Intergenerational linkages between internal and international migration of rural-to-urban migrants in Far West Nepal

In Nepal, international labor migration to India and overseas as well as internal migration to the rural Nepalese lowlands are of a high socio-economic significance. Scholarly debates about migration in Nepal have gradually shifted from an economic to a more holistic perspective, also incorporating social dimensions. However, little evidence has been generated about internal migration to urban destinations and the potential linkages between international and internal migration. This article draws on Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice and sees migration as a social practice. Accordingly, migration practice is regarded as a strategy applied by social agents to increase or transfer capitals and ultimately secure or improve their social position. The evidence is based on a qualitative case study of rural-to-urban migrants in Far West Nepal conducted in July and August 2009. The study at hand addresses linkages between internal and international migration practices and provides insight about a social stratum that is often neglected in migration research: the middle class and more precisely, government employees. We show that social relations are crucial for channeling internal migration to a specific destination. We furthermore unveil how internal migration is connected to the international labor migration of former generations. Finally, we examine how migration strategies adopted over generations create multi-local social networks rooted in the family’s place of origin.