Ambika Aiyadurai

Research Interests: Biodiversity conservation, Human-animal relations, Natural resources management, Indigenous people and livelihoods, Conservation and development

 

Education:

BSc: Saurashtra University, Gujarat, 1994

MSc: Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2001

MSc: University College London, 2009

PhD: National University of Singapore, 2015

 

Publications:

Book

 

Book chapters:

 

  • Aiyadurai, Ambika and Banerjee, Sayan, “Understanding borderlands through elephant corridors in the Yunnan–Myanmar–Bengal landscape”, in Yunnan–Burma–Bengal corridor geographies, DOI: 10.4324/9781003094364-7, London: Routledge India, pp. 85-104, Sep. 2021, ISBN: 9780367556228.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika, “Hunting in Northeast India and the challenges of implementing the wildlife protection act”, in Nature conservation in the new economy: people, wildlife and the law in India, New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan, pp. 31-54, 2019, ISBN: 9789352876136.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika and Velho, N., “The last hunters of Arunachal Pradesh: the past and present of wildlife hunting in North-east India”, in Conservation from the margins, Orient BlackSwan, June 2018, ISBN: 9789352872824.

 

Journal papers:

 

  • Banerjee, Sayan; Aiyadurai, Ambika, “Everyday conservation: a study of actors and processes in an elephant conservation project in Assam, India”, Human Dimensions of Wildlife, DOI: 10.1080/10871209.2021.1970861, Sep. 2021.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika, “Dilemmas of wildlife research in Arunachal”, Seminar (Special Issue: Future Enviornmentalisms), vol. 744, pp. 19-23, Aug. 2021.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika, “The implications of legal personhood to nonhumans: insights from India’s tiger conservation”, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, DOI: 10.1093/isle/isaa061, Sep. 2020.
  • Co-editor in a special issue. Nicolaisen, Jeffrey; Aiyadurai, Ambika and Duara, Prasenjit, “Trans-species listening and the rights of nature: legal persons beyond the human: introduction to special cluster in ISLE 27.3”, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, DOI: 10.1093/isle/isaa058, Aug. 2020.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika and Banerjee, Sayan (2019). Bird conservation from obscurity to popularity: a case study of two bird species from Northeast India. GeoJournal, 112, DOI 10.1007/s107999908-019-0.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika 2018. Human-Animal relations: A view from the Mishmi hills. Seminar, #702, February issue:1-8.

 

Book Reviews:

  • Aiyadurai, Ambika; Rangan, Haripriya; Baviskar, Amita; Narain, Sunita; Pande, Vasudha, “Review of the book The Chipko movement: a people’s history by S. Pathak and Manisha Chaudhary”, Conservation & Society, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 47-53, Mar. 2022.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika, “Review of the book Animal Intimacies: Interspecies Relatedness in India’s Central Himalayas by R. Govindrajan”, Conservation & Society, DOI: 10.4103/cs.cs_19_138, 2020.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika, “Review of the book Understanding human ecology: knowledge, ethics and politics by Devi, T. V. Geetha”, Seminar , vol. 730, June 2020.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika, “Review of the book Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China, by James Miller, Dan Smyer Yu and Peter van der Veer”, Journal of Chinese Religions, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 230-233, Nov. 2019.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika, “Caste and nature: Dalits and Indian environmental politics by Mukul Sharma”, Seminar, 704 (April): 66-68, 2018.

 

Popular articles: 

  • Aiyadurai, Ambika and Pandya, Mamata, “Tales from Dibang valley: why are the akru’s horns curved?”, Current Conservation, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 15-19, 2021.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika and Ingole, Prashant, “Invisibility of caste in environmental studies”, Indian Express, Nov. 29, 2021.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika, “The real sherni: how Avni put the spotlight on the complex nature of tiger conservation in India”, Scroll.in, July 5, 2021.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika, “Enjoy Enjaami: a call for ecological and social justice”,  Countercurrents.org, Mar. 27, 2021.
  • Aiyadurai, Ambika., “Voices from Dibang valley: Idu Mishmi, wildlife biologists and a wildlife sanctuary”, Current Conservation, vol. 14, no. 1, Sep. 2020.

 

Campus Outreach

 

Projects

  • Mangrove Stories in Gujarat; Social Science Research Council (SSRC)
  • Indigenous Wildlife Hunting and Trapping Technology; Indian National Science Academy (INSA)

 

Work Experience:

Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (Aug 2016 to present)

Independent Researcher, International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) –Netherlands and Wildlife Trust of India, New Delhi (2010)

Research Affiliate, Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore (2005 – 2006)

Programme Coordinator, GEER Foundation, Gandhinagar (2003 -2004)

Project Officer, Wildlife Trust of India, New Delhi (2002 – 2003)

Project Officer, Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad (2001 – 2002)

Programme Assistant, Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad (1995 – 1999)