Happy New Year! It is a pleasure to begin this year on a promising note. As you all know, Ala[…]
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Category: Issues
Woven Legacies: Women Weavers Reviving the Killimangalam Pulpaya Tradition
The art of weaving grass mats is fast disappearing from a small village in Kerala, yet eight women weavers hold the fort against rapidly changing economic conditions. What is at stake in keeping alive an art form that seems to have outlived its times? Aswathy delves into this universal question by telling the story of the Killimangalam pulpaya and its makers.
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The Holy Family Severed: Kaathal’s Reconstitution of the Heteronormative Family in Malayalam Cinema
The recently released film, Kaathal, has ignited public discussions of gender and sexuality in Kerala. But to what extent does it subvert Kerala’s norms around family, caste, and class? Sandra Elizabeth Joseph reflects.
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Democracy Breeds Its Own Violence: Understanding Political Conflict in North Kerala
Ala speaks to Ruchi Chaturvedi, whose book, Violence of Democracy, published this year, draws on years of engagement with political violence in north Kerala to think about the forms of violence produced by the very practice of democracy.
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Vulnerability Amplified: Exploring the Spaces of Migrant Women and Children in Kerala
Despite outreach from the government in recent years, migrant labourers—especially dependent migrants—continue to face social, economic, and political hardships that make integration challenging. Athira writes about these hurdles, focusing on the experience of women and children who often accompany the employed male.
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Scary Spaces: Technology and Horror in Chathurmukham
The ways in which we have come to negotiate with the presence of technology in our lives are multiple and varied. Himaganga revisits the 2021 Malayalam film Chathurmukham to see how the techno-horror genre represents some of the anxieties that surround the pervasiveness of media devices in our everyday lives.
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Podcast: Fifth Anniversary Special with the Editors
As Ala turns five, tune in to this special episode with Ala’s editors, as we reflect on the blog’s journey so far, the motivation behind our workshops, podcast other experiments, and contemplate what keeps us going each month. We brainstorm about what we have in store for the next year, and we hear from mentors and former editors who have worked with Ala.
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ജനകീയ ശാസ്ത്ര ചരിത്രത്തിലെ മറന്നൊരേട്
പത്തൊൻപതാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിന്റെ അവസാനത്തിലും ഇരുപതാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിന്റെ തുടക്കത്തിലും പ്രഭാഷണങ്ങളിലൂടെയും പ്രദർശനങ്ങളിലൂടെയും പൊതുജനങ്ങളെ ബോധവൽക്കരിച്ച തിരുവിതാംകൂർ പബ്ലിക് ലെക്ചർ കമ്മിറ്റിയുടെ പ്രവർത്തനങ്ങൾ ഊർമിള ഉണ്ണികൃഷ്ണൻ അവലോകനം ചെയ്യുന്നു. കേരളത്തിലെ ശാസ്ത്രത്തിന്റെ ജനകീയവത്കരണ ചരിത്രത്തിലെ അധികമാരും പരാമർശിക്കാത്ത എന്നാൽ കൂടുതൽ പഠനം ആവശ്യമുള്ള ഒരേടാണത്.
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[Podcast] Rethinking ‘Keraleeyatha’: Clothing and the Politics of the Body
We wrap up this season of our podcasts with Malavika Binny and Rekha Raj. In this episode, we explore how clothing, and by extension, the body itself, have been both sites of violence and protest in Kerala, and closely tied to questions of class and caste.
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Translating the Worlds of Eighties’ Kochi: An Interview with Prabha Zacharias
What are the joys and challenges of translating Malayalam literature to English? To know more, Ala spoke to Prabha Zacharias, whose translation of V M Devadas’ 2010 novel, Pannivetta, titled The Boar Hunt, was published this July by Hachette India.
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