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Deep Concern on the CIAA Interference in an Academic Institution (SSB)

Britain Nepal Academic Council (BNAC) today, issued a statement expressing deep concern in the manner which the country’s anti-graft body (CIAA) has pursued Social Science Baha. The statement adopted unanimously by the executive committee of the BNAC is supported by over 7 dozens academics from across the world who have experience of doing research in Nepal. The full statement and list of supporters is as follows:

(Download the statement as a PDF)

1^st October 2016

Statement on the CIAA and reports on investigation of Social Science Baha (SSB) and Alliance for Social Dialogue (ASD)

The Britain-Nepal Academic Council (BNAC), as a partner organization of the SSB, wishes to express its deep concern about the report in The Himalayan Times on 25 September 2016 that the CIAA has encouraged the Social Welfare Council to investigate both the Social Science Baha and the Alliance for Social Dialogue.[1] The BNAC is supported in this by academics from across the world who have experience of doing research in Nepal (see list below).

The CIAA has, of course, every right to investigate whichever governmental body it chooses in its mission to prevent corruption in Nepal. In this context, however, there are certain other points that must be emphasized:

1. The SSB is known for the highest standards of integrity in the pursuit of intellectual interchange and in all its activities. The SSB has played a major role in raising the standards of social science research in Nepal over the past decade through activities such as conferences, public lectures, and other interactions, as well as by means of numerous publications. Many international research institutions have sought to partner with the SSB due to the high calibre of its research outputs.

2. The mission of the SSB is to enable interaction both within Nepal and between Nepali scholars and scholars from outside. It is not a service NGO involved, for example, in poverty relief or health programmes. As a research organization, it is normal that the bulk of its expenditure will be on salaries for researchers, as well as on accommodation and travel to facilitate scholarly exchange. Much of the expenditure, even if it passes through the SSB’s books, will have been contributed by participants and partner organizations.

3. The ASD is one of many projects and activities internal to the SSB and not a separate NGO, as mistakenly implied both by the CIAA press release and by the Himalayan Times

4. We note that the CIAA has already been accused of overstepping its remit by important voices within Nepal, not least in an editorial in Kantipur of 28 September 2016.[2]

5. Based on our substantial experience of working together with SSB, including detailed budget oversight of specific projects, we can say unequivocally that we have not experienced any misallocation or ‘irregularities’. We have full confidence in the high standards of account-keeping of the SSB.

Executive Committee members of the Britain-Nepal Academic Council:

1. Professor David Gellner (Chair) (University of Oxford)
2. Dr Krishna Adhikari (Secretary) (University of Oxford and Centre for Nepal Studies UK)
3. Dr Celayne Heaton-Shrestha (Treasurer)
4. Dr Kalyan Bhandari (University of the West of Scotland)
5. Dr Ben Campbell (University of Durham)
6. Professor Ian Harper (University of Edinburgh)
7. Dr Sondra Hausner (University of Oxford)
8. Professor Michael Hutt (SOAS, University of London)
9. Dr Feyzi Ismail (SOAS, University of London)
10. Dr Stefanie Lotter (SOAS, University of London)
11. Premila van Ommen (PhD Candidate, LCF, University of Arts London)
12. Dr Sara Parker (Liverpool John Moores University)
13. Dr Jeevan Sharma (University of Edinburgh)
14. Professor Surya Subedi OBE (University of Leeds)

Other members of the BNAC, and non-members based in the UK:

15. Mr Thomas Bell (Author, Independent)
16. Ms Louise Brown (Independent writer and researcher, UK)
17. Professor Lionel Caplan (Emeritus Professor of South Asian Anthropology, SOAS)
18. Mr Lokendra Dhakal (Centre for Nepal Studies UK)
19. Andrea de la Rubia Gómez-Morán (PhD Researcher, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain)
20. Dr Chandra Laksamba (Centre for Nepal Studies UK)
21. Professor Chiara Letizia (Université du Québec à Montréal)
22. Dr Fiona McConnell (Associate Professor, Human Geography, University of Oxford)
23. Dr Emilie Medeiros (Researcher, Institute of Global Health, University College London)
24. Professor Andrea J. Nightingale (Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences (SLU))
25. Dr Judith Pettigrew (Senior Lecturer, University of Limerick)
26. Dr Tejendra Pherali (Senior Lecturer, University College London)
27. Samuele Poletti (PhD student, University of Edinburgh)
28. Dr Mahesh Poudyal (Postdoctoral fellow, Bangor University)
29. Ms Kumud Rana (PhD Candidate, University of Glasgow)
30. Ms Bryony Whitmarsh (International Coordinator, University of Portsmouth)
31. Dr Ina Zharkevich (Postdoctoral fellow, University of Oxford)

Other academics, not members of the BNAC and not based in the UK, who wish to have their names associated with this statement:

32. Dr Olivia Aubriot (Researcher, CNRS-CEH, France)
33. Professor Subho Basu (Associate Professor, McGill University, Canada)
34. Barbara Berardi-Tadié (PhD student, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, France)
35. Guillaume Boucher (Anthropology doctoral student, Université de Montréal, Canada)
36. Professor Christiane Brosius (Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies, Heidelberg University, Germany)
37. Professor Barbara Brower (Portland State University, USA)
38. Dr Jan Brunson (Associate Professor, University of Hawai‘I, USA)
39. Dr Tristan Bruslé (Researcher, Centre for Himalayan Studies, National Centre for Scientific Research/CNRS, France)
40. Dr Johanna Buss (University of Vienna, Austria)
41. Abi Chamlagai (PhD student, Western Michigan University, Department of Political Science, USA)
42. Dr David Citrin (University of Washington, USA)
43. Professor Noah Coburn (Bennington College, USA)
44. Professor Sienna R. Craig (Associate Professor, Dartmouth College, USA)
45. Professor Christoph Emmrich (University of Toronto, Canada)
46. Professor James F Fisher (Professor Emeritus, Carleton College, USA)
47. Professor Tatsuro Fujikura (Kyoto University, Japan)
48. Professor Martin Gaenszle (University of Vienna, Austria)
49. Dr Ingemar Grandin (Senior Lecturer, Linköping University, Sweden)
50. Professor Arjun Guneratne (Macalester College, USA)
51. Professor Katherine Hacker (Department of Art History, University of British Columbia, Canada)
52. Kristine Hildebrandt (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA)
53. Dr Heather Hindman (Associate Professor, University of Texas, USA)
54. Dr Dan Vesalainen Hirslund (Centre for Global South Asian Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark)
55. Dr Brandon Kohrt (Assistant Professor, Duke University, USA)
56. Dr Karl-Heinz Krämer (Dept of Political Science, University of Heidelberg, Germany)
57. Dr Gisèle Krauskopff (CNRS, Paris, France)
58. Professor Mahendra Lawoti (Western Michigan University, USA)
59. Dr Marie Lecomte-Tilouine (Directrice de Recherche, CNRS, France)
60. Dr Piers Locke (Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Canterbury, New Zealand)
61. Professor Carole McGranahan (University of Colorado, USA)
62. Dr Maya Magarati (Research Scientist, Nepal Studies Initiative, University of Washington, USA)
63. Professor Martine Mazaudon (Director of Research, emerita, LACITO, CNRS, France)
64. Dr John J. Metz (Associate Professor, Northern Kentucky University, USA)
65. Professor Bernardo A. Michael (Messiah College, USA)
66. Professor Dr Axel Michaels (South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany)
67. Boyd Michailovsky (Senior Researcher/Directeur de Recherches, CNRS/LACITO, France)
68. Professor Katsuo Nawa (P The University of Tokyo)
69. Dr Andrew Nelson (Associate Professor, University of North Texas, USA)
70. Professor Bruce McCoy Owens (Anthropology Department, Wheaton College, Norton MA, USA)
71. Professor Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka (Bielefeld University, Germany)
72. Professor Stacy Leigh Pigg (Simon Fraser University, Canada)
73. Dr Karin Polit (Professor Universität Tübingen, Germany)
74. Dr Philippe Ramirez (Chargé de Recherche, CNRS, Paris, France)
75. Professor Katharine N. Rankin (University of Toronto, Canada)
76. Dr Blandine Ripert (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France)
77. Dr Anne de Sales (Directrice de Recherche, CNRS, Paris, France)
78. Professor William S. Sax (South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany)
79. Professor Sara Shneiderman (University of British Columbia, Canada)
80. Dr Joëlle Smadja, (Senior Researcher, Centre For Himalayan Studies, CNRS, France)
81. Dr Amanda Snellinger (Lecturer, University of Washington)
82. Professor Brigitte Steinmann (University of Lille 1, France)
83. Professor Gérard Toffin (Research Professor, National Centre for Scientific Research, France)
84. Professor Mark Turin (University of British Columbia, Canada)
85. Professor Martijn van Beek (Associate Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark)
86. Luke Wagner (Yale University, USA)
87. Professor Cameron David Warner (Aarhus University, Denmark)
88. Dr Astrid Zotter (Researcher, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany)

Additional list of supporters (updated)

89  Dr Pramod Mishra (Associate Professor, Lewis University, Illinois, USA)

90. Professor Anne Rademacher (Associate Professor, New York University, USA)
91.  Professor Isabelle Henrion-Dourcy (Dept of Anthropology, U. Laval, Québec, Canada)
92. Dr John Whelpton (Independent scholar, Hong Kong)
93. Dr Monica Mottin (Lecturer, London Metropolitan University, UK)
94. Dr Barbara Grossman-Thompson (Assistant Professor, California State University, Long Beach, USA)
95. Dr Thomas Robertson (Associate Professor, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA)
96. Professor Emily Yeh (University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
97. Dr Alpa Shah (Associate Professor, London School of Economics, UK)
98. Dannah Dennis (Doctoral candidate, University of Virginia)
99. Dr Alban von Stockhausen (Berne Historical Museum, Switzerland; University of Vienna, Austria)
100. Dr Marion Wettstein (University of Vienna, Austria)
101. Dr Megan Adamson Sijapati (Associate Professor, Gettysburg College, USA)
102. Stephen Biggs (Research Associate, SOAS. UK)
103. Dr Mara Malagodi (Lecturer in Law, City University of London, UK)
104. Dr Lauren Leve, (Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA)
105. Dr Kathleen Gallagher (Assistant Professor, St. Mary’s University (San Antonio TX, USA)

     [1] https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/ciaa-seeks-action-social-science-baha-alliance-social-dialogue/, based on CIAA press release: http://ciaa.gov.np/images/publications/1474801464press_released_6_9_aa.pdf.

     [2] http://kantipur.ekantipur.com/news/2016-09-28/20160928074234.html. Partial English translation at: http://www.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2016/09/28/blackmailing-academia/.