Situation of Children in Bhutan: An Anthropological Perspective

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Abstract

In 1989 UNICEF (Bhutan) assigned Unni Wikan and Fredrik Barth who are both anthropologists to study the situation of children in Bhutan, and Bhutan Report: Results of Fact Finding Mission was submitted in 1990. That UNICEF employed anthropologists instead of medical consultants for the job in Bhutan not only reflected the sensitivity and respect of the organization towards the local culture, but also a novelty of achieving holistic understanding of the issue. Everywhere the trend has been to force a bundle of prescriptions ill-suited to the local context. This monograph is a reproduction of the above report. The publication of a 21 year old report in no way suggests a dearth of information on the situation of children in Bhutan and related issues. While much has changed after the consultants’ field visits to the villages, most of their observations and description of the underlying Bhutanese values are relevant. Despite their short interrupted field visits in Bhutan, they have succeeded the most, within the context of their assignment, in understanding Bhutan, and penetrating the deeper recess of the Bhutanese culture which otherwise does not yield easily to outside observers.