Chas Hammaker is a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in cultural anthropology at the University of Houston. Chas’ current ethnographic research revolves around the Nepali diaspora living in Houston, Texas. Chas explores his research through a decolonial approach pulling from concepts found in transnationalism and migration studies. Prior to the pursuit of his master’s degree Chas earned his BA in English with a minor in humanities and diversity from Western Colorado University in Gunnison, Colorado. Chas was born and raised in Houston, Texas, the United States’ fourth largest city by population and one of the most diverse cities in the country. Chas credits his interest in cultural anthropology to his upbringing in the cosmopolitan city of Houston, while his specific interest in the Nepal and the Himalayas stems from his time working in a Nepali restaurant during his undergraduate studies. Through his work, he hopes to expand the archive of South Asian and Himalayan peoples in the United States, and challenge essentialized and Orientalized ideas of Nepal, South Asia, and Asia overall.
