Paper Short Abstract:

The researcher leverages insights from the field observation conducted among the Kurumba community of the Kerala state in India to ascertain how indigenous communities leverage empathy as a mediating platform for peaceful co-existence with wild animals and for environmental conservation.

Paper Abstract:

Spinoza’s idea of “affectuum imitatio” can be considered to be one of the first discussions on the idea of empathy as we know today. Since then, numerous scholars such as Hume, Adam Smith, Schopenhauer, Edith Stein, and Max Scheler, have worked on the notion and have come up with an understanding of empathy. It may be defined as the feeling one imagines that another is experiencing and then feel the same emotion.(Nilsson, 2003) (Snow, 2000) (Spinoza, 2024).

Most indigenous communities around the world live in areas that are usually the worst affected by climate change. The Kurumba community from the state of Kerala, India, is one such community that reside in the hilly forest areas of the Western Ghats in Attappady of Kerala. These forests are also home to a wide variety of flora and fauna as well.

The area has been significantly affected by climate change. This has also resulted in increased contacts between wild animals and community members. Threats to the lives and livelihood of the community has been a significant result of the same. However, the community members empathise with the animals’ condition and have come up with means of peaceful co-existence.

This study envisions understanding how empathy serves as a mediating platform for environmental conservation through the case of the Kurumbas of Attappady. In this light, the researcher leverages insights from the field observation and interactions with the community members to examine how the community has used empathy for peaceful co-existence and environmental conservation.