Staff
Dr. Piers Locke
Lecturer in Social Anthropology
01570 424712
Background
Piers accidentally discovered anthropology whilst studying film in Sheffield, and realised that he had stumbled upon his true vocation. Having relocated, Piers received his bachelors degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Kent in 1998, after which he went to the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where he received a masters degree in South Asian Area Studies in 1999. Piers then returned to the University of Kent in 2001 to commence his doctoral research, which entailed apprenticing as an elephant handler in a Nepali government facility during the Maoist Insurgency. Piers' experiences in Nepal have led to a commitment to campaign for the welfare of captive elephants and their low status handlers. He sustains an active relationship with various captive elephant management organisations, especially with Elephant Care International regarding their Nepal Elephant TB Project. He hopes that his new project on the ethnoveterinary knowledge of elephant handlers will make a significant contribution to the recognition of their professional expertise.
Research
Piers' doctoral research entailed a brief reconnaissance field trip in 2001, followed by more prolonged fieldwork during 2003 and 2004. His PhD thesis deals with inter-relations between history, practice and identity, and has led to interests in human-animal relations, apprenticeship learning, rites of passage, animal personhood, the political economy of park management, and participant observation in field research. Piers is now developing an interest in ethnobiology and the politics of indigenous knowledge, and is planning further fieldwork in Nepal during which he will investigate handlers' ethnoveterinary knowledge, and its inter-relations with modern veterinary practice. See: http://www.kent.ac.uk/sac/department/research/environmental/elephants.html
In collaboration with Professor David Zeitlyn, Piers has also been conducting research on academic career biographies and the impact of the audit culture. See: http://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology/department/research/social/dept_history.html
At Lampeter, Piers has begun pursuing a Welsh connection regarding his interest in captive elephant management, and is investigating the Sri Lankan elephant Valli at the Skanda Vale ashram. He is also collaborating with Dr. Samantha Hurn regarding volunteer tourism on The Great Primate Handshake in Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa. Sam has previously conducted ethnographic research on the South African leg of the project. This summer she will continue the field research in Uganda, and Piers will do so in South Africa.
Teaching
Piers has been teaching anthropology since 2002. He is involved in the new masters programme in Anthrozoology, and currently teaches in political anthropology, kinship, ritual and belief, and environmental anthropology.
Film and Photography
With his colleague Mark Dugas from One World Films, Piers has also produced an ethnographic film about elephant training at the Khorsor Elephant Breeding Center, Chitwan, Nepal. Titled 'Servants of Ganesh: Inside The Elephant Stable', recent screenings include the Minding Animals conference, Newcastle, Australia, the meeting of the Association of Social Anthropologists (ASA) in Bristol, the meeting of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) in Bristol, and the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) in Norwich. See: One World Films In addition to his film, Piers has also mounted an exhibition of photographs from his fieldwork, a selection of which can be viewed at Research photo gallery
Forthcoming Publications
Locke, P Servants of Ganesh: Elephant Handlers in Nepal
Locke, P Elephants are People Too: Fieldwork with Non-Human Persons in Rubenstein, S (ed) Intimacy and Commitment in Ethnographic Fieldwork
Locke, P Chitwan, The Tharu and Captive Elephant Management in a Changing Nepal Contributions to Nepalese Studies
Locke, P Animals, Persons, Gods: Elephants and The Shifting Parameters of Personhood Among Nepali Elephant Handlers
Recent Publications
Locke, P. 2008 Captive Elephant Management, The Tharu and The Nepali State IIAS Newsletter 49 14-15 pdf
Hart, L & P. Locke 2007. Nepali and Indian Mahouts and Their Unique Relationships with Elephants in Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relations. (ed) M Bekoff Greenwood Publishing
Locke, P. 2006. Man and Beast: Nepal Can Be Proud of Its Tharu Elephant Handlers. Nepali Times 307
Recent Presentations
'Taming and Training in The Human Use of Elephants: The Case of Nepal: Past, Present and Future' at the annual meeting of the Association of Social Anthropologists (ASA), Bristol, April 2009 (co-convenor of panel 'Humans and Other Animals')
'Shifting Parameters of Personhood Among Nepali Elephant Handlers' at the annual meeting of the Association of Asian Studies (AAS), Chicago, March 2009
'The Hattisar: The Integral Role of The Elephant Stable in The Apparatus of Lowland Nepali Park Management' for the Anthropology in Development seminar series, University of Durham, December 2007
'Elephants are People Too: Fieldwork with Non-Human Persons' at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Washington DC November 2007
'Nepali Elephant Training' at the UK Workshop on Elephant Biology, University College London (UCL), February 2007