Woven from Hundreds of Flowers : Religion, Conflict, and Collective Memory in Nepal as Seen Through Deepak Rauniyar’s Film White Sun

Abstract: This thesis examines how religious traditions, collective memory, and conflict are represented in the Nepali film White Sun (2016), which was co-written and directed by Deepak Rauniyar. The film focuses on an anti-regime partisan who returns home to the rural areas of Nepal to bury his father. During his stay, he is forced to face social and political obstacles, which reflects on the history of Nepal, in particular the Civil War (1996-2008). In this study, I am using feminist theories such as the North American feminist theorist Donna Haraway’s concept of situated knowledge mixed with theories drawn from the psychology of religion and sociology of religion, e.g., Nancy Ammerman’s lived religion and the concept of chosen trauma to analyze the representation of religion and society in the film. As a methodology, I use Dutch cultural theorist Mieke Bal’s cultural analysis, which focuses on interpreting film in the context of culture. Thus, I am looking at various themes in the film centered around both social and political oppression, but also the importance of this film, which is still quite unknown to an international audience. In that sense, the film represents a new wave of filmmaking that reflects the history and culture of Nepal. Additionally, I am also reshaping my own relationship to Nepali culture as a Nepali adoptee in exploring the deeper meaning of the film as a collective memory.