Table Of ContentThe Lhotsampa People
of Bhutan
The Lhotsampa People
of Bhutan
Resilience and Survival
Edited by
Venkat Pulla
THE LHOTSAMPA PEOPLE OF BHUTAN
Selection and editorial content © Venkat Pulla 2016
Individual chapters © their respective contributors 2016
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-1-137-55721-6
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pulla, Venkat, 1952– editor.
Title: The Lhotsampa people of Bhutan : resilience and survival /
edited by Venkat Pulla.
Description: New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015019340 | ISBN 9781137557216 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Human rights—Bhutan. | Nepali people—Bhutan. |
Political refugees—Nepal. | BISAC: POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political
Freedom & Security / Human Rights. | POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public
Policy / Cultural Policy. | SOCIAL SCIENCE / Emigration & Immigration.
| SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / General. | SOCIAL SCIENCE /
Discrimination & Race Relations.
Classification: LCC JC599.B47 L46 2015 | DDC 305.8914/9505498—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015019340
A catalogue record for the book is available from the British Library.
With gratitude to
Laxmi Narayan Guragai and Jasohda Guragai for
teaching me about their community
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xvii
1 Who Are the Lhotsampa? What Caused Their
Flight from Bhutan? 1
Venkat Pulla
2 Around the Period of Crisis 13
Venkat Pulla and Prahlad Dahal
3 Life in Refugee Camps 31
Venkat Pulla and Prahlad Dahal
4 “Human Rights and Inhuman Wrongs”:
The Year 1990 in Review 47
Venkat Pulla and Asmita Dhital
5 Settling in Australia 61
Venkat Pulla and Sarjoh Bah
6 Resettlement Perspectives of Bhutanese Refugees:
A Place Called Home with a Future 79
Venkat Pulla and Devika Rai
7 Spirituality, Coping, and Resilience of the Lhotsampa 95
Jennifer Woods and Venkat Pulla
8 Beyond Cultural Competence: Working Across
Cultures in a Globalized World 121
Narayan Gopalkrishnan and Venkat Pulla
viii CONTENTS
9 Settlement Planning for Refugees: Australia and the
United States 145
Venkat Pulla and Om Dhungel
The Concluding Theme: Survival and Resilience
Through Spirituality 165
Venkat Pulla
Notes on Contributers 179
Index 183
List of Illustrations
Tables
1.1 Categories of People in Bhutan (1988 Census
Definitions) 5
3.1 Nepali Idioms Expressing Psychological Trauma 40
6.1 Resettlement—Refugees from Bhutan as of
September 2013 82
9.1 International Resettlement Policies 150
Figures
7.1 Responses from Interview Participants 100
8.1 Cultural Competence: the NACCHO Model 126
8.2 Cultural Competence: Second Generation 128
Preface
This is a book about the world’s least-known human rights
abuses—the displacement by design of the Lhotsampa or the
southern Bhutanese people. This was the result of premeditated
cultural cleansing begun by the Bhutanese regime as soon as it
sensed that the people all over South Asia were petitioning to
settle grievances and asking for more humane approaches in
dealing with legitimate dissent expressed against the regimes.
This book maintains that the Lhotsampa were humiliated and
persecuted for being Hindus in a predominantly Buddhist
country, before being expelled. The oppression was unleashed
by one religion on another—the rituals, dress, language, and
culture of one was preferred over the other. The unifying spiri-
tual aspects ingrained in Buddhist tenets became inconsequen-
tial while driving the Lhotsampa out of Bhutan—despite the
fact that some of the Lhotsampa were devout practicing
Buddhists.
The Lhotsampa languished for over two decades in refugee
camps in Nepal, assisted by international aid agencies. They had
lost a lot, physically, emotionally, economically, and materially,
and yet remain, to me, the most inspiring, hopeful, and resilient
people.
The Lhotsampa can be traced to colonial times, when they
migrated from Nepal and north India. In Bhutan they were
responsible for clearing of land and the establishment of
agrarian communities eventually becoming an important
contributor to the food industry in Bhutan. Bhutan developed
as a country as the Lhotsampa progressed. With their close
xii PREFACE
ethnic and cultural ties to parts of India, these Nepali-speaking
southern Bhutanese were able to create progress for them-
selves in areas such as education, economics, and political
organization. With this rise, the ruling Drukpa, who were edu-
cated under Buddhist philosophy, became concerned. When
citizenship was granted in 1958 to the Lhotsampa, they were
pressured to conform to the Drukpa Buddhist cultural hege-
mony. The Bhutanese government felt very threatened by the
Lhotsampa and feared that tolerating them would generate
problems for the Shangri-La. Over 100,000 of the Lhotsampa
people were eventually evicted, that is, a sixth of the Bhutanese
population. Yet the global community has barely heard a whis-
per and, even today, this gory human rights abuse continues to
be denied by Bhutan and its international public relations
machinery goes on to market this country as a restricted tour-
ist center and as a haven of monks, monasteries, and spiritual
mystery.
The chapters in this book are based on research undertaken
predominantly in Australia and in the camps in Nepal. This
book delves into the plight of the Lhotsampa and incorporates
research undertaken with refugees both in Nepal and in Australia.
It looks at Lhotsampa lives, their coping, and their resilience as
they move from camps to resettlement countries and build new
lives. The Lhotsampa deserve appreciation for these people have
survived and continue to thrive as a relatively intact ethnic
group, retaining their culture and yet merging into the new
landscapes of their settlement countries. The chapters examine
the narratives of Lhotsampa camp life as the refugees yearn for
ritual, religion, and role of family in all matters.
Coping, resilience, and expression of human “hope” have
been my area of interest for over two decades—since my own
emigration to Australia. This interest received an active research
orientation in 2006 when I began convening colloquiums of
practitioners, social scientists, and social work academics,
drawing them into conversations across the world on the
