Understanding borderlands through elephant corridors in the Yunnan�Myanmar�Bengal landscape

Abstract

This chapter examines borderlands from a nonhuman perspective. The borderlands literature discusses human lives, societies, trade, and the challenges posed by modern nation-states, identities, and the global forces of markets. What happens to wild animals that are part of the borderlands? What is the relationship of wildlife and nature with such borders? Animals have pathways that do not recognize the political borders imposed by humans. Considering Asian elephants lives on these borderlands and their shared history with humans in the Yunnan-Bengal-Myanmar landscape, we argue that borderlands can be discussed through more-than-human geographies. We begin by discussing the importance of elephants in shaping the history of the landscape by highlighting their role in the local social lives. The second section discusses the elephants past routes in the region and how their movements suffer from various levels of interruptions because of habitat degradation that affects the lives of both humans and elephants. And finally, we discuss how the fragmented habitats of elephants are protected through new conservation paradigms-the "elephant corridors". This chapter attempts to understand the concurrence of connectivity and disconnectivity between the involved countries through more-than-human geographies