“May I Elope”: Song Words, Social Status, and Honor among Female Nepali Dohori Singers

Abstract

This article examines music, language, identity and honor in the world of Nepali folk and dohori song. With a history as an alternative marriage negotiation practice among ethnic groups in rural areas, dohori and dohori performers lie at the center of debates on women’s honor that draw on conflicting gender ideologies. I address a controversial song, “May I Elope,” and how singers’ location within the histories of caste, ethnicity, class, and their interaction influence the assumptions governing the social action of language in these songs and their performances, and the impact of such performances on these women’s honor.

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