Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Between a rock and a hard place: Vulnerability and precarity in rural Nepal

Rigg, Jonathan; Oven, Katie J.; Basyal, Gopi Krishna; Lamichhane, R.

Between a rock and a hard place: Vulnerability and precarity in rural Nepal Thumbnail


Authors

Jonathan Rigg

Katie J. Oven

Gopi Krishna Basyal

R. Lamichhane



Abstract

Drawing on a local study on Nepal’s Terai, this paper explores the nature of livelihood exposure to shocks and stresses among rural households in two Village Development Committees in Sunsari District. The primary data are derived from a 117 household survey supplemented by 19 purposefully sampled follow-up interviews. The paper opens with a discussion of the changing nature of exposure in the global South, distinguishing between inherited vulnerability and produced precarity. We then provide background to the research site and the research methods. In the core empirical part of the paper we unravel and distinguish between the livelihood threats and opportunities faced by households in the area and use these to reflect on the nature of ’exposure’, its historical origins and contemporary (re)production. The final part of the paper uses the Nepal case to build a more general argument, proposing that if we are to understand the puzzle of continued livelihood exposure and uncertainty in the context of aggregate economic expansion we need to identify and interrogate the processes that may, at the same time, produce wealth and reduce vulnerability, while also generating precarity.

Citation

Rigg, J., Oven, K. J., Basyal, G. K., & Lamichhane, R. (2016). Between a rock and a hard place: Vulnerability and precarity in rural Nepal. Geoforum, 76, 63-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.08.014

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 29, 2016
Online Publication Date Sep 8, 2016
Publication Date Nov 1, 2016
Deposit Date Oct 10, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Geoforum
Print ISSN 0016-7185
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 76
Pages 63-74
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.08.014

Files




You might also like



Downloadable Citations