EEDN

This talk will examine how emotions and power dynamics shape environmental conflicts and resource struggles in the Sagalla community of South Kenya. It explores how emotions emerge during interactions between community members and elephants, helping people make sense of socio-ecological changes and adapt to environmental challenges. The study highlights the fluid and relational nature of power and its role in producing ambivalent conservation outcomes that often harm the community. Daily struggles with elephants, drought, rising costs, and conservation initiatives intensify emotional, political, and material hardships, especially for unmarried women with children and widows. Based on two years of fieldwork involving 40 focus groups and 41 interviews, the research reveals how these pressures deepen vulnerabilities and injustices, while conservation efforts aimed at coexistence shape diverse identities and impact people’s dignity, security, and well-being.