Frontier Settlement and Landlessness among Hill Migrants in Nepal Tarai

Bibliographic Data

ID8375155
AuthorsNanda R Shrestha (University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, corresponding author)
Year1989
Volume79
Issue3
Pages370-389
Publication date1989-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnals of the Association of American Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0004-5608 • E-ISSN: 1467-8306
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-8306.1989.tb00268.x
OpenAlexW2025588481
LanguageEN
Citations received23
References cited53

Frontier migration has emerged as a major demographic and development issue in many developing nations and is directly tied to their state policy of frontier settlement. While some scholars see frontier migration and settlement as a vehicle for migrants to improve their socioeconomic lot, others argue that such is not the case for the majority of poor migrants. This study examines the question of how frontier migration affects Nepal's hill migrants in the Tarai region. The present analysis is conducted from a structural perspective in conjunction with field survey data collected in 1979–80. The field data are supplemented with personal (participant) observations performed in 1979–80 and in 1988. The findings clearly support the proposed theoretical framework and proposition: that the ability of frontier migration and settlement to serve as a channel of upward mobility is selective and largely determined by migrants'previous socioeconomic positions. For the majority of poor and dispossessed migrants, frontier migration has simply become a form of spatial mobility without much upward mobility. The current trend points toward increasing landlessness and spontaneous settlement (or near-landlessness) among hill migrants in the Tarai, due to the combination of corruptive land distribution to settlers, diminshing land availability, increasing inmigration, and high natural population growth. Such a trend does little to improve poor migrants'conditions; nor does it contribute to local and national development

Archaeology · Cartography · Channel (broadcasting) · Economics · Field survey · Frontier · Geography · Internal migration · Population · Settlement (finance) · Socioeconomic status · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Demography · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Nepal

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