The Wenner-Gren Foundation, USA plays a leadership role in supporting anthropology worldwide. As part of its bi-annual ‘dissertation fieldwork grants’ 2023, the foundation has granted its support to Padma Rigzin, PhD Scholar, Department of Sociology, Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence (SNIoE). Padma is working on ‘Exploring Contemporary Ladakh: Human-Snow Leopard Relationships in the Anthropocene’ that will investigate how conservation and tourism practices mediate the relationship with snow leopards; under the supervision of Dr. Vasundhara Bhojvaid, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, SNIoE. The research will seek to comment on how many local communities in Ladakh are pressured to turn to snow-leopard eco-tourism as a way to preserve landscapes in the Anthropocene and to understand how local community members are weaving together their experiences of moving in and out of the region and how this is shaped, in turn, by the decline of snow leopard numbers and efforts/economies that emerge to protect this species.
In March 2022, Danilyn Rutherford, the President of the Wenner-Gren Foundation, along with her colleagues Donna Auston and Kathryn Derfler, conducted an online workshop about the Wenner-Gren Foundation and its various funding programs, particularly the Dissertation Fieldwork Grants with PhD scholars from the department of sociology, SNIoE. PhD scholars learned how to write a successful proposal and looked at proposals of Wenner-Gren grantees. The presentation was followed by a discussion with the PhD scholars.
The Wenner-Gren grant will go a long way in supporting Padma’s fieldwork in Ladakh and assist in his anthropological research shaping up for a wider global community.
