Man-eaters: Wicked Tales from South Asia

Tales of fearsome “man-eaters” recur across South Asia. Blood thirsty human and non-human figures appear in many forms: from tigers and leopards to shapeshifting snakes, alluring women and unscrupulous politicians. This public conversation between Nayanika Mathur and Lotte Hoek unfolds the many wicked tales of man-eaters found across the region. Using photographs, film clips, folk iconography and political imagery, the conversation introduces audiences to a catalogue of different types of 'man-eaters' and considers the ways in which such characters embody and comment on processes of exploitation and retribution in arenas of rapid social, ecological and political transition. By centring this ubiquitous and charismatic figure and working through the many different forms the man-eater (adamkhor) can take, this conversation aims to open out feminist, ecological, and political lenses on everyday phenomena for wider publics, thus sharing anthropological ways of thinking in accessible ways.

Part of the ASA’s Public Anthropology festival 2026.