Amit Kaushik is a PhD candidate in the Integrative Conservation (ICON) and Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia. He has been awarded the prestigious Wenner-Gren Foundation's Dissertation Fieldwork Grant for his project “Caste and Conservation: Dalit Ecologies and Multispecies Life in the Central Indian Highlands.” His research explores how caste hierarchies shape human–wildlife relations and conservation practices in the landscapes surrounding the Veerangana Durgawati Tiger Reserve (VDTR) in Madhya Pradesh, India. Using a mixed-methods approach that integrates long-term ethnographic and ecological fieldwork with Dalit communities, forest staff, and wildlife, especially the Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes), Amit examines how conservation policies intersect with histories of displacement, land access, and social and ecological marginalization. Amit’s research foregrounds Dalit perspectives on ecology and offers new ways of understanding both ecological change and the interspecies relations in contemporary India and across the Global South. Connect with Amit! Instagram: @amitkaushik.inX: @amitkaushik_twLinkedIn: @amitkaushik3 Read More: Personal Website
