ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses on a decade-long series of projects in Nepal that most directly and fundamentally changed the way he thought about, and practised, post-normal science. The motivations that have brought foreigners to Nepal for more than a century can be grouped into two broad classes: an obsession with climbing big mountains and a search for enlightenment. In 2011, American policies related to the War on Terror coincided with multiple murders of members of the royal family and led to increased turmoil and open civil war in Nepal. Their policies were positioned to be adaptive and take advantage of, rather than be trapped by, changing social–ecological conditions. Post-normal science was not about overthrowing or replacing the many paradigms of science, but of jostling them in such a way that multiple perspectives could be accommodated to generate new insights, generating better diagnostics and responses.
