Forest of Tigers

Jalais, Annu

doi:10.4324/9780203085516

Cited by 47 publications

(50 citation statements)

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“…Whilst the majority of interviewees believed in the existence of tiger shaman, contrary to expectations, we did not identify any commonly cited customary laws specific to the tiger [ 37 ]. Further, we did not identify any locally perceived Islamic teachings specific to tigers and their protection, other than it falls under the wider Khalfia principle of human stewardship over all natural things created by God [ 16 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Tolerating tigers: Gaining local and spiritual perspectives on human-tiger interactions in Sumatra through rural community interviews

et al. 2018

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Religious beliefs and spiritual connections to biodiversity have the potential to reduce animosity towards wildlife that might otherwise present a real or perceived threat to local people. Understanding this social dynamic can therefore be important for formulating locally-appropriate species-specific conservation strategies. Using semi-structured interviews which incorporated human-tiger conflict scenarios, we investigated how beliefs towards tigers varied between ethnic groups living around a large protected area that is home to the largest tiger population in Sumatra. We gathered this information to determine the degree to which cultural tolerance may contribute to the survival of the tiger in the Kerinci Seblat landscape, Indonesia. From 154 interviewees, 133 respondents came from three main ethnic groups, Minangkabau, Kerincinese and Melayu. The majority (73.5%) of Minangkabau interviewees cited that their ethnic group had customary laws regarding tigers, as did 52% of Melayu and 44% of Kerincinese. Irrespective of ethnicity, most participants did not perceive there to be a connection between Islam and tigers. All participants acknowledged the existence of zoological tigers and two groups (Minangkabau and Kerincinese) held a strong common belief that different types of spirit tigers also existed. From presenting different human-tiger conflict scenarios, with varying levels of severity towards livestock or human life, an unprovoked tiger attack in the village elicited the most calls for the tiger to be killed. Yet, if a village or family member was killed by a tiger whilst hunting in the forest then most respondents across all ethnic groups said to do nothing. The frequency of this response increased if a tiger killed someone in the village who had committed adultery, reflecting beliefs associated with the role of the tiger as an enforcer of moral rule. Our study highlights the importance of consulting with local communities who live in close proximity to large and potentially dangerous carnivores when developing conflict mitigation strategies, which hitherto has not been the case in Sumatra.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Tolerating tigers: Gaining local and spiritual perspectives on human-tiger interactions in Sumatra through rural community interviews

et al. 2018

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“…Kirksey and Helmreich 2010 ; Hurn 2012 ; Hutton 2015 ; Friedmann et al. 2013 ; Jadhav and Barua 2012 ; Jalais 2010 ; Kelly and Lezaun 2014 ). Furthermore, anthrozoological research specifically concerned with animal-assisted therapies has begun to flourish.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It just opens up their world’: autism, empathy, and the therapeutic effects of equine interactions

Malcolm

Ecks

Pickersgill

2017

Anthropology & Medicine

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Experiences of autism-spectrum disorder are now increasingly studied by social scientists. Human–animal relations have also become a major focus of social inquiry in recent years. Examining horse-assisted therapy for autistic spectrum disorders, this is the first paper that brings these fields together. Drawing on participant observation and interviews at a UK horse therapy Centre, this article examines how staff and the parents of riders account for the successes and limitations of equine therapy. To the respondents, horses ‘open up’ autistic children and make possible interactions that seemed impossible before. Horses were regarded as facilitating the emergence of apparently social behaviours, which included eye contact, pointing, and speech. Three key explanations emerged for therapeutic success: the sensorial, embodied experience of riding the horse; the specific movements and rhythms of the horse; and, the ‘personality’ of the horse. Equine therapy can be regarded as enabling a form of multispecies intersubjectivity, with the resonance between rider and horse seeming to make possible a new attunement between humans. Practices of equine therapy, and perceptions of its efficacy, serve in turn to attune social scientists to a version of empathy constituted through lively and sensorial interactions, as opposed to one that is restricted to particular kinds of humans.

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“…82 This belief is deeply ingrained in their social and cultural life. 83 The cult of Bonobibi and the Tiger God Dakkhin Ray 84 offer a strong psychological defense and dependence to overcome the daily struggle with life in the difficult terrain of Sundarban. This ethos and psychic conviction is well illustrated in the most common prayer of the forest goers: “Otho otho Ma Bonbibi, tomar namey baralam pa/Amar ei lokjoner opor je debe gha, tarey tui dhore dhore kha”.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecopsychosocial Aspects of Human–Tiger Conflict: An Ethnographic Study of Tiger Widows of Sundarban Delta, India

Chowdhury

Mondal²,

Brahma³

et al. 2016

Environ�Health�Insights

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AIMSHuman–tiger conflict (HTC) is a serious public health issue in Sundarban Reserve Forest, India. HTC is a continued concern for the significant mortality and morbidity of both human and tiger population. This is the first comprehensive report on Sundarban tiger–human conflicts and its impact on widows whose husbands were killed by tigers. The study attempts to explore the situation analysis of HTC and the aftermath of the incident including bereavement and coping, the cultural stigma related to being killed by a tiger and the consequent discrimination, deprivation, and social rejection, and the impact on the mental health of the tiger-widows.METHODSThis is a three-phase ethnographic research with a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. In the first phase, a door-to-door village survey (3,084 households) was carried out in two villages of Sundarban, which are adjacent to the Reserve Forest, in which the incidents of human–animal conflicts and the 65 tiger-widows identified were documented. In the second phase, the 65 tiger-widows were studied to explore the ecodemography of tiger attacks and tiger-widows alongside the stigma issue by using a stigma questionnaire (n = 49). The stigma burden was compared with normal widows (n = 21) and snake-bite widows (n = 18). In the third phase, the psychosocial and cultural dimensions related to tiger attacks were studied by using in-depth interviews (IDI) of the tiger-widows, focus-group discussions (FGD), and participatory mapping in the community. Clinical examinations of the mental health of the widows were also carried out in this phase.RESULTSThe mean age of the 65 widows was 43.49 ± 9.58 years. Of this, 12.3% of the widows had remarried and only 4.6% of the widows were literate. In all, 67.2% of all tiger attacks occurred as a result of illegal forest entry. The main livelihood of the former husbands of the widows were 43.8% wood cutting, 28.1% fishing, 10.9% crab catching, 9.4% tiger prawn seed (juvenile prawn), and 4.7% honey collection. The maximum number of attacks took place in the months of December (24.6%) and November (13.9%). The majority of incidences happened during the morning hours (47.7%) of the day. Of the cases, 86.1% were attacked while the person was engaged in livelihood activity. In all, 57.4% widows are recorded as living “below the poverty line”. Currently, 45.5% widows earn their living by laboring work followed by forest-based livelihood activities (30%) and begging (5.2%). Tiger-widows differed significantly (P < 0.001) from both normal and snake-bite widows on all stigma cluster scores and the total score. Of the tiger-widows, 44% were shown to be suffering from some designated mental illness. IDIs and FGDs helped to unfold the cultural construct of stigma related to tiger-killing. This can be seen in how the tiger-widows’ quality of life has been negatively impacted in the way their economic and social security, health, remarriage opportunities, and child upbringing is restricted, along with a multitude of posttrauma psychological sca...

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Forest of Tigers

Cited by 47 publications

References 0 publications

Tolerating tigers: Gaining local and spiritual perspectives on human-tiger interactions in Sumatra through rural community interviews

Tolerating tigers: Gaining local and spiritual perspectives on human-tiger interactions in Sumatra through rural community interviews

‘It just opens up their world’: autism, empathy, and the therapeutic effects of equine interactions

Ecopsychosocial Aspects of Human–Tiger Conflict: An Ethnographic Study of Tiger Widows of Sundarban Delta, India

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