The Politics of Hair in Kathmandu, Nepal

In South Asia, women's hairstyles project cultural values and can be external reflections of internal subjectivities. Despite recent political and social changes in Kathmandu, Nepal, people continue to “read” messages of morality and identity into women's hairstyles. At certain points in their lives, and as members of different castes and classes, women are able to change their hairstyles to reflect or signal a change in their identities (cultural, social, national, religious). For example, Buddhist nuns shave their heads and eyebrows to announce their renunciation to the world; young unmarried women in Kathmandu wear westernized hairstyles identifying them with more global gender images, but as their marriages approach they grow out their hair to conform to more traditional cultural ideals; national and cultural identities are revealed when Nepali women leave their heads uncovered after marriage in contrast to some Indian women who cover their hair; and radical politics emerge when an unmarried woman shaves her hair like a man in order to perform the funeral rituals for her mother, normally the eldest son's role. Based on over two and a half years of anthropological fieldwork in Kathmandu, this paper asks: What messages are women inscribing on their bodies through the wearing of particular hairstyles? How do women use their hair to signify certain practices, beliefs, and identities? And, how does the wearing of different hairstyles tie these women into a wider global community? The beauty salon is one site where these complex, and sometimes fragmented, identities are emerging.