Elephant Conservation and Society in India Encounters, Spaces and Politics

The Asian elephant is an endangered species and a cultural icon in both Asia and the West, while in India it is both deified and demonized. Human-elephant encounters and relationships are the focus of this book, which shows how these are politicized and pose challenges for rural development and conservation. The bookcontributes to debates about nature and society in the emerging fieldof ‘animal geographies’ and points to ways in which theory developed in this field can invigorate and develop conservation practice. It develops a nuanced understanding of the notion of interspecies encounters and human relationships to the animal world. It draws from a sustained ethnography of human-elephant conflict andco-operationin India to address key questions at the interface of biodiversity conservation, animal and development geographies. The author also addresses the history and contemporary politics of Asian elephant conservation, including howthe elephant is caught up in international networks of conservation and governance. He concludes by showing how these debates could suggest novel ways of practising biodiversity conservation and rethinking human-animal relations.

1. Introduction 2. Encounter Value and Lively Capital 3. Elephants, Empire and Empiricism 4. The Rise of Elephant Conservation in India 5. Between Gods and Demons: Culture and Elephants 6. Brewing Conflict: Tea, Elephants and Politics in Northeast India 7. The Hidden Impacts of Human-Elephant Conflict: Development, Wellbeing and Conservation 8. The Cosmopolitan Elephant 9. Constructing Connectivity: Corridors and Conservation 10. Conclusion: Animals are Good to Practice

Maan Barua is a DPhil Scholar in the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, UK. He has a degree in zoology from Dibrugarh University, Assam, India