Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Reimagining Borders & Rights through the Voices of Displaced/Stateless Women in Nepal

Project description

Reimagining rights and women voices from Nepal

Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Voicescape project explores how displaced and stateless women in Kathmandu navigate and resist the gendered violences of borders. Focusing on these 'borderscapes', the project reimagines rights beyond legal status, drawing on participatory and transdisciplinary methods. Grounded in feminist and border theories, Voicescape shifts the focus from top-down legal frameworks to community-led understandings of rights. It argues that these women generate counter-territorial ways of knowing that challenge state-centred citizenship. Through collaboration with NGOs and targeted dissemination, the project supports grassroots advocacy, activism and rights enactment. It contributes to law and development by offering inclusive, locally grounded approaches that amplify women’s voices, influence policy, and strengthen movements for justice in Nepal and beyond.

Objective

Hannah Arendt noted in the 1950s that human rights are dependent on the ‘right to have rights’. Gaps continue to exist in provisions of (inter)national frameworks of rights and in how borders are experienced. It is in these ‘grey’ spaces created by such gaps that displaced and stateless persons inhabit—spaces referred to as borderscapes. By exploring borderscapes, we gain a view of Kathmandu's cityscape through the voices of displaced and stateless women, witnessing their intersectional resistances as they claim their rights. This approach decenters from legal status as a primary mode of analysis and uncovers underexplored imaginaries of rights and pathways for social change.

Voicescape offers an avenue to reimagine rights by those in the borderscape. It aims to reshape rights-framed research and community-led change models for these women, contributing to Law and Development (L&D) by connecting with critical theories from border studies, gender studies, and beyond. This transdisciplinary perspective, grounded in epistemologies from the margins and critical-participatory research methodologies, shifts the focus from traditional legal frameworks to a bottom-up view of legal status. Voicescape hypothesises that these women establish counter-territorial epistemologies that reshape the relationship between the individual and the state.

As a participatory action research project, it will facilitate inclusive dialogues between women and NGOs, leveraging targeted dissemination efforts. A collaborative research and communications plan will produce joint outputs, enhancing the visibility and impact of women’s voices in broader socio-political contexts. A subsequent placement period will further influence practice with community-driven solutions. Voicescape aims to conceptual and practical contributions—advocating for inclusive, locally-led approaches to addressing the gendered violences of borders in Nepal and influencing global practices in law and development.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN
Net EU contribution
€ 270 300,00
Address
PRINSSTRAAT 13
2000 Antwerpen
Belgium
Region
Vlaams Gewest Prov. Antwerpen Arr. Antwerpen
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
No data

Partners (1)