If Each Comes Halfway: Meeting Tamang Women in Nepal

'If Each Comes Halfway' is compelling, insightful, and deeply honest. Kathryn March brings the reader to these Himalayan women and their unfolding lives with the nuance of a friend and the authority of a scholar. March translates their words, concepts, and worldviews with meticulous care and offers a warm and vivid account of complex lives in a village world.

A beautiful ethnography that especially gives younger scholars a profound insight not only into the complexity of village life but more generally into fieldwork methodology.

If Each Comes Halfway is a beautiful ethnography that especially gives younger scholars a profound insight not only the complexity of village life but more generally into fieldwork methodology. As the title suggests, the book requested not only the engagement of these five Tamang women but also requires an open and engaged reader.

Kathryn March's careful research has resulted in a book that captures the essence of agricultural society as seen through the eyes of its female inhabitants. The result is an original project that blends anthropological scholarship with oral history. Interestingly, the narratives are a complex compendium of song and narrative.... Interwoven throughout these themes and narratives is the emergence of song as important adjunct to storytelling. The poetry and rhythm of songs help convey meaning and inspire an audience to focus its attention on the storyteller, March writes. Her research indicates the integral role music plays in preserving Tamang history.... The author evokes an otherworldly sense of this specific culture even as she strives to record their life histories as accurately as possible. The women interviewed literally put their hearts and souls into the telling and singing of their personal stories and of the larger story of the Tamang people.

Kathryn March's rich and provocative book is rooted in a strong sense of the local and shaped by a fine ear and remarkable linguistic skills. If Each Comes Halfway is exceptional in both its scholarly quality and the humane and insightful intelligence which informs it.