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SUMMARY:The Political Ecologies of Urban Macaques in India - Anindya Sinha
 \, Indian Institute of Science
DTSTART:20191119T130000Z
DTEND:20191119T140000Z
UID:TALK127705@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Peadar Brehony
DESCRIPTION:Urbanisation is at the forefront of the challenges that India 
 and several other nations of the Global South confront in the 21st century
 . Urban poverty is on the rise and rapid urbanisation is seriously outstri
 pping most cities’ capacities to provide adequate infrastructure for the
 ir teeming millions.  A neglected dimension of urban governance concerns n
 onhuman life in cities. New Delhi\, for instance\, has 12\,000 stray cattl
 e\, 4\,00\,000 feral dogs and 9\,000 wild monkeys — a situation similar 
 to that in many other Indian cities. Although this is a major contemporary
  governance challenge\, adequate frameworks to understand human-animal rel
 ations and design effective policies to manage potential conflict are seri
 ously lacking in urban India. In this talk\, I identify three areas of int
 erdisciplinary rapprochement between nonhuman ethno-ethologies and human-d
 riven political ecologies that are likely to have direct bearings on how I
 ndian cities might be better governed. The first pertains to urban metabol
 ism – the new ecologies of nonhuman life configured by the availability 
 of provisioned food and waste. The second involves questions on space – 
 the diverse ways through which animals territorialise\, transgress and uns
 ettle urban orders. The third entails an expanded notion of politics\, eme
 rging through conflicts between people\, animals\, the state and instituti
 ons governing them. I will suggest how this trilogy can be addressed throu
 gh etho-geographical studies of urban macaques\, highlighting their entang
 lement with three facets of urban governance: access to the city\, livelih
 oods and public health. In conclusion\, I will reflect upon the critical i
 mportance of such interdisciplinary conversations for a wider rethinking o
 f ‘who’ poses challenges and ‘what’ constitutes the urban in conte
 mporary India.
LOCATION:Hardy Building 101 (first floor)\, Downing Site\, Cambridge
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