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Paper short abstract:

Drawing on the ethnographic fieldwork of young people in Nepal and the insights gained from the relevant literature on Kerala (India) and Laos, this paper develops a better understanding of the interrelationships between young people, transnational mobility and rural development in the Global South.

Paper long abstract:

Transnational mobility from rural areas is rising, creating unprecedented socio-economic transformations in the Global South. In the new geography of mobility emerging within the global South, young people share the bulk of those reportedly leaving rural areas to build new futures outside farming and villages. However, scholars and policy makers are yet to adequately analyse the aspirations of young people, complex migration realities and outcomes, and their role in rural transformations. Drawing on the ethnographic fieldwork of young people in Nepal and the insights gained from the relevant literature on Kerala (India) and Laos, this paper develops a better understanding of the interrelationships between young people, transnational mobility and rural development. While a dominant narrative suggests that youth are no longer interested in land and farming, we find that some young people see their futures in rural areas and agriculture, given that young people are heterogeneous in terms of gender, economic status, caste/ethnicity, and thus possess different 'capacity to aspire'. In the most part, the emerging inclination of some young people towards rural areas and agriculture is linked to the failure of capitalist development and globalization in creating political conditions for decent employment, instead producing new forms of precarity and poverty.