These two “companion” volumes are outcomes of a three-year project titled “Vernacular Religion: Varieties of Religiosity in the Nepali Diaspora” undertaken between 2009 and 2012 under the direction of David N. Gellner in collaboration with the Centre for Nepal Studies UK, based on a survey of 300 Nepali households in Britain. I take them up in turn, beginning with Vernacular Religion.
Understanding the Nepalese diaspora is increasingly critical to understanding Nepal, as between 10 and 20 percent of its citizens live abroad. Vernacular Religion includes ten chapters published between 2012 and 2016 that, as Gellner states in the book's preface, “focus primarily on the interlocking questions of religious self-definition, the construction of communities, and rituals of everyday practice” (Vernacular Religion, p. xii). The Nepalese diaspora constitutes one of the newest ethnic minority communities in the United Kingdom, one that has created a plethora of community organizations in...
