The Magazine for the University of Kent

Kent Magazine
Riding High
PageTwelve
Kent Magazine
Riding High
PageThirteen
Elephants respond to a
repertoire of about 26 verbal
commands and can learn as
many as 100.
01
02
04
01–06. Servants of Ganesh
The website for Piers’ film
Servants of Ganesh can
be viewed at:
www.oneworldfilms.com
05
06
He arrived during
Nepal’s Maoist
insurgency, when many
parts of the country were
under the rebels’ control,
though it didn’t affect
his daily life. ‘As far as
my work was concerned,
the insurgency was just
a sort of irritation and
hindrance,’ he says.
‘I didn’t see any violence.
The Maoists ignored me
because I spoke Nepali,
and in any case they were
renowned for being polite
to tourists.’
The elephant handlers
themselves are traditionally
from the Tharu
people, a low status caste,
and are treated with
disrespect by members
of higher castes. They
are understandably wary
of outsiders. However,
once Piers had made his
intentions clear, he was
offered an unusual way of
doing his research. ‘They
said that if I wanted to
learn about their lives, the
only way was to learn to
become an elephant
handler myself. It made
sense. We all know how
to ride a bicycle, but if
we try to explain how to
do it in words, it’s very
difficult. It’s the same
with riding an elephant.’
The chief elephant
handler gave permission
for Piers to work with
the team and learn how
to drive elephants.
He gave Piers a female
elephant with which to
work, named Sitasma
Kali. Slowly, over the
next couple of months,
Piers built a rapport
with the handlers and
the elephants. He already
had a working knowledge
of the Nepali language,
which was also the second
language for the other
handlers. Working as
an apprentice elephant
handler soon gave Piers
important insights into
their work.
‘By personally working
with an elephant,
I realised there was a
relationship of trust
between elephant and
handler,’ he says. ‘For
instance, elephants have
bad eyesight and they
recognise you by smell.
So every day I’d go and
say “Good morning”,
and Sitasma Kali would
put her trunk all over
me, in such a way that, if
she wanted to, she could
have at any time picked
me up, thrown me down
and broken me. There
have been occasions
when that has happened
to people. This greeting
was all part of developing
a real connection, a real
relationship with
the animals.’
Piers’ field research lasted
for a year and a half and
he was based with the
elephant handlers for nine
months. He found that
elephants respond to a
repertoire of about 26
verbal commands and
can learn as many as 100.
However, most of the
basic commands are
communicated by the
handlers using their feet
to apply pressure behind
the elephant’s ears in
different ways.
Elephants are crucial
to the Nepali economy
for their role in
environmental tourism,
as they are used to carry
tourists on elephantback
safaris to see other
wildlife. However, most
of the key work for the
elephants and handlers
is patrolling Nepal’s Royal
Chitwan National Park
and preventing poaching.
They are also used for
carrying out census work
on other species, such as
rhinos and tigers.
Elephants have also
been used to capture
rhinos in Chitwan by
surrounding them with a
herd numbering up to 100.
Then the rhinos can be
captured and translocated
to other national parks
where they have become
extinct. Piers didn’t
experience rhino capture
first-hand but he did
get to chase a rhino on
elephant back. ‘We were
called in by some villagers
because some rhinos were
going too close to their
fields,’ he remembers.
‘So we were asked to
chase them back into
the jungle. It was
tremendous fun. Chasing
rhino is one of the most
exciting elephant rides
you can have.’
After nine months in
the field, Piers returned
to Kent to write up his
PhD thesis. He submitted
it at the end of 2006, five
years after first
embarking on his study.
Academic work on this
subject is extremely rare.
‘As far as I’m aware,
mine is the first social
anthropological study
of elephant handlers,
the first research by
participant observation,’
he says. ‘I’m very
surprised that nobody else
has done it, as I think it’s
a really interesting topic.’
It has been a long journey,
and it’s one that continues
today. Piers is working
on new applications for
further research and
developing his relationships
with organisations
involved with captive
elephant management
and elephant handlers.
I didn’t want to just
get a PhD out of my
experiences,’ he says.
‘I felt I acquired an
obligation. At the end
of my field work,
I thanked the handlers
for letting me into their
world and sharing their
lives with me.
‘My main mission now
is to make sure I can
do something for them,
as I don’t think they get
the respect they deserve.
They’re knowledgeable
professionals and you
can’t run the national
park without them, yet
they are at the bottom
of the pile.’
During his time in Nepal,
Piers was temporarily
joined by his friend and
colleague Mark Dugas
and together they shot
a documentary film titled
Servants of Ganesh.
Named after the elephantheaded
Hindu god, it
has been used in Piers’
teaching work and has
attracted interest from
distributors.
Piers is currently
chasing the possibility
of a television broadcast.
He has also successfully
mounted an exhibition
of photographs taken
while in Nepal. Elevating
the status of elephant
handlers in Nepal won’t
be an easy task, but it’s a
cause that Piers is proud
to champion. ‘It’s not my
job to transform society,’
he says, ‘but I would like
to make a contribution
to management plans
with regard to training
practices and recruitment
of elephant handlers, and
I’d like to do something
to improve the welfare
of the handlers.’
Piers feels that his
experience in Nepal has
had a profound impact
on his life, and while he
will move on to other
anthropological work,
this project remains the
most important to him.
‘It has shaped my sense
of identity,’ he says. ‘I
found field work a really
liberating experience
because there was no
longer any distinction
between the private and
professional, between
work and play.
‘Field work isn’t about
going to a place; it’s a state
of mind. It was all work,
it was all life, and I really
enjoyed that. It was a
total experience. Being
an anthropologist and
being one who learned to
ride elephants has become
fundamental to who I am.’
David Clark R82
interviewed Piers Locke.
David is a senior features
writer for IPC Media.
03