Tod Ragsdale's Ph.D. dissertation fieldwork was carried out among a Nepalese tribal people, the Gurungs. The Gurungs live near Pokhara town in Mid Western Nepal, close to the Dhaulagiri and Annapurna massifs, pictured in the background of this photo taken at Ghandrung Village, Kaski District. According to field informants, but never actually confirmed, this scene was an etching on the Nepalese Rs 1000 note. The house was that of the grandfather of Ragsdale's research assistant's wife. Kinship networks were crucial to understanding the function of schools in Gurung communities, which was the focus of Ragsdale's dissertation, subsequently earning his degree at Duke University and published as "Once a Hermit Kingdom: Ethnicity, Education and National Integration in Nepal" (Manohar Press, New Delhi, 1989).