THE POLITICS OF HAIR IN KATHMANDU, NEPAL

In South Asia, women's hairstyles project cultural values and can be e xternal reflections of internal subjectivities. Despite recent politic al and social changes in Kathmandu, Nepal: people continue to ''read'' messages of morality and identity into women's hairstyles. At certain points in their lives, and as members of different castes and classes , women are able to change their hairstyles to reflect or signal a cha nge in their identities (cultural, social, national, religious). For e xample, Buddhist nuns shave their heads and eyebrows to announce their renunciation to the world; young unmarried women in Kathmandu wear we sternized hairstyles identifying them with more global gender images, but as their marriages approach they grow out their hair to conform to more traditional cultural ideals; national and cultural identities ar e revealed when Nepali women leave their heads uncovered after marriag e in contrast to some Indian women who cover their hair; and radical p olitics emerge when an unmarried woman shaves her hair like a man in o rder to perform the funeral rituals for her mother, normally the eldes t son's role. Based on over two and a half years of anthropological fi eldwork in Kathmandu, this paper asks:What messages are women inscribi ng on their bodies through the wearing of particular hairstyles? How d o women use their hair to signify certain practices, beliefs, and iden tities! And, how does the wearing of different hairstyles tie these wo men into a wider global community? The beauty salon is one site where these complex, and sometimes fragmented, identities are emerging.