Nyima Dorjee Bhotia, MA
[email protected]
Nyima Dorjee Bhotia is an ethnographic researcher and educator from Nepal’s northeastern borderlands. Anchored in interdisciplinary training and lived experience, his work examines the socio-cultural, religious, political, developmental, and historical dimensions of the High Himalayan region.
Bhotia’s research focuses on Himalayan communities, with particular attention to trans-Himalayan trade, border citizenship, connectivity, migration and mobility, disaster, and infrastructure. He has worked with institutions such as Social Science Baha and the Nepā School, contributing to research projects, conferences, and edited volumes. His work often integrates ethnographic fieldwork, oral histories, and close attention to the textures of everyday life. He had also collaborated on several research projects, including Highland Asia and Sajag-Nepal.
He also pursues creative and engaged scholarship projects that explore Himalayan geographies through art, archives, materiality, and exhibitions. His work has been showcased in Köşk Gallery, Munich, and Kathmandu Triennale 2022. He maintains multilingual fluency in Walung, Nepali, English, Hindi, and Tibetan.
Study Abroad Courses Taught
Religious Change in Himalayan and Buddhist Communities
The Politics of Himalayan Borders
Field Methods and Ethics
Selected Publications
Journal Articles:
Dong, T. B., Tamang, M. S., Johnson, A. L., Basnet, D., Bhotia, N. D., Puri, A., Shneiderman, S., Power, M., Rigg, J., Baniya, J., & Oven, K. (2026). Reimagining disaster preparedness in Indigenous Nepal. Reimagining Disasters, 37–53. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032632797-4
Shneiderman, S., Johnson, A. L., Baniya, J., Basnet, D., Bhotia, N. D., Dong, T. B., Puri, A., Rigg, J., Tamang, M., & Oven, K. (2025). Circular resettlement and ongoing risk: Earthquakes, landslides, and the challenges of “integrated” reconstruction in Nepal. World Development. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.106XXX
Van Wyk de Vries, M., Dunant, A., Johnson, A. L., Harvey, E. L., Li, S., Arrell, K., Baniya, J., Basnet, D., Basyal, G. K., Bhotia, N. D., Dadson, S. J., Densmore, A. L., Dong, T. B., Kincey, M. E., Oven, K., Puri, A., & Rosser, N. J. (2025). Brief communication: Weak correlation between building damage and loss of life from landslides. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-40
Bhotia, N. D., Basnet, D., Dong, T. B., Puri, A., & Sajag-Nepal. (2024, June). Knowing the landscape and taming the landscape: Local and mainstream DRR perspectives in Nepal. In Postcolonial futures for disaster risk reduction in South Asia (Special Issue No. 211). All India Disaster Mitigation Institute. https://aidmi.org/postcolonial-futures-for-disaster-risk-reduction-in-south-asia/
Van Wyk de Vries, M., Li, S., Arrell, K., Baniya, J., Basnet, D., Basyal, G. K., Bhotia, N. D., Densmore, A. L., Dong, T. B., Dunant, A., Harvey, E. L., Jimee, G. K., Kincey, M. E., Oven, K., Paudyal, S., Pujara, D. S., Puri, A., Shrestha, R., Rosser, N. J., & Dadson, S. J. (2024). Modelling of post-monsoon drying in Nepal: Implications for landslide hazard [Preprint]. EGUsphere. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-397
Book Chapters:
Johnson, A., Oven, K., Rosser, N., Basnet, D., Bhotia, N. D., Dong, T. B., Puri, A., Tamang, M., & Rigg, J. (2026). Reimagining disaster in Indigenous Nepal. In J. C. Gaillard & K. Chmutina (Eds.), Indigenous disaster studies. Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0418.07
Johnson, A., Oven, K., Rosser, N., Basnet, D., Bhotia, N. D., Dong, T. B., Puri, A., Tamang, S., & Kincey, M. (2024). Integrating ethnographic and physical science methods in interdisciplinary research projects: Reflections on pedagogy and practice for “deep interdisciplinary” engagement within the Sajag Nepal Project. In R. Lave & S. N. Lane (Eds.), The field guide to mixing social and biophysical methods in environmental research (pp. 119–144). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Selected Presentations
Bhotia, N. D. (2024, July 24–26). Governing risk in federal Nepal [Conference presentation]. The Annual Kathmandu Conference on Nepal and the Himalaya, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Bhotia, N. D. (2023, December 11–13). Local and scientific knowledges for multi-hazard risk reduction: Understandings and applications [Conference presentation]. Regional Humanitarian Partnership Week, Asia Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand.
Bhotia, N. D. (2023, September 12). Knowing the landscape and taming the landscape: Local and mainstream DRR perspectives in Nepal [Conference presentation]. Online Seminar on Postcolonial Futures for Disaster Risk Reduction in South Asia, Copenhagen Center for Disaster Research, University of Copenhagen.
Bhotia, N. D. (2023, September 11). Local and indigenous knowledges for disaster risk reduction [Workshop presentation]. Sajag-Nepal Multi-hazard Risk Sharing Workshop, Square Hotel, Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Bhotia, N. D. (2023, April 24–25). Indigenous knowledge and practices on disaster risk reduction and preparedness in Nepal [Conference presentation]. Sajag-Nepal: Producing Knowledge and Building Partnerships for Critical Disaster Research in Nepal, 20th BNAC Nepal Study Days, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom.
Bhotia, N. D. (2021, April 16–17). Moving in, moving up, moving out: Migration process of Walungnga [Conference presentation]. NACA 2021 Inaugural Conference, Indigenous Knowledges and Sustainable Development panel.
Bhotia, N. D. (2016, December 12–14). Private roads: Local road construction initiative in the Himalayas [Conference presentation]. Dynamic Borderlands: Livelihoods, Communities and Flows (5th Conference of the Asian Borderlands Research Network), Kathmandu, Nepal.
Research Interests
Trans-Himalayan trade
Borderland citizenship, connectivity, migration and mobility, disaster, and infrastructural development
Education
- MA, Anthropology, Tribhuvan University
- BA, History, Delhi University
