From Tiger Victim to Conservation Hero

Name: From Tiger Victim to Conservation Hero
Start: 2025-03-04T15:00:00+05:45
End: 2025-03-04T16:30:00+05:45
Location: Post Box 13470, 27 Jeet Jung Marg Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal 44600

Schedule

Tue Mar 04 2025 at 03:00 pm to 04:30 pm

UTC+05:45

Location

Post Box 13470, 27 Jeet Jung Marg Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal 44600 | Kathmandu, BA

Research Seminar Series
Title:
From Tiger Victim to Conservation Hero: Understanding the Rebuilding Process of Wildlife Attack Survivors in Bardiya National Park
Speaker:
Nolwen Vouiller, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, EHESS-Paris, France and ULiège, Belgium
Date, Time and Venue:
4 March 2025/२० फागुन २०८१ (मंगलबार, दिउँसो ३ बजे)
Martin Chautari Seminar Hall, Thapathali, Kathmandu
LIVE:
www.fb.com/martinchautari.f
www.youtube.com/mchautari
Abstract:
On 6 January 2004, at the end of the Maoist rebellion, Bhadai Tharu was attacked by a tiger in the Khata Corridor Forest, south-west Nepal, on the border with India; he had been elected chairperson of this forest six months earlier. Due to this ‘sudden encounter’ (jamkā-bhet), in which he lost an eye, his life changed completely, apparently for the better. Regarded as a "conservation hero" by various media, foreigners and locals, and receiving visits from legendary actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Rajesh Hamal, Bhadai Tharu has rapidly become someone whom anyone interested in narratives of animal attacks around Bardiya National Park has to meet. With his lively stories and songs that leave a strong impression on those who listen to him, Bhadai embodies the resilience and the unconditional "love" that we have towards wildlife. Based on the interview I conducted with him in November 2021, on what has been published about him in several media sources and on what some informants have to say about his story, I analyse a process of heroisation and the choice of "giving blood" to conservation endeavours. This narrative echoes many other encounters that have occurred in Bardiya since 2019 and might be the case of many more to come.
About the Speaker:
Nolwen Vouiller has a state diploma in psychomotricity (Santé Sorbonne Université, Paris) as well as a master’s degree in anthropology (University Catholique of Louvain, Belgium). She is affiliated with the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS, Paris) and Liege University (ULiege, Belgium) that funds her work. Her research examines human-animal encounters in Bardiya National Park, Nepal, with a particular focus on emotional and bodily responses. As a singer and musician, she also integrates artistic methods into her work, particularly for data collection and restitution. She is a member of the Multispecies Ethnography and Artistic Methods (MEAM) Network as well as associated to the Centre for South Asian and Himalayan Studies (CESAH), among other institutions or associations (LAS, LASC, RCN, RICEVE, Rés-EAUx, APP).