Rewilding expectations : human-environmental relations in context of apex predator reintroduction in Rajasthan, India

This dissertation considers hidden dimensions of human-tiger relations between people who live in and adjacent to Sariska Tiger Reserve (Sariska), Rajasthan, India and the population of reintroduced tigers. While translocation of wild animals in India is not new, Sariska provides a relevant and high profile case study for examining the re-introduction of a charismatic carnivore as the site of the first tiger reintroduction in the world. This research demonstrates how human dimensions of reintroductions can be studied from a social science perspective to further our understanding of tolerance and intolerance towards reintroductions in the developing world. First, it is imperative to understand past human-wildlife relations and how those relations are re-negotiated spatially by people and predators. Secondly, it is critical to examine hidden costs from human-wildlife interactions, costs explicitly borne by women. And third, to consider these histories, re-negotiations, and hidden costs together to see their formative influences in perceptions of reintroduction benefits and negatives. This is accomplished through three field seasons (summers of 2014 and 2015; winter 2016-2017) utilizing 52 Focus Group Discussions as the primary data. The findings suggest that people’s experiences with Sariska’s original tigers impact their expectations, tolerance, and perceptions of the reintroduced tigers and the conservation policies directed at their conservation. Further, the findings argue women may suffer domestic abuse as a result of complex relationships between patriarchal society, gendered labor roles, and tiger presence. These hidden costs then influence women’s perception of benefits and negatives of tiger reintroduction. The hidden costs women endure and the consequential disparity in gendered perceptions, men perceiving more benefits and far fewer negatives than women, is a shortcoming that should be redressed with policy as well as communication strategies by conservation practitioners. This is an area of commonality between human rights groups looking for ways to improve women’s well-being and livelihoods that if addressed would also benefit the reintroduction of tigers to Sariska. To build these arguments, I integrate research from animal geographies, feminist political ecology, conservation social science and human geography. Adding to these literatures, this dissertation broadens the scope of social science examinations of apex predator reintroductions, and human-environmental geographies by incorporating theoretical frameworks and qualitative methods to provide new social-environmental knowledge and areas of inquiry.Geography and the Environmen