Where the Yak became one with the soil: Reflections on life and research in a Himalayan village

This article explores the role that Briddim, a small village in northern Rasuwa District, Nepal, played in the intellectual development of two students who visited the region nearly three decades apart. After a brief historical survey focusing on the village's position on a trans- Himalayan trade route connecting Kathmandu with Kyirong, the authors use a personal and reflective lens to explore Briddim's changing fortunes in relation to international exchange networks and geopolitical forces. In many ways Briddim encapsulates the socioeconomic and cultural changes sweeping contemporary highland Nepal as a result of rising educational opportunities, tourism, and migration. By comparing notes from 1984 and 2013, the authors bear witness to very different circumstances in the village's changing relationship with the outside world.