Mapping the Political Economy of Agrarian Transition in Nepal: Book Launch and Discussion

Research Seminar Series

Title:
Mapping the Political Economy of Agrarian Transition in Nepal: Book Launch and Discussion

Speakers:
Fraser Sugden, Associate Professor in Human Geography, University of Birmingham, UK
Suresh Dhakal; and Janak Rai; Associate Professors of Anthropology, Tribhuvan University

Date, Time and Venue:
12 October 2025/२६ असोज २०८२ (आइतबार, दिउँसो ३ बजे)
Martin Chautari Seminar Hall, Thapathali, Kathmandu

Abstract:
This talk coincides with the launch of two new books on the political economy of Nepal. The first book Land, Labour, and Agrarian Change in Nepal's Tarai-Madhesh (Cambridge University Press, authored by Fraser Sugden), is the culmination of 18 years of intermittent fieldwork on the fertile far-eastern lowlands of Nepal. This fertile, industrially vital region exemplifies how deep-rooted 'feudal' inequalities persist despite capitalist globalization. The book reveals how landlord-tenant relations are reproduced in new forms, shaping food security, market participation, and climate resilience. By centring land distribution, it offers fresh insight into South Asia's agrarian crisis--marked by worsening trade terms for farmers and environmental stress--and shows how land ownership structures profoundly affect rural livelihoods. The second book, The Agrarian History of Nepal: The Political Economy of Agro-ecological Change (Vajra Books), co-authored with Suresh Dhakal and Janak Rai, traces 500 years of agro-ecological change. It contrasts two distinct agricultural systems, that of communal swidden farming with stratified rice-wheat agriculture, showing how the latter gradually displaced the former after the Gorkha empire's rise. Through this national-scale analysis, the book argues that historical insight is key to understanding today's structural barriers to agricultural development across Nepal's diverse landscapes.

We explore what lessons these two books offer in terms of firstly, how we understand the history of agriculture in Nepal and the wider Himalayan belt, including the interplay between diverse modes of production over time, and their relation to shifting political, economic and ecological contexts. Secondly, we question how these histories can help offer us a vision for a more radical and equitable agrarian future.

About the Speakers:
Fraser Sugden is an Associate Professor in Human Geography at the University of Birmingham, UK. Suresh Dhakal and Janak Rai are Associate Professors of Anthropology at Tribhuvan University.