Menstrual practices in western nepal- persistence and change a dissertation submitted to the central department of sociology, mphil-phd programme i

Abstract

Menstruation is the indication that women body is fertile and capable of carrying child which is one of the essential biological processes that assure the continuation of the human species. However, menstrual practices had been culturally framed, in global north it is associated with Shame and guilt (McHugh 2020), whereas in South Asia it is associated with ritual impurity (Höfer 1979, Khatiwoda et al 2021). Menstruation as ritual impurity in some communities of far-west region of Nepal take the extreme of menstrual restriction/ exclusion where menstruating women are banished to “chaupadi” menstrual hut (away from the main house) for certain number of days while menstruating. In 2018, government of Nepal declare practicing “chaupadi” illegal and punishable by law which include 3 months of jail time and 3 thousand rupees of fine. This effort from government is also complemented by Nongovernment organization work in far-west region which include creating awareness regarding menstruation in WASH initiative. Many view menstrual exclusion from feminist or from human rights perspective and associate it with the discourse of women liberation. To understand menstrual exclusion, there are number of studies done on menstrual exclusion specifically focusing on far-west region of Nepal. However, these studies either focuses on presenting negative impacts of menstrual exclusion on women or present the menstrual exclusion from health perspective only. Only handful of the studies tries to explore the practices from sociological perspective, however these studies examine the menstrual practices from the perspective of either oppression/ empowerment duality or present it as the religious dogma having rigid structure with no space for negotiation or where women or community has no agency to change. Only handful of the studies have attempted to study the change in the menstrual practices, however these studies have very narrow focus taking one or two factor as the cause of change – like education and that too over generation only. These studies do not take account of the different sociological changes and external intervention these communities have been experiencing over the three decades including changes in political regime. To address the above mention gaps, this study engages with three main research question current menstrual practices, underlying structures and value system that upheld the practices; Changes in menstrual practices and factors that led to those changes; menstrual practices under different socio-political regime. The study was carried out in four sites of four vii districts of far-west region of Nepal- Kanchanpur, Dailekh, Jumala and Achham. The study uses qualitative research methodology and uses in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussion in four study sites. The findings indicate that, the underlying structure and knowledge upholding the exclusionary menstrual practices is the religious belief that present the origin of menstruation to a sin and menstruating bodies as a ritually impure body. This belief is upheld by the elaborate system of divine punishment and wrath, where Hindu priest and religious healers / leaders like Dhami act as an interpreter who interpret any misgivings to the individual, family, or the community to the lapses in the menstrual practices. The study also challenges the discourse where religious practices especially associated to global south is presented as rigid structure. The study shows that the socio-economic changes like migration, education and other external intervention from government and nongovernment actors does bring the changes in menstrual practices. The study also presents the menstrual practices adopted by communities and women under different socio-political regime, however the study concludes that, without demystifying and de-linking the interwind belief system of purity and cosmic balance, women agency cannot be expanded simply by force or by shame. The study also includes methodological reflection especially doing research on sensitive issues where researcher’s gender is deeply interwind with the very essence of the research, the researcher’s positionality; her ontological belief; her ethical and moral compass as well as her ability for critical reflection including reflexivity, plays a crucial role in the quality of qualitative data being collected and the way she analyzed the data. And many times, lead to ontological shift in the researcher as well.