Composing Worlds with Elephants : Interdisciplinary dialogues

Abstract

Composing Worlds with Elephants is an interdisciplinary dialogue exploring the historical, social, and ecological entanglement of humans and elephants, a thousands of years old interspecies connection that is multi-dimensional, ambivalent, and always changing. Focusing largely on elephants and peoples across Asia, the research in this volume addresses key issues in the study of their relationship including: dimensions of co-existence, cultures of elephant husbandry, and animal agency. Chapters expand how we conceptualize and study elephants, offering ideas that might also help us live better with these endangered animals. Academic texts are supported by visual contributions from three acclaimed guest artists, original visions that enrich our understanding of human-elephant worlds. Composing Worlds with Elephants is of value to researchers of human-animal relations across the humanities, social and natural sciences, as well as conservationists and an engaged public interested in exploring new perspectives on humanity’s connection with these charismatic giants.