Xiangyuan (Yuan) Wang

Yuan is a PhD candidate in Anthrozoology. Her research interests are anthropology of tourism, human-wildlife relations, multi-species ethnography, and culture & society of East Africa. After completing her BA in English Language and Culture from Chongqing University in China, she gained her MA in Social Anthropology in SOAS, University of London. Her Master’s dissertation, based on in-situ fieldwork depicts how a small village in southwestern China was affected by the development of rural tourism, the core of which is about constructing and presenting the ‘authentic’ culture and nature for tourists.

Yuan’s PhD project looks closely into safari tourism, which is popular in East Africa and is featured by travelling through conservations in vehicles to watch and photograph wildlife. This project tries to reveal how non-human animals and humans are involved in safari industry and are related to each other. It focuses on complex inter-species relations between human and wild animals, which may consist of companionship or interdependence, as well as indifference or clashes. Besides, this project will also figure out how animals express their agency in safari tour, instead of simply being an object to be viewed.

 Particularly Yuan has been thinking about ways to benefit local community and society with her research. Apart from her PhD project, she is now trying to launch a project which helps tourist education on wildlife and environment in the context of conservation tourism.

Contact her by email: xw367@exeter.ac.uk