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Paper short abstract

This paper compares lived experiences of human–wildlife interactions in Wayanad,kerala,india with media narratives, showing how public framings shape actions, policy responses, and unequal benefits across shared landscapes

Paper long abstract

Wayanad, Kerala, is a dynamic mosaic of protected forests, agricultural lands, and densely populated settlements where humans and wild animals have coexisted for centuries. In recent years, however, it has emerged as a hotspot of human–wildlife conflict in the Western Ghats. Encounters with elephants, tigers, wild boar, leopards, gaur, monkeys, and other species increasingly affect farming livelihoods through crop loss, livestock depredation, property damage, everyday fear, and at times the loss of human and animal life.

While these realities are deeply felt at the household and community level, public discussions of conflict are increasingly shaped by news media and social media narratives. These representations often simplify complex and uneven relations into dramatic and polarised stories, where particular incidents receive intense attention while broader patterns of coexistence, adaptation, and local knowledge remain under-represented. The paper argues that although loss is real, the public story of conflict is frequently amplified beyond lived experience and shaped by political, institutional, and economic agendas.

Drawing on ethnographic insights from agricultural villages and forest-edge settlements in Wayanad, this paper examines the gap between everyday encounters and their mediated portrayals. It shows how “human–wildlife conflict” functions not only as an ecological event but also as a socially produced category shaped by selective visibility, emotional framing, and governance responses. By tracing how certain narratives circulate and gain authority, the paper highlights how media framings influence blame, compensation expectations, mitigation priorities, and ultimately who benefits within shared landscapes