“How Does Policy Develop? The 40-yr Checkered Modernization of Nepal’s Religiously Pivotal Pashupati Area.”

Ajaya N. Mali is a doctoral candidate interested in politics and religion. His focus is on changes to the religious life of small communities when political contexts change. He is also interested in the conservation strategies adopted at UNESCO cultural sites and the experience and participation of local communities in such state projects. For his doctoral research, Ajaya will study the efforts made by the Nepalese state to develop the Hindu temple of Pashupatinath in Kathmandu into a South Asian, and global, pilgrimage and tourism hub.