Transdisciplinary environmental scientist and educator | Human-shark researcher
PhD. (Anthropology, 2021) | PhD. (Psychology, 2013)
Prof. transdisciplinary research and psychology, Sister Nivedita University, Kolkata
International officer & India-lead- Marine Social Sciences Network
Human animal conflict advisor- Sundarban tiger widow welfare association.
rajsekhar.aich@gmail.com +91 90076 58425 All content ©️ Raj Sekhar Aich
My Books
It has been an honour to have written and published two full monographs on my expeditions, and more to come
600 INR
Kamot: Love, Grief & Human-Shark Expeditions in the Sundarbans
Publisher: Sister Nivedita University Press
ISBN: 9788199745050
Publication Year: 2026
Set against the haunting beauty of the Sundarbans, this book journeys into a world where myth, memory, science, and human vulnerability flow together like the waters of the delta itself. Raj Sekhar Aich brings readers into intimate proximity with the enigmatic Kamot— sharks of the Sundarbans whose presence is rarely seen yet deeply felt in scars, stories, and silence. Through encounters with women whose lives have been irrevocably shaped by shark bites, and communities living on the precarious threshold between land, forest, and river, Aich explores a powerful and rarely told narrative of human–animal entanglement. Blending anthropology, ecology, emotion, and lived experience, he shifts between analytical inquiry and lyrical introspection, revealing the complex realities of coexistence: fear and reverence, grief and endurance, destruction and hope. This is not merely a study of conflict but an exploration of love—for people, for animals, for fragile ecosystems, and for the possibilities of healing. It is also a deeply personal journey, tracing the author’s own struggles, questions, and transformations as he searches for meaning alongside those who must live with danger as a daily companion. Provocative, compassionate, and profoundly human, this book challenges how we see nature, “conflict,” and ourselves. It asks what it truly means to live among predators, to carry wounds both visible and invisible, and to imagine futures where care, knowledge, and dignity might coexist with the wild forces that shape our lives.
Iridescent Skin: A Multispecies Journey of White Sharks & Caged Humans
-
Publisher : Niyogi Books Pvt. Ltd.
-
Publication date : 2022
-
Edition : First Edition
-
Language : English
-
Print length : 492 pages
-
ISBN-10 : 9391125530
-
ISBN-13 : 978-9391125530
Iridescent Skin is the first of its kind multispecies ethnography on humans and white sharks, entangled through the practice of cage diving at the very end of New Zealand. It is based on an immersive field work of marine anthropologist Prof. Raj Sekhar Aich, and his friend, research assistant, and anthropologist—Soosan Lucas, as they go in search of the elusive and mystified Great White Sharks of Foveaux Strait. This is not a ‘shark book’, although it revolves around sharks in the classical sense of the manner. It is also not merely an academic book, although it is based on detailed academic investigation. Neither is it an exploration of shark behaviour or ecology, although they are certainly part of it, and no, it is not even a book about shark attacks, although shark bites are featured here. It is, on the surface, a sensory narrative of human and white shark encounters, but beneath the ripples, it is a story of love: among humans, rivers, oceans, bricks, stones, and sharks. As Prof. Agustín Fuentes puts it, the book ‘invites the reader along…at the intersection of two sentient species, humans and white sharks.…The book you hold in your hands, is an enticement into the experiential journey of a scholar, artist and narrator who starts out with the goal of appreciating or assessing a multispecies entanglement, but ends up traversing a tangle of personal, social, historical, ecological and perceptual water/land/species-scapes.…This is an immersive multispecies anthropology.
