http://dspace.bits-pilani.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/1926 2026-04-01T13:44:11Z http://dspace.bits-pilani.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/19395 Title: Indifference: On the praxis of interspecies being By Naisargi Davé. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2023. 208 pp. Authors: Haris, Susan Abstract: At the heart of Naisargi Davé’s latest book, Indifference: On the Praxis of Interspecies Being, lies a simple question—can an ethics of indifference offer a kind of relationality different from what is commonly invoked in multispecies anthropology today? Davé argues early in the introduction that curiosity and entanglement, as evidenced in the work of Donna Haraway, have always been dear to anthropology in understanding the other—the animal other, the cultural other, the human other—and that these attitudinal stances variously involve transparency, conquest, and ingestion. The book prescribes an immanent ethics that at crucial points turns to the idioms of Deleuze (“difference,” “plane of immanence”), though this notion is reminiscent of Derrida (1991) in “Eating Well,” where he famously resists championing animal activism or prescribing veganism by emphasizing the symbolic violence that accompanies even the most well-meaning position with regard to animals. Indifference is suspicious of neat ethical propositions, but it is not marked by that Derridean kind of ambivalence. This is a moving meditation on animal ethics in contemporary India, where “indifference” is theorized as an interspecies relational ethic of mutual regard or as a form of mutually existing-in-difference rather than seeking to grasp and master the other. The text is loosely structured and intermittently adopts a memoiristic tone, extending a narrative initiated in her debut work Queer Activism in India: A Story in the Anthropology of Ethics. In Indifference, Davé continues to trace her family's lineage, from her position as the eldest daughter of Gujarati Brahmins in America to her queer becoming, exploring its intersections with an immanent ethics of action that can transcend context and framework. There is a rippling tension in Davé’s focus on animal activism in India. Even as the reader understands Davé’s theoretical point about surrendering to the call of the animal without invasive curiosity, readers are presented with the ethos of passionate immersion evinced by animal activists, or “animalists,” as she refers to them. Therefore, “indifference” emerges as a concept so capacious that it indicates a radical praxis of interspecies being, as evidenced in her invocation of Édouard Glissant's right to opacity. “Indifference,” however, cannot entirely preclude an anthropocentric ethics of care, as upheld by the true protagonists of Indifference—the animal activists (not animals). 2024-09-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.bits-pilani.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/19394 Title: Can bulls be cyborgs? unmaking the logics of dispensability Authors: Haris, Susan Abstract: I had come to study wild boars in Wayanad in Kerala in 2023 because I had heard that wild boar-human conflict is increasing. Since Wayanad is a fertile terrain, agriculture is the mainstay of the people; however, increasing agricultural activity has caused habitat degradation, forcing animals to venture into human habitations in search of food. The same could not be said about the cows that belonged to the hostel I stayed in. There were nine cows in total—seven cows and two calves who demanded my equal attention every day. Both calves were, unfortunately, male, and it was disconcerting to know that their fate was predetermined, even though they were young, affectionate and curious about the world. Since they were going to be slaughtered, they did not even receive the dignity of names. The absence of names indicated their foreclosed fate. This essay explores the status of bulls in contemporary India, questioning whether they can be regarded as posthumanist creatures or cyborgs. It critically examines the potential of a posthumanist sensibility in framing them as taurine subjects. In doing so, it challenges the traditional binary narrative that confines their existence to either artificial insemination or slaughter. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.bits-pilani.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/19393 Title: Wayanad’s Makara Dragon Authors: Haris, Susan Abstract: I wrote this poem after visiting a Jain temple in Sultan Bathery during my fieldwork on human- wild boar conflict in Wayanad, Kerala. Sultan Bathery was the ammunition centre (Sultan: king; battery: ammunition store) for Tipu Sultan, of Kingdom of Mysore when he invaded Wayanad in the 18th century. Jain philosophy is renowned for its nonviolent approach to living with animals, and Wayanad, a forested district in Kerala, has seen human-wildlife conflict escalate over the last few years. My poem explores this juxtaposition. The Jain temple had several animal figures, the most important being the makara, who is the protagonist of the poem. The makara is a mythical dragon-like creature seen in Jain temples, believed to embody a good soldier because they possess the best attributes of several animals. As human-wildlife conflict continues to rise, social and print media report daily about the destruction of human property and provide detailed accounts of human loss and suffering. What do animals think of coexistence? This poem poeticises animal subjectivity, even as they are trapped in hierarchies of power and stone in history 2024-05-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.bits-pilani.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/19392 Title: The disasterification of human–wildlife conflict: policy implications and ethical considerations Authors: Haris, Susan Abstract: Human–wildlife conflict (HWC) is increasingly recognized as a critical socio-political issue in Kerala, South India. In response to the rise in HWC, the Kerala government classified it as a state-specific disaster, a move that significantly impacts wildlife conservation efforts and policy development. “Disasterification” or designating situations as disasters to mobilize emergency measures and administrative responses alter management and response strategies, often leading to negative outcomes for either wildlife or people. There are administrative and financial benefits of declaring human–wildlife conflict (HWC) as a disaster. However, there are also important ethical considerations, including anthropocentrism and the influence of disasterification on public perception and policy responses toward wildlife conservation and coexistence. Disasterification often portrays any human–wildlife interaction as dangerous, leading to extreme measures against wildlife deemed aberrant. 2025-06-01T00:00:00Z