Professional Expertise I am a Reader in Anthropology at Nepal’s oldest public university. I have taught various anthropology courses at M.A., MPhil, and PhD level for the last twenty-three years decades. I have taught at the University of Michigan (USA) as a teaching assistant and worked as an academic coordinator at the Cornell Nepal-Study Program – a part of the Study Abroad Program of Cornell University, USA. I will teach a Himalayan Anthropology course at Kyoto University this winter (2025). My research works, mostly ethnographic, focus on indigeneity, land, social inclusion, minority rights, developmental interventions, historical encounters between the state and the Tarai Adivasi (Indigenous peoples), disaster and resilience, and federalism and local government. I have undertaken various applied and policy research and consultancy works for government agencies, multilateral organizations such as the UNDP and the World Bank, international organizations, and bilateral agencies. Similarly, I have been involved as a researcher, collaborator, and national consultant for various international collaborative research projects.

Ph. D. Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.

Dissertation title: Activism aa Moral Practice: Cultural Politics, Place-Making and Indigenous Movements in Nepal (2013).

MA in Anthropology, University of Michigan, USA. 2006, under the Fulbright Fellowship

MA in Anthropology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. 1994

BA in Political Science, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, 1992.

2016 - Reader/Associate Professor, Central Department of Anthropology, Kirtipur Campus, Tribhuvan University [TU], Kathmandu, Nepal

2013-2016 Academic Coordinator, Cornell-Nepal Study Program (CNSP), a joint study program between Cornell University, USA, and Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

2004-2016 Lecture/Assistant Professor [tenured], Tri-Chandra College, TU, Kathmandu, Nepal

2007-2010 Teaching Faculty, Cornell-Nepal Study Program (CNSP), Kathmandu, Nepal

2004-2006 2010-2012 Graduate Student Instructor/Teaching Assistant, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA [worked as teaching assistant, and facilitated discussion classes for anthropology undergraduate students for eight semesters]

1999- 2004 Teaching Assistant [Contract], Tri-Chandra College, TU, Kathmandu, Nepal

Books 

2016. Nepali Anthropology: New Directions and Contributions. Co-edited with Binod Pokharel and Mukta S. Lama. Published by Central Department of Anthropology, Nepal.

2014 Oraon of Nepal. Co-authored with Bechan Oraon. Published by the Central Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. ISBN: 9937524612

2009 Empowering Adivasi Janajati in Nepal. Co-authored with Chaitanya Subba, and Subitree Thapa-Gurung. Published by Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities. ISBN: 9937904137, 9789937904131

2002 Issues and Experiences: Kamaiya System, Kanara Andolan, and the Tharus in Bardiya, Co-authored with Suresh Dhakal, Dambar Chemjong, and et al. Published by SPACE, Nepal.

Book Chapters

2019. “Identity, Society, and State: Citizenship and Inclusion in Nepal” Co-authored with Sara Schneiderman In Deepak Thapa (edited). The Politics of Change: Reflections on Contemporary Nepal. Kathmandu: Himal Books/Social Science Baha, 83-108.

2018 “The Landlord State, Adivasi People, and the ‘Escape Agriculture’ in the Eastern Tarai of Nepal: A Historical Analysis of the Transformation of Dhimals into a Farming Community” In Laya Prasad Uprety, Suresh Dhakal, Jagat Basnet (eds.) Peasant Studies in Nepal, p 101-130. New York: Vajra Books Inc.

2017 “Dhimal-Limbu Daju Bhai”: Interethnic kinship, place- making and indigenous activism in Nepal. In Laya P Uprety, Binod Pokharel and Suresh Dhakal (eds). Kinship Studies in Nepali Anthropology. TU, Nepal: Central Department of Anthropology, TU. Recent Journal articles • Briceño, E. M., Dhakal, U., Sharma, U., Adhikari, N., Pradhan, M. S., Rai, J., ... & De Leon, C. F. M. (2023). Neuropsychological assessment of older adults in Nepal for population based dementia ascertainment: Needs, challenges, and opportunities. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, (Preprint), 1-14.

• Rai, Janak. 2022. Doing Fursad Ethnography in Nepal: Reflections of a Public University Faculty. Studies in Nepali History and Society 27(1):87-111, June 2022.

• Rai, Janak. 2015. “Owning land was so much dukkha in the past”: land and the state Adivasi relations in the Tarai, Nepal. Studies in Nepali History and Society 20 (1):69-68.

• Rai, Janak. 2013. Malaria, Tarai Adivasi, and the Landlord State in the 19th-century Nepal: A Historical and Ethnographic Analysis. Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology VII: 87 112

• Rai, Janak. 2013. Kuragraphy, ‘sense of place’, and qualitative research: Ethnographic Illustrations. Nepalese Journal of Qualitative Research Methods 5:67-79

• Rai, Janak. 2013. "Women are the pillars of Our Culture": Bohna as a resurgent cloth among the Dhimal. Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 8, 99–112.

Research Reports:

2023. Sugden, F., Dhakal, S., & Rai, J. Mapping Nepal’s agrarian transition. cgspace.cgiar.org. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/134991

2020. Harmful Practices in Nepal: Report on Community Perceptions. United Nations Nepal. https://un.org.np/resource/harmful-practices-nepal-report-community perceptions#:~:text=A%20number%20of%20harmful%20practices,literature%20review1%2 0and%20this%20survey.

2019. Deepening Federalism: Post-federal analysis on marginalized communities in Nepal’s Tarai- Federalism in Nepal Vol. 3. https://www.international alert.org/publications/deepening-federalism-post-federal-analysis-marginalised-tarai-nepal 2019. A sense of hope Understanding post-federal dynamics among marginalized communities in Nepal's Tarai region- Federalism in Nepal Vol.2. International Alert, UK. https://www.international-alert.org/publications/sense-hope-0

2019. Status and process of law-making in local governments: Reflections from two provinces – Federalism in Nepal Vol. 4. International Alert, UK. https://www.international alert.org/publications/federalism-in-nepal-status-and-process-law-making-local governments/

Guest Lectures and Public Talks [recent]

o Panelist Speaker. 'Local and Indigenous Knowledge in the Context of Climate Change' at the Himalayan Climate Data Lab 2024 (https://urfieldlab.com/UR2024/). An international workshop attended by scholars-researchers from 15 countries. May, 2024.

o Social Exclusion in Low Income Country: Caste and Ethnic Dimensions of Social Exclusion in Nepal. The online lecture was part of the ‘World in View’ lecture series for Penn State Schreyer Honor College, Philadelphia, USA. February 22. 2021

o Panelist Speaker, “Build Back Better: Putting Human Rights at the Core of the Recovery”, Dialogue Series on UN 75th Anniversary, organized by United Nations Nepal, December 14, 2020.

o COVID-related discriminations and stigmatization in Nepal. Online presentation for the panel ‘COVID-19: Impacts on Peoples’ Socio-Economic Livelihood and Coping Strategies’. Organized by Social Study and Research Council (SOREC), November 28, 2020. Online.