Please join us for a Seminar on " Crooked Cats: Beastly Tales from India" by Dr. Nayanika Mathur, Oxford University to be held on Thursday,15 September 2022, 6:30- 7:45 PM (IST).

Click to Join (Zoom Link:) or  https://zoom.us/j/96281361068?pwd=eDRzaEdjTHZxb05JcUpBU3QzZGxSUT09

Abstract:

This talk weaves together beastly tales of big cats that make prey of humans in India to ask what they may be telling us about a planet in crisis. These tales of crooked cats have been collected over the past 15 years, largely from the Indian Himalayas. There are many theories on why and how a big cat comes to prey on humans, with the ecological collapse emerging as a central explanatory factor. Yet, uncertainty over the precise cause of crookedness persists. This talk explores the many lived complexities that arise from this absence of certain knowledge to offer new insights into both the governance of nonhuman animals and their intimate entanglements with humans. It deploys ethnographic storytelling to explain the Anthropocene in three critical ways: as a method, as a way of reframing human-nonhuman relations on the planet, and as a political tool indicating the urgency of academic engagement.