Minamiajiakenkyu
Online ISSN : 2185-2146
Print ISSN : 0915-5643
ISSN-L : 0915-5643
On the Pains and Hopes among the Porters in Solukhumbu, Nepal :
An Analysis on the “Local Porters”
Fukachi Furukawa
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2017 Volume 2017 Issue 29 Pages 144-177

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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to consider what it is like to carry loads in the Himalayan range. Focusing on the Khumbu region ‒ located at the southern foothill of the Mt. Everest, northern part of Solukhumbu, Nepal, and well known as a famous tourism place for trekking/climbing ‒ this paper aims to discuss 1) how the labor of carrying loads came to be stratified as the result of the development of mountain tourism in Khumbu, 2) how the so called “Local Porters” ‒ porters who flew into the Khumbu region from the lower areas, and carry loads for the local shops for wages calculated per kg ‒ work, and 3) how these “Local Porters” seek for opportunities to work as “Trekking Porters” ‒ whose working conditions are regarded relatively better than that of the “Local Porters” ‒ as a means for social ascension. After considering these three topics, it will show how the porters working on the touristic areas of the Everest region are ‒ through the pains (dukha) of carrying loads ‒ trying to reach the place of development (bikās).
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© 2017 The Japanese Association for South Asian Studies
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