The Bihari Krishna Fellowship for Ethnographic Research was established with a grant of Rs 5 million provided by Bihari Krishna Shrestha to Social Science Baha with the express purpose of setting up a fellowship devoted to ethnographic research. In his address on the establishment of the Fellowship, Mr Shrestha said: ‘[I]t is my conviction that our country, Nepal, one of the ethnically most diverse in the world, needs good ethnographic studies. Ethnographies are the building blocks for the development of anthropology of Nepal and for being able to formulate anthropological theories. As shown by our achievements in forestry and health, they also provide a vital information base for promoting equitable and sustainable development in the communities.’ (Click here to download a copy of his remarks.)
The fellowship is awarded to an emerging scholar with interest in the social sciences, and ethnography in particular. The awardee is teamed up with a senior scholar for the period of the fellowship. The duration of the fellowship is for up to 20 months including fieldwork and preparation of draft manuscript for publication.
The first Bihari Krishna Fellowship for Ethnographic Research (beginning in 2011) has been awarded to Shreshna Basnet. Shreshna will be working with Dr Rajendra Pradhan and based at the Nepā School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Chabahil, Kathmandu. Working with Dr Pradhan, Shreshna will closely study the life histories of two informants, focusing more into their formative years to understand the kind of values that influenced them to be a 'good person' later in life, such as the family environment, especially repeated exposure to mythologies with their moral lessons and formal schooling with its implication of broader outlook, and the application and expression of this learning in one’s later life.