THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

N.R. Shrestha, 1982, 1985a, 1985b; Gurung, 1987; Thapa, 1989) have
usually been by scholars in other disciplines who have tended to look at
only one aspect of the process, such as internal migration or migration
by men, measured in quantitative not qualitative terms. Thus an
appreciation of the full implications and importance of migratory
movements for particular peoples in the Nepalese hills has been lacking.
By looking at the changing nature of Yakha migration from Tamaphok
in toto, this chapter considers the forms of migration experienced by
women as well as men, and examines some of the social and cultural
components which conditioned and reflected this migrati~n.~, In terms
of knowledge of the environment, migration to 'other worlds' was
essentially a learning process. Knowledge gained about the world
outside was in turn fed back to Tamaphok, and was used by others in
their decisions regarding where they themselves would migrate and in
what context. Rather than a necessary but dislocating evil, the
argument here is that the Yakha saw migration as an exciting and
challenging opportunity to experience the exotic. Yakha men in
particular were fascinated by the implications and logistics of travel.
Apart from an interest in different time zones, one of the first
questions new acquaintances tended to ask was how long it took to fly to
England, and what arrangements were made for things like meals en route.
A complete study of migration would also look directly at the
experience of Yakha migrants in the receiving communities, This
chapter, perforce, depends mainly on the testimony of Yakha migrants
revealed through letters or on their temporary return to Tamaphok, and
it calls on the memories of those who had once migrated but had now
returned. It also looks at the experience of women from outside who had