In 1974, seven years before the forma! study of sociology and anthropology by Nepali scholars had even begun, Khem Bahadur Bista asked the "Nepalese authorities to consider whether to remain indifferent and let., .(foreign) researchers do whatever they like or channelise them in a desirable way to meet the requirements of the Nepalese government, which is preoccupied with the socioeconomic development of the country. "Bista, a Nepali anthropologist trained in France and now working for the Centre for Economic and Development Administration at Tribhuvan University, had signalled (he start of a battle that still rages today over the merits of applied anthropology as against those of pure research.
The schism that grew between some foreign and Nepali research camps was still apparent at the first national congress of the Sociological -Anthropological Society of Nepal
Ram Chhetri, a Nepali anthropologist now working for the Nepal Australia Community Forestry Project, says foreign scholars have done research "with no relevance to Nepali society" for many years. The he art-searching over relevant really took off at Tribhuvan University after 198l when it began to offer Nepali students Masters degrees in sociology and anthropology. People then asked why such obscure research was encouraged. Why should the university bother to grant affiliation to such researchers? Chhetri, if you had not already guessed, believes Nepal needs applied research that addresses local problems and which can guide policy makers. Both Nepali and foreign scholars, Chhetri says, should be encouraged in this type of study. "I´ve a friend doing research among the Jhonkris. But the abstract level at which he [works]…is of no importance even to the local community, forget about others", Chhetri complained.
While Declan Quigley, of Queen´s College, Bel fast, drew comparisons between the literature of the Newar caste system and that found in India, at the CNAS/Sydney conference, one Nepali scholar whispered to a foreign colleague:"If this is anthropology, then I´m definitely not a social anthropologist." But, says Bruce Owens, presently at the University of Chicago, if anthropology in Nepal is to make sense to the larger community of scholars, then "there is need, at least academically, to get into the larger theoretical body of literature. That might be frustrating to our Nepali colleagues who do not share this need."