Suresh Kumar Dhakal, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Central Department of Anthropology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. He holds a Masters's Degree in Development Anthropology; Ecology & Subsistence, M.Phil. in Human Ecology; and a Ph.D. in Political Anthropology. Dr. Dhakal is passionately engaged in linking academic exercise to social issues through public debate, academic and applied research and development consultancies with various national and international organizations. Dr. Dhakal's research interests and expertise include land tenure and agrarian relations, peasant studies, labor migration, anthropology of development, poverty dynamics, informal economy, local governance, and social inclusion.

Dr. Dhakal is the recipient of an EU-MIDEA research grant and a Wener-Gren IDG Fellow (at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY) for his Ph.D. in anthropology. He was a Research Fellow at the Asia and Africa Area Studies (ASAFAS) at Kyoto University, Japan, in 2016.

His name is credited to several journal articles, book chapters, and books. Some of his published works include Rural Unrest in Nepal: A History of Resistance, Revolt and Rebellion (2020) (co-author), Peasant Studies in Nepal (2018) (co-editor and chapter contributor), Land and Agrarian Questions: Essays on Land Tenure, Agrarian Relations and Peasant Movements in Nepal (2014), Land and Agrarian Reforms in Nepal (2011). Harawa, the unfree agricultural laborer: a case study from eastern Nepal (2007). In addition, he is also engaged in popular print and audio-visual media on contemporary social, cultural, and development issues.

• DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D.), 2012 [Recipient of MIDEA-EU Grant, and IDG-Wenner Gren Fellowship]
• · MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY (M.Phil.) 1999 UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN, Norway.
• · MASTER OF ARTS (MA) in ANTHROPOLOGY, 1994 TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY, Kathmandu. Major: i. Development Anthropology, ii. Ecology and Subsistence.
• BACHELOR OF ARTS, (BA), 1992 TRIBHUNVAN UNIVERSITY, Kathmandu Major: i. Economics, ii. Nepalese History, Culture & Archaeology (NeCHA).

Associate Professor 

Central Department of Anthropology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu

Visiting Fellow

· Asia and Africa Area Study (ASAFAS)

Kyoto University. Kyoto, Japan. (Feb 2016- Aug 2016).

· Werner- Gren IDG Fellow

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. (Jan -June 2011)

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

(January 1995 - January 1996)

TU -Bergen Human Ecological Research Programme.

Major responsibilities: independent research (fieldwork & and report writings), supervision of MA (anthropology) students in the field, and dissertation writing.

TRAINING, WORKSHOPS, AND SEMINARS

Participation in various national and international training, workshops, and seminars as a trainer, facilitator, participant, working paper presenter, session advisor, commentator, discussant, and organizer.

Travel

the USA, UK, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and Bangladesh. Traveled across 72 districts of Nepal.

Agrarian History of Nepal (2025) Forthcoming. Kathmandu: Vajra Inc. [Co-author]. 

·Itihas Aghiko Itihas: Sanskriti Udbikasko Manavshastriya Britant.2024. Kathmandu: Indigo Ink.  

·Rural Unrest in Nepal (Co-author, with David Seddon & Jagat Basnet, 2021): New Delhi: Adroit 

·Harawa-Charawa, the Bonded Labour in Agriculture (Lead author, 2021): Kathmandu: CSRC

·Peasant Studies in Nepal (2018) (Co-editor & Chapter contributor). Vajra Books Inc. Sunnyside: New York. 

Journal Articles/Book Chapters

·Tracing the Agrarian History of the Sub-Himalayan Forest Frontiers. Fraser Sugden, Suresh Dhakal, and Janak Rai. (2026).  In Ben Campbell, Mary Cameron, Tanka                        SubbaCopyright  (eds.). The Routledge International Handbook of Himalayan Environments, Development and Wellbeing Edited. Forthcoming. 

·Environmental Justice and Unfree Agricultural Labourers in the Eastern Tarai of Nepal (Book Chapter). In Jonathan K London, Jagannath Adhikari & Thomas Robertson (eds.) Environmental Justice in Nepal: Origins, Struggles, and Prospects. (2025). London: Routledge. DOI:10.4324/9781003371175-8

·Sanskritik Rajniti ra Samabesi Loktantra: Parivartit Sandharvma Paschim Nepalka Tharuharuko Barghar Abhyas (Cultural Politics and Inclusive Democracy: Barghar       Practice of Tharus of Western Nepal in the Changing Context). Samaj Anveshan 2081. Vol 2 No.1. Kathmandu: Nepal Academy https://doi.org/10.3126/anweshan.v2i1.68603

·Shram Karar ra Paradhinata: Bandhuwa Krishi Sharmikko Arth-rajnitik Adhyan (In Nepali, Trans. Labor Contract and Dependency: A Political-economic Study of Agricultural Bonded Labour) Madhesh Adhayan 9(9): 113-138

• Peasant as Anthropological Category and Ethnographic Subject: A Critical Overview of Peasantry and Peasant Politics. In Laya P Uprety, Suresh Dhakal & Jagat Basnet (eds.) Peasant Studies in Nepal.  Vajra Books Inc. Sunnyside: New York. 
• Mit Relation in Far West: Ritual, Reciprocity, and Reproduction of Social Relationship. (Co-authored). In Uprety, L P. Binod Pokharel and Suresh Dhakal (eds) Kinship Studies in Nepali Anthropology (2017). Kathmandu: Central Department of Anthropology.
• Getting Out and Getting into Poverty: An Exploration of Poverty Dynamics in Eastern Tarai, Nepal (2015). Studies in Nepalese History and Society.Vol.20. No.1.