* preface
Proceedings
of the SOAS Elephant Conferences
held at
CES
and the
CONTENTS
OF THE BOOK
[in alphabetical order of authors]
______________________________
On the deification
of Guruvayur Kesavan: Making of an animal religious subject through cultural
productions
The elephant and its ivory in the sculpture
of Western Europe
The regal elephant in medieval Cairo
Doris Behrens-Abouseif [SOAS,
Elephants under the Rising Sun
Martha Chaiklin [Historian] [Abstract] [PDF]
Cultural aberrations in the management of captive elephants
Prajna Chowta [Aane Mane Foundation,
The legend of
Palakapya
Prajna Chowta [Aane Mane
Foundation,
Elephants in Islamic history
William G. Clarence-Smith [SOAS,
Contribution of comparative genetics to the understanding of the evolution
and distribution of elephants
Régis Debruyne [Muséum National d’Histoire
Naturelle, Paris] [Abstract] [PDF]
The Elephant in
Ed Emery [SOAS,
Elephant trade in Sonepur: Illegal wildlife trade
under the guise of tradition?
Shubhobroto Ghosh
[TRAFFIC
Elephants in modern
Wildlife Crime, legal prosecution and
experience in combatting Wildlife Crime in the illegal trade of elephant calves
in Sri Lanka
Sujeewa Jasinghe and Sudarshani Fernando [Centre for Eco-cultural Studies (CES),
The intertwined and co-shaped pathways of
elephants and humans in the forests of Assam, North-east India
Paul G. Keil [
Voice, song, lyric in
Nicolas Lainé [Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale,
Collège de France (Paris)] [Abstract]
[PDF]
Elephant training in
Piers Locke
[
The
journeys of elephants: An Indian circus trail
Nisha P R [Department of History,
Elephant ecology and the emergence of the state in Great Lakes Africa
Andrew Reid [
Elephants on board the
Corruption in the Keddah: Elephants, fraud
and environmental history in colonial Burma
Jonathan Saha
[
Elephants, zamindars and state: History of contested hunting rights in Western Assam
Arupjyoti Saikia [Indian Institute
of Technology Guwahati] [Abstract] [PDF]
Elephant hunting and
poaching in
Keith Somerville [
Topsy,
an elephant we must never forget
Kim Stallwood [Independent scholar]
[Abstract] [PDF]
Knowledge of the elephant since ancient times
Raman Sukumar [Centre
for Ecological Studies, IISc,
Local Celebrities – Stories of elephant personalities in the Gudalur Region
of the Nilgiris, South India
Tarsh Thekaekara [Shola Trust, Nilgiris and Open University]
[Abstract] [PDF]
Shooting an elephant
Thomas R. Trautmann [
Fencing in the megaherbivore
Abi Tamin Vanak, Maria Thaker and Rob Slotow [Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment; Indian Institute of Science; University of
KwaZulu-Natal] [Abstract]
[PDF]
In God’s own country: Elephants as religious and cultural icons, and as celebrities
Sreedhar Vijayakrishnan and Anindya Sinha [Indian Institute of Science,
______________________________________________
LIST OF ABSTRACTS
______________________________________________
Tresa Abraham [IIT
Abstract: Animals play
a significant role in Hindu religious tradition. They are venerated as they are
the escorts or companions of various deities. The elephant enjoys a place of
privilege as it is the vehicle of Lord Indira and as Ganesha,
the anthropomorphic God, has an elephant head. In the dominant Hindu culture of
Kerala, it is customary for elephants to participate in temple festivals. Most
domestic elephants in the state are owned by temple authorities. Famous
elephants that served temples include Kandakoran of Kitangoor, Neelakantan of
Panthalm, Guruvayur Padmanabhan, Guruvayur Kesavan, Gajarani Lakshmi, etc.
In
1973, for the first time in history,
the Guruvayur Devaswom Board conferred upon a
tusker, Kesavan, the honour of Gajarajan (King of
Elephants) and celebrated the golden jubilee of the services rendered by the elephant
to the temple. On his death, to commemorate him a 12 feet high statue was
erected. Deification is the process through which a person, animal or thing is
raised to the status of a deity. In this paper I attempt to read the cultural
productions around Guruvayur Kesavan in the form of film, TV
serials, features etc. to study discursive practices that lead to the
deification of the elephant.
CV: Tresa Abraham completed her M.Phil in English from
the University of Hyderabad, India in 2014.
She is currently doing her doctoral research on 'Taxidermy in
E-mail: [email protected]
______________________________
Charles Avery
Abstract: The elephant has always been
considered a royal beast, on account of its sheer size, might and impressive
tusks. The enormous size of the males and their latent aggression,
encouraged their use as weapons of war – famously by
From 1492 the
Portuguese pioneered the importation of individual elephants – often with their
original trainers and given evocative names – by ship round the Cape of Good
Hope to
Owing to the
distance from Europe of the native habitats of the elephant in Africa and
CV: A graduate from
E-mail: [email protected]
______________________________________________
Doris Behrens-Abouseif [SOAS,
Abstract: The
elephant is well represented in medieval Egyptian sources both in visual as
well as textual sources between the Fatimid and the Mamluk periods. It is
represented on ceramics and metal vessels and the chronicles present accounts
and anecdotes about the presence of the elephant in royal menageries and its
use in parades and as a diplomatic gift. It is also mentioned in bestiaries and
other literature.
CV: Doris Behrens-Abouseif is
Emerita Professor at SOAS,
From 2000 to 2014: Professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology (Nasser D Khalili chair)
at SOAS, University of
Has published over a wide range of subjects from the early period to the 19th
century focussing especially on
E-mail: [email protected]
______________________________________________
Martha Chaiklin [Historian]
Abstract:
CV: Martha Chaiklin received her PhD at
E-mail: [email protected]
______________________________________________
Prajna Chowta [Aane Mane
Foundation,
Abstract: All methods used in the management of elephants in captivity
originate from traditional practices developed in
Since the 1970's, the management methods
used for elephants in the West became incompatible with the development of
Animal Rights principles in North America and
Ironically, these so-called new methods
are now progressively imposed into the elephant home range countries by Animal
Rights organizations with the effects of discrediting the traditional methods
and compromising genuine long-term solutions for the conservation of elephants.
The proposed paper will address the
contradictions between cultural views on the management of elephants and the
reality in the field.
CV: Prajna Chowta was born in 1970 in
In 2000, she created the Aane Mane
Foundation and researched the migration of wild elephants between
She published the Elephant Code
Book (2010) on captive elephant management with the Asian Nature
Conservation Foundation and the Ministry of Environment (
In 2014, she released the book Enfant d'Elephant with
Elytis Editions in
Website: www.aanemane.org
E-mail: [email protected]
_______________________
William G. Clarence-Smith [SOAS,
Abstract: Islamic attitudes towards elephants have been quite contradictory,
varying in terms of space, time, previous cultures, and religious
evolution. Sura 105 of the Qur'an, 'al-fîl' (the
elephants, from Persian pîl), tells how divine intervention
frustrated the 'people of the elephants,' probably meaning Yemeni Christians.
Over time, sharia law forbade the eating of elephant meat,
hindering Islamisation in parts of Animist Africa and
CV: William Gervase Clarence-Smith is Professor of the Economic
History of Asia and Africa at SOAS,
E-mail: [email protected]
____________________________
Regis Debruyne [Muséum National d'Histoire
Naturelle, Paris]
Abstract: The study of the genetic diversity can provide key arguments to
the understanding of the evolution of elephants. Fixed mutations and
polymorphisms both embody signatures of historical events at different time
scales. Provided the right tools and models are used, the analysis of the
amount of within diversity and the extent of molecular divergence between
modern elephant groups help us to retrace their genealogy and their demography
through hundreds of thousand years.
This paper will review the developments in
comparative genetics of the elephants since the early 2000's. It will contrast
the available results obtained from the analysis of the mitochondrial genome
and the nuclear genome in each lineage and discuss why their apparently
conflicting signals might only reflect the difference in the mechanisms of
heredity involved.
I will discuss how only a synergic
approach of all genomic information can provide a better understanding of the
origin of the current distribution of the diversity among Asian elephants. This
strategy should serve as an auxiliary tool in establishing conservation
management policies relevant to limit the deleterious effects of inbreeding and
maximize the evolutionary potential of the remnant populations of elephants
in
CV: Regis Debruyne is a research engineer in genomics
and paleogenetics at the National Museum of Natural History
(MNHN,
E-mail: [email protected]
_______________________________
Ed Emery [SOAS,
Abstract: The elephant in the English imaginary from Roman times to the present.
Means of warfare; bearer of allegory; giftings of royalty; anatomical
paradox; democratisation as spectacle; imperial killing fields; protective
regimes. The elephant as a means by which we come to
know ourselves.
CV: Ed Emery is organiser of the following conferences, among
others: the Hydra Mule and Donkey Conference; the SOAS Camel
Conference; the SOAS War Horses Conference; and the SOAS Elephant
Conference. His PhD (pending) is on the Arabic and Hebrew dance songs of
al-Andalus [muwashshah and zajal] 1100-1350. He is
a Research Associate of the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies
at SOAS.
E-mail: [email protected]
_________________________
Presenter: Shubhobroto Ghosh [TRAFFIC
Investigators: Shekhar Niraj,
Head TRAFFIC
Abstract: Harihar Kshetra, or Sonepur Mela is
held during the occasion of Kartick Purnima (Full Moon) every
year. The fair that is attributed to the times of Emperor
Chandragupta Maurya, is famous for its elephants that are adorned, displayed
and traded. This annual conglomeration however has an essence of illegal
wildlife trade and flagrant violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
TRAFFIC has been monitoring the Sonepur fair for the past fifteen
years and has consistently been assisting enforcement officials and lawmakers
in various ways to resolve the matter of the illegal nature of this trade.
There are individual elephants of all denominations that are exhibited and sold
in Sonepur, including tuskers and calves.
Many of these animals are sold without
proper permits and are brought illegally from other states, including
1. To assess the impact of the illegal
live elephant trade at Sonepur on elephant conservation
2. To assess the use of elephants by private people
3. Expose weaknesses in implementation of the law
4. To show ambiguity in laws
5. To make suggestions for tightening law enforcement
by ensuring long term conservation
6. Find linkages of illegal live elephant trade
to transborder regions
CV: Shubhobroto Ghosh is a former journalist with the
Telegraph newspaper whose work has also been published in The Statesman, New
York Times, The Hindu, Montreal Serai, Sanctuary
Asia and Nature India online. He is the former
coordinator of the Indian Zoo Inquiry project sponsored by Zoocheck
E-mail: [email protected]
___________________
Sujeewa Jasinghe and Sudarshani Fernando
[Centre for Eco-cultural Studies (CES),
Abstract: The capture of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus maximus)
– a sub-species, found in
The ongoing investigations have revealed
that the majority of elephant calves captured and held illegally for the
purpose of commercial uses for the tourism trade, in an "organised"
wildlife criminal network, includes its captors, traders, wildlife officials of
the State, legal personnel, monks, businessmen, politicians and forest and
local communities, among others. The intervention of non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and interested individuals responsible for the
investigation have succeeded in exposing and
advocating forlegal action by the relevant authorities. It involves
99% control in illegal capture of elephant calves from the wild since then,
including bringing criminals before the courts. Approximately 65 calves
identified as having been illegally registered involving forged documentation
have thus, been held illegally. It is further believed that over 80 calves
under the age of 4 years were captured from their herds in the wild, with 99%
of them being from Protected Areas (PA) and their environs, including wildlife
National Parks.
CV: Sujeewa Jasinghe and Sudarshani Fernando
serve as co-founderDirectors of the Centre for Eco-Cultural Studies
(CES). CES is a research-based training institute located
in Diyakapilla, Sigiriya, in central
Sentinels Against Wildlife
Crime,
Centre for Eco-cultural Studies (CES)
P O Box 03, Diyakapilla, Sri Lanka
E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected]
_____________________________
Shah Mahmoud Hanifi [
Abstract: This paper surveys a fast-moving elephantine history in
CV: Shah Mahmoud Hanifi is an Associate Professor of Middle
Eastern and South Asian History at
http://www.jmu.edu/history/people/all-people/Hanifi.shtml
E-mail: [email protected]
_____________________________
Paul G. Keil [
Abstract: Paths enable easier movement throughout our environment whilst
constraining and guiding our trajectories. They are traces of relationships
with places, carved into the landscape by the footsteps of those before us. In
the hills nearby to Chakardo village,
CV: Paul Keil is a PhD Candidate in social anthropology,
from
E-mail: [email protected]
_____________________________
Nicolas Lainé [Laboratoire d'Anthropologie
Sociale, Collège de France (Paris)]
Abstract: The training of the animal is a crucial period
within human-elephant interspecies community. It is the time when man and
animal get to know each other, define modalities and forms of communication,
and create a common intelligible world which will be used in their future
interactions. This initial contact is also crucial in the development of
attachment and bonding: their long term partnerships will evolve on the basis
of this primary encounter.
In
This chapter purposes to explore the
various functions (pedagogical, communicative and social) of chants during
elephant training, by studying their contents (their lyrics, forms and
rhythms). The analysis will support the argument that, primarily
used as an intangible tool for training elephants, music is constitutive of the
interspecies community. Sung on various occasions after training, chants are
also part of the vocal communication used by the Khamtis to interact
with animals in their long partnership.
CV: Nicolas Lainé holds a PhD in Ethnology from the
Personal webpage :
http://las.ehess.fr/index.php?2334
Academia : https://college-de-france.academia.edu/NicolasLaine
E-mail: [email protected]
________________________
Piers Locke [
Abstract: Focussing on fieldwork at the Khorsor Elephant
Breeding Centre,
Here, I apply this
more-than-human/not-just animal perspective to elephant training practices for
captive-bred juvenile elephants, which adapt methods traditionally developed
for captured adults. I analyze training not just as an assemblage of practical
procedures for imparting obedience, understanding, and interspecies
cooperation, but also as a ritual process of transformation, by which both
elephant and mahout establish working relations, acquire new capabilities, as
well as a changed status and identity among their human and nonhuman peers. In
so doing, I extend the anthropological theory of rites of passage to include
non-human actors, supporting an emerging, more-than-human literature that
emphasizes the mutual agency, historical entanglement, and negotiated relations
of humans and elephants whose lives and landscapes intersect.
CV: Piers Locke is a senior lecturer in anthropology at the
University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Piers
has been conducting ethnographic fieldwork on captive elephant management
in Chitwan, Nepal since 2001, exploring interspecies intimacy and
custodial labour in biodiversity conservation, protected area management, and
ecotourism. He has sought to theorize human-elephant relations more broadly,
bringing to bear developments in posthumanism and multispecies
studies to argue for a new kind of integrated, interdisciplinary approach
called ethnoelephantology. He co-produced an ethnographic documentary
about elephant training in the Khorsor Breeding Centre, Nepal called
Servants of Ganesh, he is currently editing a volume titled Rethinking
Human-Elephant Relations, and working on a monograph about his research in
Nepal. His latest project concerns the historical photography of human-elephant
relations in colonial
E-mail: [email protected]
Nisha P R [Department of
History,
Abstract: Like the poignant journey of Solomon the elephant in
Jose Saramago's wonderful novel, title of which is recast above in
plural, I hope to chronicle some significant historical moments from the trails
and travails of Indian circus elephants. Animals in circus brings to the fore a
long tradition of animal trade, taming, training, and human accompaniment,
raising significant questions regarding their acquisition, captive life,
breeding and changing relation to forests and wilderness over the periods. They
are inextricably linked with a colonial genealogy of the 'exotic' and 'exhibit',
especially a flagship being like the elephant.
Elephants do figure prominently in the
wildlife policy of the nation as is evident from the project elephant (1992)
and the Elephant Task Force (2010). In fact Asian elephant is the official
symbol of
CV: Nisha P R has recently submitted her doctoral thesis,
"A History of Circus and Circus Performances in Twentieth Century
Kerala" at the Department of History,
E-mail: [email protected]
__________________________
Andrew Reid [
Abstract: When European travellers first visited Great Lakes
Africa in the later part of the nineteenth century they found a belligerent
attitude to the large elephant populations of the region, fuelled by the ivory
trade and by the political need to protect cultivation from elephant attack.
During the days of the Uganda Protectorate in the twentieth century, this
contestation between declining elephant and expanding human populations
continued until widespread poaching began in the late 1960s. The removal of
elephant populations has had ecological consequences for areas that were
previously renowned for their suitability for cattle-rearing. It is in these
areas that the earliest traces of political centralisation are found,
particularly associated with large cattle herds, beginning around AD 1000. It
is highly likely that these herds would not have been sustainable without the
ecological impact of elephants. They controlled bush encroachment, suppressing
the threat of trypanosomiasis. Elephants would also have sponsored the
regeneration of pasture and the exposure of salt sources, both of which are
essential for cattle populations today. It is therefore likely that
human-elephant relationships were significantly better in the distant past and
that the impact of elephants may have been crucial to the emergence of states.
CV: Andrew Reid is currently a senior lecturer at the
E-mail: [email protected]
____________________________
Ana Ruiz Gutiérrez [
Abstract: Between 1565 and 1815 the Manila galleon trade route
("Galeón de Manila") initiated a series of exchanges between
the
CV: Graduate in Art History (UGR, 1998), Phd. in Art History (UGR,
2004). Best Phd Thesis Award for "El tráfico artístico entre España y
Filipinas (1565-1815)"(UGR, 2014). Postgraduate in
International Projects of Cultural Cooperation (180 hours), (UB, 2001). University
Master in Cultural Management (540 hours), (US,2005). Postgraduate in Chinese Culture and Society (500 hours), (UAH,
2008). Professor and Researcher at the
E-mail: [email protected]
______________________________________________
Jonathan Saha [
Abstract: In 1904 the Government of India transferred all of its elephant capturing operations to the
CV: I am a University Academic Fellow at the
E-mail: [email protected]
________________________________
Arupjyoti Saikia [Indian
Institute of Technology Guwahati]
Abstract: Throughout the imperial rule
the zamindars of Goalpara and the government locked horns
over the rights of elephant hunting. The imperial government staked claim to
the monopoly right in elephant capturing since the middle of the 19th century.
This also led to a prolonged dispute over absolute property rights over the big
animal. Zamindars considered elephants both as a source of earning as
well as a marker of their territorial authority. In one such instance,
the zamindars of Karaibari estate fought a protracted legal
battle against the government and refused to surrender their traditional rights
to hunt and capture elephants. The government finally dismissed the claims of
the zamindars but not before leaving behind rich details of a
fiercely contested legal dispute.
This paper is divided into three parts.
The first part introduces a complex landscape where elephants found a place to
live in. The second part discusses the contested history of hunting and
capturing of elephants in this region since the Mughal times. The
third part, drawing on the rich details of the Karaibari case,
discusses the complex negotiations through which Goalpara zamindars laid
their claim of exclusive rights to hunt and own elephants. This section also
discusses the interplay of governance, environment and tradition which shaped
the fate of big animals in colonial times.
CV: Arupjyoti Saikia is Associate Professor in the
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of
Technology Guwahati and teaches history there. He holds
the Suryya Kumar Bhuyan Endowment Chair on Assam History
at IIT Guwahati. He is also a visiting professor to the
He has published in Journal of Peasant
Studies, Indian Economic and Social History Review, Studies in History, Indian
Historical Review, Conservation and Society, Economic and Political Weekly. His
published works include a) A Century of Protests: Peasant Politics in
E-mail: [email protected]
____________________
Keith Somerville [University
of Kent]
Abstract: Botswana is home to the
largest population of elephants in the world and is a safe haven for the
204-260,000 elephants in the wider Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier region
spanning Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It suffers
environmental degradation and serious human wildlife conflict (resulting
in deaths of people and loss of crops). From independence in 1966 to 2014 it
had a conservation system mixing national parks, photographic safari areas
and hunting concessions. This protected wildlife while bringing
revenue for people to compensate for losses to wildlife, and to
provide income, funds for schools, clinics and water pumps for communities
living alongside wildlife. Elephant numbers rocketed from 50,000 in 1990 to
between 130,0000-160,000 in 2014. The 2014 hunting
ban, introduced by President Ian Khama, urged by anti-hunting lobbyists in
Botswana some of whom were Khama's tourism business partners, did not
work. Local communities were impoverished, elephants expanded their range
in Botswana into farming areas and human-elephant conflict became serious. At the same time poaching increased, as local people helped foreign
poachers. Now the ban has been lifted and hunting will resume, amid
huge controversy. As of early 2021 hunting has resumed but is now on hold because of COVID.
E-mail: [email protected]
____________________
Kim Stallwood [Independent
scholar]
Abstract: An Asian elephant called Topsy, aged about 28, was
electrocuted in front of 1,500 spectators by Thomas Edison in New York on 4
January 4 1903. Her life represents the treatment of animals exploited by the
entertainment industry and symbolises
CV: Kim Stallwood is an independent scholar and author on animal
rights. He has forty years of personal commitment and professional experience
in leadership positions with some of the world's foremost animal advocacy
organisations in the
Website: www.kimstallwood.com
E-mail: [email protected]
_______________________________
Raman Sukumar [Centre for
Ecological Studies, IISc,
Abstract: Ever since the elephant was tamed in the Indian
subcontinent more than four millennia ago, it entered into a special
relationship with people that has persisted
until modern times. Knowledge of the elephant was first depicted in art, passed
on through oral traditions and recorded in several texts since ancient times.
The Vedas, the two great Epics, the Greek texts, the Jatakas and
other Buddhist sources, the Sangam poetry, Palakapya’s Gajashastra or Hastyayurveda,
the Kautilya Arthashastra, the Manasollasa,
the Hastividyarnava, the Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari provide
rich sources of information on the elephant, before the advent of the colonial
period.
These ancient sources deal with
the status and distribution of elephants, their behaviour, ecology, diet,
anatomy and physiology, growth and development, psychology, conflicts with
people, diseases and their treatment, management in captivity, and deployment
in war. Some of these observations such as those of musth in bull
elephants are remarkably accurate, and clearly preceded modern-day biology by
at least one thousand years. We can also make interesting inferences about
changes in elephant habitat from comparisons of texts such as the Arthashastra and
the Manasollasa from different historical time periods.
Much of the ancient knowledge
of the elephant stemmed from a practical need to maintain elephants in
captivity, and train and deploy them in large numbers in the battlefield; thus
these aspects are covered in depth in texts such as the Hastyarurveda and Hastividyarnava.
During the colonial period, the development of European veterinary science
contributed to the advancement of the science of the elephant, drawing upon
both ancient knowledge and modern biology, the motivation coming from the need
to maintain elephants for logging the rich tropical forests of
E-mail: [email protected]
Tarsh Thekaekara [Shola Trust, Nilgiris and
Open University]
Abstract:
Over the course of the last year, we have
been working with local communities and forest department field staff in
the Nilgiris, to get them to identify and relate to individual elephants
rather than the species has a whole. We developed the relevant training
material to identify individuals based on physical characteristics, but found
local people already have intimate knowledge of some of the charismatic
elephants that are well known in the region. I present some of these stories of
individual elephant personalities, and discuss the wider implication of this
work for elephant ethnographies.
CV: I have been working with The Shola Trust for the last 8
years, mostly at the interface of people and wildlife. I have been more actively
interested in and studying the human-elephant interactions for the last five
years. I am currently enrolled in a part time PhD programme at the British Open
University, focussing on the plurality in interactions between wild
elephants and people. I have an undergraduate degree in physics and a masters degree in biodiversity, conservation and
management.
E-mail: [email protected]
_______________________________
Thomas R. Trautmann [
Abstract: Elephants differ from other domestic animals in that they are
captured as wild adults, one by one through the ages, and then trained for
work. For this reason Indian kings using war elephants need wild elephants and
forests as a military store. Kings were enjoined from killing elephants except
those of the enemy in battle; they acted to protect wild elephants from killing
by others; and hunted them to capture and train them, not to kill them for
sport. Shooting an elephant was rare, except to kill a domestic elephant on a
rampage and threatening human life, such stories being the true precedent for
George Orwell's famous essay. This pattern was adopted by Turkish
and Mughal rulers, and by the British East India Company, until the
early nineteenth century, whereupon a mighty slaughter for sport hunting
commenced, which came under government curbs before the end of the century.
Though much diminished, the population of wild Asian elephants in
CV: Thomas R. Trautmann is Professor Emeritus of History and
Anthropology of the
E-mail: [email protected]
_______________________________
Presenter: Abi Tamim Vanak
Authors: Abi Tamin Vanak,
Maria Thaker and Rob Slotow [Ashoka Trust for Research
in Ecology and the Environment; Indian Institute of Science;
Abstract: Conservation of a megaherbivore, such as the African and
Asian elephant is wrought with challenges throughout the world. Many of these
challenges are caused by the conflict between humans and elephants. In
CVs: Pending
(1) Ashoka Trust for Research in
Ecology and the Environment, (2) Indian Institute of Science, (3)
E-mails:
_____________________________
Sreedhar Vijayakrishnan (1,
2), Anindya Sinha1, (2)
[Indian Institute of Science,
Abstract: In the centuries-old classic Matangalila, the
sage Nilakantha describes the ponderings of Palakapya on the
agony of elephants held captive by the king Romapada, as part of his
conflict-mitigation strategies. Romapada's question "What can I
do?" in the context of human-elephant interactions still holds true,
centuries later, as we continue to argue over ways to deal with this
increasingly larger-than-life problem. The Palakapyan debates on
elephant welfare are of particular relevance to Kerala, a southern Indian
state, where elephants – formerly living symbols of pride and pomp – are
revered as cultural and religious icons and, of late, as celebrities. With the
rise in the celebrity status of elephants and their increasing fanfare, there
is heightened competition among people who own and manage elephants, leading to
a drastic decline in the welfare of the elephants themselves. They are
money-spinners today, shuttling across the state to be paraded at festivals, in
the name of God, leading to a slow abjection of a traditional practice. In this
paper we examine the transformations, over time, of the human-elephant
relationship in captivity, as influenced by historic and recent processes, and
explore how it has influenced the lives of both protagonists, particularly in
contemporary contexts.
CV: My deep interest in elephant behaviour, especially in human-modified
landscapes, led to a Master's degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation,
wherein I investigated behavioural and physiological stress in Asian elephants
in a human-dominated landscape in the
(1) National Institute of Advanced
Studies,
(2) Nature Conservation Foundation,
E-mails: [email protected]
_____________________________________________________________
Conference chair:
William Clarence-Smith [SOAS, University of London]
Conference organiser: Ed
Emery [SOAS, University of London]
For all inquiries regarding the conference, please write to
E-mail: [email protected]
_________________________
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
* Conferences organised by the Interdisciplinary Animal Studies Initiative
[IASI], School of Oriental and African Studies [SOAS], University of London.
Website:
www.geocities.ws/soasanimalstudies
_____________________________________________________________
Last updated: 10 May 2021