Nepal, June 20 -- Every November, the Manangi community in Kathmandu pools social and material resources to organise a three-week-long fasting retreat in Swayambhu, where participants chant, prostrate, count prayer beads, and fast.

While the austerity of this retreat, known as Ngungne, reflects the Manangis' commitment and devotion to their spiritual practice, a closer look at the organisation and investment of community resources involved also reveals an alternative and intriguing form of capitalism.

The history of capitalism has often been understood from the perspective of Western capitalism and the free-market economy. However, the ways in which the Manangi have produced, accumulated, redistributed, and reproduced capital in their s...