The Death of a People’s Historian

Editors' note

Academic activity in the social sciences in South Asia commands a very low premium. Barring economics, the value of the other disciplines is inadequately recognised since they are not deemed to have immediate and tangible utility. Consequently, some disciplines are accorded a higher priority than others because of their perceived benefits to the financiers of research. In India and Pakistan, for evident ideological reasons connected with the colonial past and the partitioned present, the study of history acquired a certain salience. In Nepal on the other, the study of history languished even as the anthropological study of the culture of its peoples flourished, with support of Western universities.

Against this very conspicuous neglect of history in Nepal, the life and work of MC Regmi provides an inspiration even for other disciplines and in other countries of South Asia. Regmi's research was undertaken in relative isolation since there were few peers if any, and in the face of extreme financial constraints. It is instructive to survey the achievements of Regmi's historical work as a way of thinking about the possible models for doing research in areas facing neglect. Regmi's career offers insights into a model for undertaking deep research in the social sciences, which ultimately benefits the people more than a host of donor-funded 'action research', or state-supported repetition of bias.