Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Interspecies politics in Himalayan borderlands from the mid-nineteenth century to the present

Project description

How interspecies politics shaped identities in Himalayan borderlands

The combined effects of climate change and geopolitical tensions are creating new, competing claims by humans and non-humans over fragile Himalayan ecologies. International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) study animal-human conflicts but often neglect historical, cultural, and political dimensions, limiting sustainable solutions for indigenous communities and their non-human cohabitants. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the INTERSPECBORD project examines how interspecies politics have historically shaped the movement and identities of human and animal entities in the South Asian Himalayan borderlands, from the mid-19th century colonial period to the present. The project investigates how different assemblages of ideas, technologies, people, and animals move across space and create new bordering practices, including hybrid identities and novel ways of establishing control over borderland spaces.

Objective

Climate change, escalating geopolitical tensions, and domestic civil unrest have multiplied the claims made on Himalayan territories cohabited by animals and humans in the name of security, conservation, and development. Hence, the study of human-animal conflicts has become a major area of focus for International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) like the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). Despite their efforts, scholars point out that current approaches by INGOs discount the interconnected nature of historical, cultural, and political dimensions of human-animal interactions, which limits their ability to create sustainable and just solutions to the ongoing processes of political, ecological, and economic transitions for indigenous communities and their non-human cohabitants, both in the Himalaya, as well as across the globe.

INTERSPECBORD examines how interspecies politics historically shape the mobility and identities of human and animal bodies in South Asian Himalayan borderlands from the colonial period in the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Rather than approaching this subject from the perspective of the ‘global south’ or ‘global north,’ this project will emphasise the role of circulation and the ways that different assemblages of ideas, technologies, people, and animals move across space and how historical encounters between these assemblages both shape and are shaped by Himalayan borderland places and ecologies. Against this historical background, this project will investigate how human and non-human species co-produce new bordering practices, which includes hybrid identities, practices of social differentiation, and novel ways of establishing control over borderland spaces. Methodologically, INTERSPECBORD is an interdisciplinary project combining historical research inspired by postcolonial approaches with multispecies ethnography.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 203 464,32
Address
MINDERBROEDERSBERG 4
6200 MD Maastricht
Netherlands

See on map

Region
Zuid-Nederland Limburg (NL) Zuid-Limburg
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0