The rapid proliferation of surveillance technologies, such as drones, camera traps, and satellite imagery, has transformed modern conservation practices. These tools, while invaluable for wildlife monitoring, have profound social and political implications that remain underexplored. Drawing on 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Corbett Tiger Reserve, India, this talk examines how conservation surveillance reshapes relationships between nature and local communities, intensifies territorialization, and alters conservation governance. By situating this inquiry within the region’s social and political history, I argue that these technologies establish layered surveillance regimes that produce disciplined communities and securitized spaces. However, the impacts of such surveillance are not uniform. Intersecting factors like caste, gender, and class amplify pre-existing social injustices, fostering mistrust, harassment, and negative perceptions of conservation efforts among local stakeholders. This talk highlights the urgent need to critically evaluate the equity and ethics of conservation surveillance, addressing its role in perpetuating structural inequalities and social marginalization.
About the speaker:
Dr. Trishant Simlai holds a PhD in Political Geography from the University of Cambridge, where he also pursued postdoctoral research and served as a lecturer. Prior to his academic career at Cambridge, Dr. Simlai worked for over six years in conservation practice with a number of national and international NGOs.
