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Miss Tamang


Young women make final preparations for the Miss Tamang contest at Rastriya Nach Ghar in Kathmandu. There has been an explosion of ethnic-based beauty contests in recent years, and while the national Miss Nepal pageant was canceled in the face of protest from a Maoist women's group, the ethnic beauty pageants are conducted without resistance.
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Winning and Losing Gracefully


The Miss Tamang contest was held in early April 2009, after a three-year hiatus. Along with Miss Newa, the Miss Tamang contest represents an explosion of ethnic-based beauty contests being held in Nepal. Most of the major ethnic groups in Nepal host their own beauty contests, with the mission to promote the identity of their ethnicity and encourage their youth to perform service in the name of their culture.