Shared Ecosystems: Animals, Humans, & the Environment in South Asia

Participation de Nicolas Lainé le 8 novembre à 10h30 et le 9 novembre à 10h30  (heures locales) 

This workshop continues the project of correcting a long-standing gap in scholarship that has largely brought human-centered assumptions to the study of history, art history, anthropology, cultures, and our environs. The not-so-recent turn to deep ecological history and animal studies is long overdue for the study of South Asia, a few exceptions notwithstanding. The scholarly output of this workshop’s participants represents years of research fully focused on animals and the environment as closely allied with, impacting on, and involved in historical developments, technologies, knowledge systems, shared ecologies, and ways of understanding. Topics addressed will include human-animal relations, megafauna in relation to human-altered environments, ambiguous animal usage for laboring animals, ecologies of water in historical perspective, the role of history in understanding present day ecologies and human-animal encounters, and the question of animal involvement in international trade networks. Scholars in our workshop regularly utilize Malayalam, Sanskrit, Khamti, Assamese, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Marathi, and other languages to carry out their work on the complex ecologies and animals that have made up the South Asian world.  

This conference is free and open to UT and the general public.

A hybrid option is available for those who cannot attend in-person. Please register at the link below.

More information  https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/southasia/events/

Sponsored by: South Asia Institute (UT-Austin) and Department of History (UT-Austin)

Location: (Hybrid) Meyerson Conference Room, WCH 4.118 (UT-Austin)

• Thursday November 7 

https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/southasia/events/shared-ecosystems-animals-humans-the-environment-in-south-asia

• Friday November 8 

https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/southasia/events/shared-ecosystems-animals-humans-the-environment-in-south-asia-2

Zoom Registration

Schedule

10 AM-10:45 AM:

« India’s Rivers, Dams, and Wildlife: Exploring the Balance Between Nature and Development » with Aashna Sharma (10 AM-10:30 AM talk ; 10:30 AM Q&A) 

10:45 AM- 11 AM:

Coffee break 

11 AM- 11:45 AM:

“Decolonizing health knowledge using a ‘One Health’ framework: insights from Local and Animal Knowledge in Disease Treatment in Laos” with Nicolas Lainé (11 AM-11:30 AM talk ; 11:30 AM  Q&A)

11:15 AM-12 PM:

Open discussion, continued Q&A

12:00 PM- 1 PM:

Lunch

1 PM- 1:45 PM:

“Becoming Donkeys: Sharing Vulnerability in Pakistan” with Muhammad Kavesh (1 PM-1:30 PM talk; 1:30 PM Q&A)

1:45 PM- 2:30 PM:

« Gajakesariyogam: Elephants, Humans, and the Exceptionalism Narrative of Kerala » with Anu Karippal (1:45 PM-2:15 PM talk; 2:15 PM Q&A)

2:30 PM-3:15 PM:

« Freshwater Megafauna of India: Do We Know Enough to Shape Policy? » with Aashna Sharma (2:30 PM-3 PM talk; 3 PM Q&A)

3:15 PM-3:30 PM:

Open discussion, continued Q&A

3:30 PM-4:15 PM:

Coffee Break

4:15 PM-5 PM:

« Humans, Machines, Microbes: Experiments with Decentralized Wastewater Treatment and Reuse in India »

Book discussion & wrap-up by Sumit Guha & Kelly Alley

• Saturday November 9 

https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/southasia/events/shared-ecosystems-animals-humans-the-environment-in-south-asia-3

Zoom Registration

Schedule

10 AM-10:45 AM:

« India’s Rivers, Dams, and Wildlife: Exploring the Balance Between Nature and Development » with Aashna Sharma (10 AM-10:30 AM talk ; 10:30 AM Q&A) 

10:45 AM- 11 AM:

Coffee break 

10:30 AM- 11:15 AM:

“Ethnohistorical Approach to Elephant Management in the Brahmaputra: Parallel Elephant Management Systems & Human Settlements in the Face of Conservation Efforts” with Nicolas Lainé (10:30 AM-11 AM talk; 11 AM Q&A)

11:45 AM-12:45 PM:

« How China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Shapes Life on the Margins » with Muhammad Kavesh (11:45 AM - 12:15 PM talk ; 12:30 PM Q&A)

12:45 PM-1 PM:

Wrap-up final questions for speakers / Open conversation 

1 PM:

Box lunch