Bracketed Belonging
Gurkha Migrant Warriors and Transnational Lives

Kelvin E. Y. Low (Author)

9781501781612

Hardback, published 15 July 2025

288 pages, 7 b&w halftones, 2 maps - 7 Halftones, black and white - 2 Maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.907 kg

Bracketed Belonging addresses how nations and their governance of security determine social constellations and shape socio-political and legal assertions of belonging and allegiance. Kelvin E. Y. Low examines the contours and limits of belonging that underlie the complex social contract between mobile migrants and nations in the context of a global military-security market. He explores these core themes through the case of Nepali Gurkhas and their families as military and paramilitary migrants. Recruited to serve in the military or police force, Gurkhas are trained in jungle warfare skills that other police groups do not possess. There is thus the professional link to military training and the formation of a unique paramilitary police force with the backdrop of colonialism. In these contexts, this book offers fresh perspectives on studying global security, migration and diasporic lives. It sets a new agenda by analytically bridging empire, military and security maneuvers, and migratory pathways and options. In doing so, Bracketed Belonging serves as a novel contribution to current scholarship on migration and transnationalism, and on police and security studies.

Introduction: Gurkhas and Bracketed Belonging
1. Constructing a Gurkha Diaspora
2. The Warrior Gurkha
3. The Migrant Gurkha
4. Gurkha Wives and Children
5. At the Edge of Belonging?
Conclusion: In the Wake of Empire