Presentation short abstract

This presentation examines how the conservation zone of Kaziranga is made possible through risk and speculative logics that necessitate the eviction and dispossession of Indigenous communities, and how Indigenous communities develop models of counter-speculation and conservation in turn.

Presentation long abstract

In this presentation, I examine the case of the Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India as a site where militarised conservation, Indigenous counter-resistance, and speculative infrastructure development converge. As an important symbol of Assamese nationalism, a celebrated national park, and a UNESCO world heritage site, Kaziranga emerges as a unique site of national and international care, financialised support, and militarised protection against ecological harm, including not only poaching and hunting, but also increased flooding and erosion. In recent years, as devastating floods threaten the park and its celebrated resident, the one-horned rhinoceros, the Indian state has responded with infrastructural-led promises to protect and extend the park. However, such measures, from embankments to sluice gates, and wildlife conservation corridors to park expansion plans, necessitate the eviction, displacement, and dispossession of Indigenous Mising communities and their traditional lands and livelihood. This presentation examines the ways in which the expansion of the conservation zone constitutes infrastructure-driven colonialism undergirded by speculative finance and risk logics, and counters them with speculative conservation models based in Indigenous epistemologies and histories.