|
Not by
Bread Alone: Symbolic Loss, Trauma, and Recovery in Elephant Communities
 Society
and Animals
1
July 2004, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 143-158(16)
Isabel Gay A. Bradshaw
Abstract:
Like many humans in the wake of genocide and war, most wildlife
today has sustained trauma. High rates of mortality, habitat
destruction, and social breakdown precipitated by human actions are
unprecedented in history. Elephants are one of many species dramatically
affected by violence. Although elephant communities have processes,
rituals, and social structures for responding to trauma—grieving,
mourning, and socialization—the scale, nature, and magnitude of human
violence have disrupted their ability to use these practices. Absent the
cultural, carrier groups (murdered elephant matriarchs and elders) who
traditionally lead and teach these healing practices, humans must assume
the role. Trauma theory has brought attention to victims' severe,
sustained psychological damage. Looking through the lens of trauma
theory provides a better understanding of how systematic violence has
affected individuals and groups and how the pervasive nature of
traumatic events affects human-nonhuman animal relationships. The
framing of recent trauma theory compels conservationists to create new
relationships—neither anthropocentric nor powerbased—with nonhuman
animals. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Kenya, shows how humans,
taking on the role of interspecies witness, bring orphan elephants back
to health and help re-build elephant communities shattered by genocide.
Document Type: Regular paper ISSN: 1063-1119
Click on this
link to
purchase the full text of this article
through the IgentaConnect web site. If your non-profit organization
cannot afford to purchase this article, click on the CONTACT link above
and request an “in-kind gift” to cover the cost of purchasing this
article. (Sorry, no “in-kind” gifts to individuals.)
|
