Within or Outside the Boundaries: Exploring the Intricacies of Human-Elephant Relationship in Tania James’s Novel The Tusk That Did the Damage

Abstract

Despite the fact that Human geography has long studied landscapes in relation to human identity, experience, intentions, and relationships, a change in the epistemology of spatial discourse has led to a shift in how landscapes are now defined in terms of the presence of human-animal relationships in particular locations. This study comprehends the subtle nuances of human-animal relationships by re-conceptualizing the understanding of spaces and places and negotiates the question of how the fictional elephant Gravedigger becomes known for reorganizing spaces. Based on the semiotics of literary geography and animal geography this research territorializes elephant-human geographies, delineates elephant agency inside the “animal spaces,” and examines how the elephants’ lived experiences create the “beastly places” outside the “animal spaces” in the novel The Tusk That Did the Damage (2015). It further depicts animals as powerful subjects in the wild spaces and attempts to understand how boundary breaching occurs.

Key Words:

• animal geography
• animal space
• beastly place
• elephants
• literary animals

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our gratitude to Anastasia Christou, and Joshua F. J. Inwood, the editors of GeoHumanities journal, for their consistent recommendations and guidance. We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their meticulous feedback and insightful comments that enhanced the overall quality of this manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Moumita Bala

MOUMITA BALA is a Senior Research Scholar (UGC SRF) and Teaching Assistant in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Indian Institute of Technology Patna, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Her areas of interest include Literary Animal Studies, Environmental Humanities, and Folklore Studies.

Smriti Singh

SMRITI SINGH is a Professor of English in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, India. E-mail: [email protected]. Her areas of research and teaching are Indian writings in English, Literary Theory, and ELT. She was former Fulbright FLTA at the University of Texas at Austin. She has published three books and numerous research papers. She is currently the Chairperson of Postcolonial Studies Association (Invited Position).