Multispecies South Asia

A wide range of other-than-human subjects—animals, plants, microbes, among others—animate contemporary South Asian lived experiences. Relationships formed across species boundaries— whether brief or long-lasting, utilitarian or altruistic— are imbricated in  the intersectional operations of race, caste, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and indigeneity. From quotidian instances of touching, witnessing, and other forms of interacting with other-than-human subjects to exceptional, contextually specific use of them to bolster anthropocentric concerns, the ubiquity of multispecies coexistence is uncontested. 

How can we rethink the political and ethical repercussions of multispecies coexistence in the contexts of interwoven social and environmental transformations in contemporary South Asia? To what extent are entanglement, enmeshment, co-constitution, and related concepts used to interpret the interdependence and/or interconnections of human and nonhuman concerns applicable in the context of contemporary South Asia? What new analytics might environmental humanities scholarship adopt to address the potential limitations of these concepts? How might we redefine the ethics of multispecies coexistence in addressing the inequalities that characterize South Asian social, cultural, and economic circumstances? This panel will focus on papers that interrogate these and related questions through literary, cinematic, and artistic explorations of multispecies relationality in contemporary South Asia.

Please send an abstract of 250-300 words with a brief bio to Sreyashi Ray (rayxx356@umn.edu) and Thakshala Tissera (ttissera@umass.edu)  by 31st March 2024. Selected papers will be submitted as a panel proposal to the 52nd Annual Conference on South Asia to be held in Madison, WI. in person from October 30 to November 2, 2024. 

Conference link: https://southasiaconference.wisc.edu/