In many parts of India, human – wildlife conflict (HWC) is increasing because of socio-ecological factors such as habitat fragmentation and the growth of tourism. This surge is a novel multidimensional phenomenon that raises questions about how conflict is narrated and how futures of living with wildlife are reimagined. This essay examines eco-theatre as a cultural practice that can simultaneously perform and teach new ways of engaging with human – wildlife relations. Two eco-theatre performances by school children in Wayanad, Kerala are analysed to explore how they open dialogue with communities living alongside wildlife by dramatising ecological change while also staging conceptual deliberation on interspecies encounters. Eco-theatre, I argue, not only functions as a cultural form that contributes to broader critical debates on coexistence and eco-reconciliation in the Anthropocene but also makes visible the violence that constitutes human – wildlife conflict at local levels.
Susan Haris (Fri,) studied this question.