Acknowledgments

This research was completed through a fellowship from the Commission for Educational Exchange between the United States and Nepal, also known as the Fulbright Program. I thank Executive Director Peter Moran and everyone at the Nepal Fulbright Commission for their support throughout the year. I also thank Mark Larsen, Chair of the Fulbright Board, and director of the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Kathmandu, for providing additional financial support for my exhibition of photography at Indigo Gallery. I also thank the honorable US Ambassador Nancy Powell for inaugurating the photo exhibition at Indigo Gallery. Finally, I thank James Giambrone, Rabindra Shakya and Kamala Didi of Indigo Gallery for their support in my exhibition.

I would like to thank the many women who shared their time and stories with me to help me better understand their ideas and consequently, how Nepali women view beauty and femininity. I give special thanks to Mishal Moktan, Indira Joshi, Neelam Shahi and Nirjala Tamrakar for opening themselves up to me.

For their help in supporting my Fulbright application, I would like to thank Neal Menschel, Pam Ross, Prakash Rimal and Krishna Bhai Pradhan. For continued language instruction in Kathmandu, I give a great thank you to my Guruji, Bala Ram Aryal. For her invaluable insight and unwavering support, I give great thanks to V. Carroll Dunham, who has helped me navigate both the challenges and successes I faced throughout my research.

A special thanks also goes out to NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati, Bhushan Shilpakar and Suraj Shakya of Kathmandu Photo.Circle, for providing a nurturing environment for photographers in Nepal.

There are many other people who have gone out of their way to help me with my research, both in Nepal and in the U.S., and my gratitude goes out to each and every one of them.

Finally, I thank my parents Charles and Zoe Lance and my sister Anne Lance, along with the rest of my family for their support and faith in my abilities; my Nepali families, Rajman, Biju and Shriyan Bajracharya of Bubahal, Patan, and Manohari and Sikha Upadhyay of Sukedhara, Kathmandu for providing me with two homes away from home; and my many friends for helping me laugh at the absurd.