Badhyata and dukha: emotions, labour and migration across education migration to Australia and labour migration to Qatar from Nepal

Badhyata (compulsion) and dukha (hardship) are central emotional frames that drive and characterise the migration of both education migrants and labour migrants from Nepal. Migration from Nepal, therefore, entails a compulsion, and the migration experience is often one of dukha. Taking the case of education migration to Australia and labour migration to Qatar from Nepal, this article examines how diverse migration conditions differently shape and influence the migrants’ subjective experiences as well as that of their families. Drawing on data from a multi-sited ethnographic study conducted among Nepali education migrants in Sydney, labour migrants in Qatar, and their families in Nepal, the analysis centres around emotions attached to work/labour and migration and how it is experienced, not only by the migrants but also by the families in Nepal. In doing so, this article argues that while compulsion initially drives both types of migration, because of the difference in migration conditions and the emotions attached to future possibilities, the qualities of compulsion across the two migration pathways vary significantly, and differently structure the understanding of dukha.