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THE REBIRTH OF MAHADEV - COPPER MINING IN NEPAL # 91.1

14:00, Wednesday 17th June, Cinema 3


 

Director/Anthropologist: Dipesh Kharel, Frode Storaas
Year of Release:  2015
Duration: 20 mins
Country of Production: Nepal/Norway
Location: Nepal
Ethnic Group: Magar and Caste groups
Language: Nepali with English subtitles

For 400 years, the settlers of Okharbot village in western Nepal had been mining copper successfully. However, the mining has stopped for 35 years now in the face of globalization. The film tells a story of the copper miners and the village by emphasizing the impact of globalization on their traditional copper industry, in the breakdown of community life and a steady cultural death.
A few survivors still know how to extract and smelt copper. The copper fulfills an important function in this community where the caste system still exists. The Hindu god Shiva is said to have manifested himself in copper, which therefore fulfills an important ritual, cultural, and economic function. The film follows the foreman Ujir Pun who leads us through the process from excavation to extraction, melting and preparation. As part of the social and cultural context of the process, the film also depicts village life in the autumn festival period.

Return to the 2015 film programme