[INDOLOGY] May 20th GCSAS Lecture Series: Camelbacks, Hoofprints, and the Hajj: South Asian Archives of Non-Human Life-worlds in the Journey to Mecca

[Akshara Ravishankar]

Dear colleagues,

We are delighted to announce the next talk in the series “More-than-Human
South Asia: Ecologies, Knowledge, Bodies, and Senses,” organized by the
Ghent Centre for South Asian Studies, on *May 20th, 4 pm CET. *This will be
a hybrid lecture by Riyaz Chenganakkattil, titled "Camelbacks, Hoofprints,
and the Hajj: South Asian Archives of Non-Human Life-worlds in the Journey
to Mecca."

Please note, additionally, that there is *no talk today*. A slightly
altered schedule can be found on our website:
https://www.india.ugent.be/2026-gcsas-lecture-series-more-than-human-south-asia2/

More information about next week's session can be found below, and in the
attached document. You can also register to attend online at this link
<https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/09c35d4e-41ad-4e53-ae45-417c057f1f08@d7811cde-ecef-496c-8f91-a1786241b99c>
.

Hope to see many of you there!

Title: Camelbacks, Hoofprints, and the Hajj: South Asian Archives of
Non-Human Life-worlds in the Journey to Mecca

Speaker: Riyaz Chenganakkattil, Ghent University

Abstract: For decades, scholarship on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca,
has been predominantly anthropocentric, focusing on the human pilgrim. The
vital entanglement of the pilgrim’s journey with the lifeworlds of
non-human actors remains critically underexplored, and the indispensable
role of these beings in sustaining the pilgrimage infrastructure has been
largely overlooked. This talk addresses a central question: how can we
trace the non-human lifeworlds integral to this global Muslim phenomenon?
Turning to multilingual South Asian Hajj literature, it argues for the
essential narrative and archival presence of animals, birds, and other
beings—serving as means of transport, ritual sacrifice, companions, and
agents in devotional acts. By investigating literary and historical
archives, the presentation weaves a narrative that reveals intricate mutual
dependencies between humans and non-humans. In addition to examining
religious, moral, and fictional story-worlds, it highlights a historical
reality that persisted until the mid-twentieth century—a world shaped by
vast caravan (qafila) networks and a regime of animal mobility, where
neither human nor non-human could exist without the other. Consequently, it
suggests that the Hajj was not merely a human migration, but an ecological
event and an occasion of multi-species entanglement.
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