Lecture: A Multispecies Conquest of Zomia: The British Raj, the Elephant Paths, and the Panthay Mule Caravans in the Chin-Lushai Hills
8. Jul 2025 @ 18:00 - 19:30
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A Multispecies Conquest of Zomia: The British Raj, the Elephant Paths, and the Panthay Mule Caravans in the Chin-Lushai Hills
Prof. Cao Yin (Peking University)
PH 20. Hörsaal der Philosophischen Fakultät, Humboldtallee 19/21
8. July (Tuesday), 18:15–19:45
Abstract:
Since the 1850s, the British Raj sought to control the Chin-Lushai Hills, which lie between India and Burma. However, the region’s harsh terrain and climate rendered British occupation nearly impossible. The encounter between the colonial authorities, wild elephants, and the Panthay mule caravans marked a turning point. By following wild elephant migratory corridors and relying on the infrastructures of the Panthay mule caravans, the Raj overcame the logistical challenges that had previously hindered its efforts. This study argues that the non-Western knowledge upon which the British relied for their conquest of the hills in northeastern India and northern Burma was not purely locally rooted or indigenous. Rather, it had been shaped through the mobilities of migratory elephants and itinerant Panthay traders, who developed their understandings of the region through movement and translocal engagements. The British annexation of the Chin-Lushai Hills thus represents only one chapter in a longer, multispecies history of conquest and entanglement in this frontier zone.
Speaker:
Cao Yin is an associate professor in the department of history at Peking University. He is a scholar of modern South Asian history, global history, and India-China relations. He is the author of Chinese Sojourners in Wartime Raj, 1942-45 (Oxford University Press, 2022) and From Policemen to Revolutionaries: A Sikh Diaspora in Global Shanghai, 1885-1945 (Brill, 2017). He is a recipient of the Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers affiliated with the University of Göttingen. While in Göttingen, he is developing a book manuscript that explores the more-than-human dimensions of colonial expansion across the India-Burma-China borderlands in the 19th century.
Organizer:
Prof. Dominic Sachsenmaier, University of Göttingen
Prof. Dominic Sachsenmaier, University of Göttingen