The Becoming: Young Working-Class Masculinities in Nepal

Abstract

Across Nepal, large numbers of adolescent boys and young men leave their rural homes to find work and live out their dreams in the burgeoning metropolis of Kathmandu, the nation’s capital. In this challenging transition, they have to navigate their emerging identities as independent young men—as brothers, sons, fathers, husbands and wage earners in the construction economy. In this visual essay of 15 photographs, artist Daisy Yang and anthropologist Mark Turin explore questions of migration, mobility, labour and kinship by engaging with the harsh reality of working-class masculinities in contemporary Nepal.