“Elephants Are the Founders of Ways and Maps”

More-than-Human Mobility in Katavi, West Tanzania

Abstract

This paper discusses elephants’ active role in creating animal pathways and how these have provided critical infrastructure for human mobility in West Tanzania. It highlights elephant pathways as a case that flips the conventional view of humans as the dominant shapers of space. Documenting this elephant network through mental maps drawn by elders with hunting experience, it shows how elephants have spaced human mobility. It traces the liveliness of the landscape inscribed by elephant and other more-than-human movements. I discuss the Bhujheghe hunting association which transmitted knowledge about the elephant network as well as practices necessary to deal with the ontological closeness elephants share with humans. This paper situates elephant movements within the broader relationships between animals, forest spirits, humans, and mountains in the lively landscape.