Migrants and their Households in Nepal: An Anthropological Critique

Abstract

The first quarter of the twenty-first century has witnessed that international migration from low- and middle-income countries is taking place at an increasing pace. The main focus of this article is to show the effects of such migration on the welfare of migrants, their families, along the society at large in select parts of Nepal. People migrate to relatively well-off nations from comparatively less developed ones in search of work. A brief portrayal of the migration route highlights the complexities involved in it. Moreover, the impacts of international migration reach beyond Nepal's countryside and agricultural sector to embrace towns and cities and off-farm sectors. Analyzing from the critical perspective of the anthropology of globalization, this article portrays the consequences of local-global relations in this era of accentuated mobility of people manifested through international migration. The key argument of the paper is that international migration is not contributing to the aspirations of the migrants and their households and in many respects, it has threatened their well-being. This article is based on primary qualitative data acquired through anthropological research and limited secondary data from an online newspaper.