School of Social and Political Science

Professor Jeevan R. Sharma

Job Title

Chair of South Asia and International Development; Co-director-Centre of South Asian Studies

Photo
jrst

Room number

5.09

Building (Address)

Chrystal Macmillan Building

Street (Address)

15a George Square

City (Address)

Edinburgh

Country (Address)

UK

Post code (Address)

EH8 9LD

Research interests

Background

I am a development and political anthropologist of South Asia. I have carried out extensive field research in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and Malawi on labour migration, border-crossing, Maoist conflict, humanitarianism, human rights documentation, international research collaboration, ethics governance, health policy and planning, community health volunteers, and maternal and child health.

At present, I am Co-Director of the Centre for South Asian Studies in Edinburgh.

I am the elected General Secretary of the Britain Nepal Academic Council (BNAC). Between 2019 and 2025, I was the Co-editor of HIMALAYA Journal transitioning into my role as Editor-at-large of HIMALAYA Journal from January 2025. I serve as an Associate Editor of 'South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies' and Co-editor of Routledge Edinburgh South Asia Series. I am a member of ESRC GAP panel C (2024-2025). I served as a member of the commissioning panel for the ESRC Centres Competition 2018.

I am the author of Crossing the Border to India: Youth, Migration and Masculinities in Nepal (2018, 2024), South Asia imprint published by Bloomsbury in 2019, ethnographically shows how the history, culture and the changing political economy of the middle hills of Nepal shaped the desire, the agency and the gendered and class-related experiences of young male migrant workers from poor households in rural Nepal shaping what I have called ‘the culture of migration’ in the hills of Nepal. My second monograph book Political Economy of Social Change and Development (2021) shows how powerful historical developmental processes experienced and negotiated in once-remote locations, may, at the same time, produce ideas of equality, human rights and citizenship, while paradoxically also generating new forms of precarity. 

Currently, I am leading a Wellcome Trust funded transdisciplinary collaborative research project, involving medical scientists and social anthropologists (in Edinburgh, Aga Khan University and Kathmandu Medical College). The project aims to generate new evidence on medical and non-medical risk factors including debt and recruitment costs, exposure to heat, working and living condition exposure to heat, working and living conditions, and co-design two interventions that can be used to improve care for migrant workers from South Asia.

Previously, I worked at Feinstein International Centre at Tufts University between 2009-2011 and Save the Children UK between 2007-2009.

Works within

Staff Hours and Guidance

 

During term time: Thursdays, 9-11.

For appointments outside of this, please email me at jeevan.sharma@ed.ac.uk

Publications by user content

Publication Research Explorer link
Adhikari R, Sharma JR. Gendered consequences of social changes in Nepal: Rich possibilities. European Bulletin of Himalayan Research. 2022 Jul 15;58:1-20. doi: 10.4000/ebhr.549
Utyasheva L, Robertson G, Sharma JR. Perception of the criminality of attempted suicide in Nepal and its impact on suicide reporting. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 2022 Jul 1;83:101796. Epub 2022 May 17. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2022.101796
Chopra R, Sharma JR, Kapilashrami A. Migrants and health: A study of low-income migrants in Punjab and Assam. In Rajan SI, editor, India Migration Report 2021: Migrant Health. London: Routledge. 2022. p. 50-56. (India Migration Report). doi: 10.4324/9781003287667-5
Sharma JR, Adhikari R. Politics of childbirth in Nepal: The case of the maternal mortality ratio. In Jullien C, Jeffery R, editors, Childbirth in South Asia: Old Paradoxes and New Challenges. Oxford University Press. 2021. p. 264-282 doi: 10.1093/oso/9780190130718.003.0011
Sharma JR. Political Economy of Social Change and Development in Nepal. 1st ed. Bloomsbury , 2021. 232 p.
Sharma S, Correia H, Pathak A, Terwee CB, Abbott JH, Maharjan R et al. Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of Nepali versions of the patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS®) pain intensity, pain interference, pain behavior, depression, and sleep disturbance short forms in chronic musculoskeletal pain. Quality of Life Research. 2021 Jan 22. Epub 2021 Jan 22. doi: 10.1007/s11136-020-02745-6
Sharma J, Sharma A, Kapilashrami A. Covid-19 and the precarity of low-income migrant workers in Indian cities. Society and Culture in South Asia. 2021 Jan 1;7(1):48-62. doi: 10.1177/2393861720975618
Kapilashrami A, Wickramage K, Asgari-Jirhandeh N, Issac A, Borharde A, Gurung G et al. Migration health research and policy in south and south-east Asia: Mapping the gaps and advancing a collaborative agenda. WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health. 2020 Sept 30;9(2):107-110. Epub 2020 Sept 8.
Kapilashrami A, Issac A, Sharma J, Wickramage K, John EA, Ravindranath D et al. Neglect of low-income migrants in covid-19 response. 2020.
Sharma J. Crossing the Border to India: Youth, Migration and Masculinities in Nepal. Bloomsbury , 2019.
Adhikari R, Sharma JR, Smith P, Malata A. Foreign aid, Cashgate and trusting relationships: Key factors contributing to (mal) functioning of the Malawian health system. Health Policy and Planning. 2019 Apr;34(3):197–206. Epub 2019 Apr 21. doi: 10.1093/heapol/czz021
Sharma J. Marginal migrants? Migrant associations and the lived experience of Nepali migrant workers in India. In Gellner DN, Hausner SL, editors, Global Nepalis: Religion, Culture and Community in a New and Old Diaspora. Oxford University Press. 2018
Sharma JR, Kelly T. Monetary compensation for survivors of torture: Some lessons from Nepal. Journal of Human Rights Practice. 2018 Aug 1;10(2):307–326. doi: 10.1093/jhuman/huy021
Sharma JR. [Review of] Societies, Social Inequalities and Marginalization: Marginal Regions in the 21st Century. Mountain Research and Development. 2018 Aug 1;38(3):272-273. doi: 10.1659/mrd.mm225
Sharma J. Crossing the Border to India: Youth, Migration, and Masculinities in Nepal. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2018. 190 p. (Global Youth).
Sharma J, Khatri R, Harper I. Accountability and generating evidence for global health: Misoprostol in Nepal. IDS Bulletin. 2018 May 8;49(2):49-64. doi: 10.19088/1968-2018.135
Sharma J, Harper I. Britain-Nepal Relations through the prism of Aid. European Bulletin of Himalayan Research. 2018 Mar 31;50/51:145-161.
Adhikari R, Smith P, Sharma JR, Chand OB. New forms of development: Branding innovative ideas and bidding for foreign aid in the maternal and child health service in Nepal. Globalization and Health. 2018 Mar 27;14:1-12. 33. doi: 10.1186/s12992-018-0350-0
Pedreschi R, Sinclair H, Sharma J, Attal M, Borthwick A, Dingle E et al. Improving understanding of flooding and resiliencein the terai, Nepal. University of Edinburgh, 2017. 16 p.
Jensena S, Kelly T, Koch Andersen M, Christiansen C, Sharma J. Torture and ill-treatment under perceived: Human rights documentation and the poor. Human Rights Quarterly. 2017 May 1;39(2):393-415. doi: 10.1353/hrq.2017.0023
Sharma J, Koch Andersen M. Torture Redress Mechanism in Nepal and Bangladesh: a comparative perspective. Economic and Political Weekly. 2017 Apr 29;52(17):1-8.
Sharma J, Harper I, Adhikari R, Smith P, Thapa D, Chand OB et al. Comment — WHO outsourcing dilemma: For whose benefit, at whose expense? BMJ Global Health. 2017 Jan 25;2(Suppl 1):i3- i4. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2016-000237
Kelly T, Sharma J, Jensen S, Koch Andersen M, Christiansen C. A comparative study of the use of the Istanbul Protocol amongst civil society organisations in low-income countries. TORTURE - Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture. 2016 Dec 31;26(3):60-73. 6.
Sharma J, Khatri R, Harper I. Understanding health research ethics in Nepal. Developing World Bioethics. 2016 Dec 30;16(3):140-147. Epub 2016 Feb 2. doi: 10.1111/dewb.12109
Kelly T, Jensen S, Koch Andersen M, Christiansen C, Sharma JR. A comparative study of the use of the Istanbul Protocol amongst civil society organizations in low-income countries. Torture : quarterly journal on rehabilitation of torture victims and prevention of torture. 2016 Oct 1;26(3):60-73. doi: 10.7146/torture.v26i3.109501
Sharma J. Bodies in search of freedom: Changing rural political economy and Nepal’s marginal migrants. Economic and Political Weekly. 2016 May 21;51(21).
Sharma J. Rise of adivasi janajati movement and Nepal’s political interregnum. In From Margins to the Mainstream: Institutionalising Minorities in South Asia. SAGE Publications. 2016
Sharma J. Brokering in international development: A consideration of analytical issues. Kathmandu: Social Science Baha, 2016. 18 p.
Sharma J, Donini A. Aid and Violence: Development, Insurgency and Social Transformation in Nepal. In Sundar A, Sundar N, editors, Civil War in South Asia: Sovereignty and Citizenship. New Delhi: SAGE Publications. 2014. p. 117-141
Maycock M, Sharma J, Brethfeld J, Shah O, Shrestha R. How can you be a marda if you beat your wife? Notion of masculinities and violence in Eastern Nepal. 2nd ed. Kathmandu: Saferworld, 2014. 74 p.
Sharma J, Nightingale A. Conflict resilience among community forestry user groups: experiences in Nepal. Disasters. 2014 Jun 6;38(3):517–539. doi: 10.1111/disa.12056
Sharma J. Migration, Marginality and Modernity: Hill Men's Journey to Mumbai. In Toffin G, Pfaff-Czarnecka J, editors, Facing Globalization in the Himalayas: Belonging and the Politics of the Self. New Delhi: SAGE Publications. 2014. p. 119-133
Sharma J. Marginal but Modern: Young Nepali Labour Migrants in India. Young. 2013 Nov;21(4):347-362. doi: 10.1177/1103308813506307
Donini A, Sharma J, Aryal S. Structural Violence and Social Suffering among Marginal Nepali Migrants. Tufts University, 2013. 50 p.
Sharma J, Sondra H. On the Way to India: Nepali Rituals of Border Crossing. In Gellner DN, editor, Borderland Lives in Northern South Asia: Non-state Perspectives. Duke University Press. 2013. p. 94-116
Sharma J, Donini A. From Subjects to Citizens? Labor, Mobility and Social Transformation in Rural Nepal. Boston, MA: Tufts University, 2012. 32 p.
Sharma J. Nepal: Migration History and Trends. In Sirkeci I, Cohen JH, Ratha D, editors, Migration and Remittances during the Global Financial Crisis and Beyond. World Bank. 2012. p. 137-140
Sharma J. Social Science Engagement and Political Interregnum in Nepal. Economic and Political Weekly. 2012;XLVII(31):45.
Sharma J. The Impact of Environmental Change on Labour Migration from Nepal to the Gulf States. London: Foresight, UK Government Office for Science, 2011. 12 p.
Sharma J. Culture of Migration in the Middle Hills in Nepal. In Labor Migration: Opportunities and Challenges for Mountain Livelihoods. Vol. 59. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). 2011. p. 18-20. (Sustainable Mountain Development).
Sharma J. On State Reconstruction in Nepal. Economic and Political Weekly. 2010;XLV(4):20-23.
Sharma J, Donini A. Towards a “great Transformation”? The Maoist Insurgency and Local Perceptions of Social Transformation in Nepal . Boston, MA: Tufts University, 2010. 38 p.
Sharma J, Nightingale A. The Resilience of Community Forestry User Groups in Conflict: Lessons from Nepal: Findings of a Study on the Impact on Forest user Groups of Nepal's Maoist Insurgency (1996-2006). LFP, DFID, 2010. 22 p.
Donini A, Sharma J. Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Nepal Country Case Study. Tufts University, 2008. 65 p.
Sharma J. Practices of Male Labor Migration from the Hills of Nepal to India in Development Discourses: Which Pathology? Gender, Technology and Development. 2008;12(3):303-323. doi: 10.1177/097185240901200302
Sharma JC, Hasson MS, Butcher C, Mead GE, Lewis SC, Wardlaw JM et al. How well does the Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project classification predict the site and size of infarct of brain imaging? [5] (multiple letters). Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. 2001;70(4):567. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.70.4.567
Jeevan Sharma's Research Explorer profile