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“...with seismic activity. Earthquakes and tremors
were viewed as unavoidable realities that
should not impede hydropower development.
This denial, we argue, was shaped not only
by local political realities and demand for
electricity, but also by a larger desire to
capitalize on available funds from international
finance, which are highly contingent upon Nepal
presenting itself as a 'safe' zone for investment.
Our study focuses on the elites of Nepal's hydro
community: the developers, investors, water
experts, and government officials who occupy
the 'upstream' positions at which scientific
knowledge is produced and adjudicated. On
one hand, the denial or omission of earthquake
potential that we witnessed seems to identify
the ineluctable challenges that Nepal faces
in attempting to integrate its economy into
global markets; on the other hand, it indicates
the desire of the private sector to reap
profits from hydropower in spite of obvious
geophysical dangers. These dangers, we
argue, are a...”
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“...Lee 2005). In this
context, Nepal’s weak economy has opened space for the
private sector to state its case for leading development,
arguing that state-led and donation-backed programs have
failed to make appreciable returns for the average Nepali.
The hydropower sector has seized this moment to fight for
decreasing regulation of their industry, suggesting that for
every day that passes, every drop of water that cascades
from the mountains without passing a turbine represents
lost revenue and opportunity for the country. Both the
Nepalese state and the hydropower industry only see
‘falling water’ (Gyawali 2003). By this standard, expediting
hydro development and downplaying the inherent risks
makes ‘sense.’
Risk and Uncertainty
In his essay, ‘The Cultural Nature of Risk,’ Asa Boholm
rhetorically asks what social anthropologists can contrib-
ute to risk research. His answer is: context (2003:174). He
roots his conclusion in a discussion of Mary Douglas and
Ulrich Beck, who differ in how they...”
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“...on here than simple denial. At this particular
historical moment, as Nepal searches for development and
electricity, it is not enough that the hydro industry simply
goes about its work. It needs to sell a vision, a future, not
just for the average Nepali, but, more importantly, for
the finance needed to build these projects, and for the
government to help create more favorable conditions for
completing this work.
Private hydropower interests advance this vision through
a series of tropes about water as national destiny, hydro-
power as development, and the fulfillment of democratic
promise. To be successful, private hydropower has to
present a confident image of certain profit in order to
realize itself through foreign investment—whether from
private firms or development banks. They engage in what
Tsing calls the ‘economy of appearances.’ Promoting
hydropower as profitable and its associated risk as cal-
HIMALAYA Volume37,Number2 21...”
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“...you can understand how they could be convinced to deny
serious credence to possible earthquakes. It doesn’t fit
the narrative.
The private hydropower narrative sells images of illu-
minated rural homes, children studying late into the
evenings under lamps, social programs sprouting up from
fully-filled government coffers, and urban homes stocked
with modern appliances, surging to life, at any time of day,
with the press of a button. Nature must be ‘made into loot,’
and Nepal is told it’s not water but money that pours down
its rivers, unrealized and wasted. This conjuring trick has
its roots in notions of frontier culture, asking participants
to see a landscape that doesn’t yet exist, the same way that
the US gold rush invited white immigrants to envision the
American West. It is reminiscent of Georg Simmel’s (2011:
482) insight about the monetization of value: “Gauging
values in terms of money has taught us to determine and
specify values down to the last farthing...The ideal of
numerical...”
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“...ost.ekantipur.com/news/2015-10-06/
hydropower-projects-knocked-out-by-earthquake-still-
offline.html> (accessed on April 29, 2017).
GlacierHub. 2015. Mountain Spirits and the Shaking
Earth. GlacierHub, October 20.
(accessed on July 9, 2017).
Gramsci, Antonio. 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks.
New York: International Publishers.
Gyawali, Dipak, ed. 2003. Rivers, Technology and Society:
Learning the Lessons of Water Management in Nepal.
Kathmandu: Himal Books.
ICIMOD. 2011. Glacial Lakes and Glacial Lake Outburst Floods
in Nepal. Kathmandu: International Centre for Integrated
Mountain Development.
IPPAN. 2015. Earthquake Affected Operations Projects.
Kathmandu: Independent Power Producers
Association of Nepal.
Khattri, KN. 1987. Great Earthquakes, Seismicity Gaps and
Potential for Earthquake Disaster Along the Himalaya Plate
Boundary. Tectonophysics 138 (1): 79-92.
Kumar Nath, Sankar. 2004. Seismic Hazard...”
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