Methodology and Positionality

Data Collection I conducted fieldwork from 15 January to 19 February 2022 in the Palakkad district of Kerala, a south Indian state. Although other districts in Kerala have a higher proportion of captive elephants, I chose Palakkad because of my acquaintance with a prominent elephant photographer Anoop who is a native of Palakkad. This made it easier to establish contacts with mahouts and elephant owners. From there, the snowball effect worked well, and most of my initial informants invited me...