Ep 20 – Nepal’s Elephants – Complex Lives

In this episode, we discuss the challenges facing captive elephants and mahouts working in tourism within the small country of Nepal. Our guest today is co-host Dr. Michelle Szydlowski, who has spent the last decade focused on pachyderms, ecotourism, and conservation.  

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PodCrew 

Dr Kris Hill PhD Candidate, University of Exeter kh458@exeter.ac.uk  https://katzenlife.wordpress.com/     

Dr. Michelle Szydlowski Assistant Professor at Beacon College, US ms835@exeter.ac.uk   www.internationalelephants.org   

Sarah Oxley Heaney PhD Student, University of Exeter  sh750@exeter.ac.uk  www.kissingsharks.com  

References and further reading  

Acharya, K.P., Acharya, N. and Wilson, R.T. (2019) Animal Welfare in Nepal. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 22(4): 342-356. https: //doi.org/10.1080/10888705.2018.1519437  

Agrawal, A. (1995) Dismantling the Divide Between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge. Development and Change. 26(3): 413-439. https: //doi.org/10.1111/j.1467- 7660.1995.tb00560.x  

Barua, M. (2017), Nonhuman labour, encounter value, spectacular accumulation: the geographies of a lively commodity. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 42: 274-288. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12170  

Bhandari, K. (2012). Tourism or Conservation? A Controversy in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. In Controversies in Tourism, O. Moufakkir and P.M. Burns, eds. Ebook. CABI. https: //www.cabi.org/cabebooks/ebook/20113399890  

Rizzolo, J. and Bradshaw, G. (2016) Prevalence and Patterns of Complex PTSD in Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus). Asian Elephants in Culture & Nature. No issue number.  Saha, J. (2017) Colonizing elephants: animal agency, undead capital and imperial science in British Burma. BJHS Themes. 2: 169-189. https: //doi.org/10.1017/bjt.2017.6 

Szydlowski, M. 2022 Asking Consent from Pachyderm Persons: Facing Ethical Complexities in Multispecies Research. In Animal Life and Human Culture: Anthrozoology Studies. I. Frasin, G. Bodi, S. Bulei, C.D. Vasiliu (eds.). Cluj-Napoca: Presa Unviersitara Clujeana (Cluj University Press).  

Szydlowski, M., Hill, K., Oxley Heaney, S., Hooper, J. 2022 Domestication and domination: human terminology as a tool for controlling otherthanhuman animal bodies. TRACE: Journal for Human-Animal Studies. 8(1). https://doi.org/10.23984/fjhas.110388  Szydlowski, M. 2022. Elephants in Nepal: correlating disease, tourism, and welfare. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science. 25 (2): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888705.2022.2028628  

Szydlowski, M. 2021. Framing Conservation, Colonialism and Care: Captive Endangered Elephants (Elephas maximus) in Nepal. PhD Thesis. United Kingdom: University of Exeter. Available via: Open Research Exeter at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/127765

Hosted by three postgraduate researchers, The Anthrozoology Podcast is a place for early career researchers to discuss current topics in the field.

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