Editors’ Update on the year-that-was and what’s planned ahead, as Ala turns four!
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Latest Posts
Nanjiyamma and The Soundscape of Ayyappanum Koshiyum
Jaya Thampi revisits Sachy’s Ayyappanum Koshiyum (2020) to explore its cinematic soundscape and the many lives of Nanjiyamma’s songs in and beyond the film.
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An International Education Shouldn’t Cost A Mother Tongue
Eliza Keyton suggests ways to improve Malayalam language education while elucidating the social landscape, student workload, teacher ability, and other factors that impact the same.
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Design Ashram: A Meeting of the Past and Present Within Space
How can we rethink the preservation of historical buildings beyond salvaging relics of a lost time? Niyati Pavithran takes up the case of Design Ashram to explore how the idea of ‘preservation’ can also accommodate the dynamic passage of time and the living present.
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[Podcast] Rethinking ‘Keraleeyatha’: Mapping Indigenous Medicine
In this episode, we speak with K.P. Girija about the modernisation of the indigenous systems of medicine in Kerala. Her recently published book Mapping the History of Ayurveda: Culture, Hegemony, and the Rhetoric of Diversity examined the history of institutionalisation of Ayurveda in the 20th century, and the complex process associated with it.
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കടൽപ്പണിക്കാരുടെ അവകാശങ്ങളും വിഴിഞ്ഞം സമരവും; കോസ്റ്റൽ കോമൺസിൻ്റെ രാഷ്ട്രീയ പ്രസക്തി
തീരദേശത്തിന്മേലുള്ള തങ്ങളുടെ പരമ്പരാഗതമായ അവകാശങ്ങൾ സ്ഥാപിക്കുവാനായി വിഴിഞ്ഞത്തെ മത്സ്യത്തൊഴിലാളി സമുദായം നടത്തുന്ന സമരം സ്റ്റേറ്റും പൊതുസമൂഹവും അംഗീകരിക്കാൻ വിമുഖത കാണിക്കുന്നതെന്തുകൊണ്ട്? അരികുവത്ക്കരണത്തിന്റെയും പ്രതിരോധത്തിന്റെയും നീണ്ട ചരിത്രത്തിലെ ഒരധ്യായമായി[…]
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Communism, Caste, and the Paradox of the ‘Party Village’ in Kerala
Kerala’s political fortunes and election outcomes have long interested researchers, but the phenomenon of ‘party villages’ and their centrality to electoral democracy in Kerala have been underexplored. Nitasha and Nisar offer us a glimpse into their study of everyday politics in a party village.
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The Magical Realism of Kummatty (1979)
With renewed global interest in G. Aravindan’s 1979 film, Kummatty, Amal Nath Rajeevan revisits the film to examine the elements of magical realism that imbues it with timeless cinematic pleasure.
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[Podcast] Rethinking ‘Keraleeyatha’: Centering Oceanic Histories
In this episode of our ongoing podcast series on Keraleeyatha, we speak with Prof Dilip Menon and Dr Mahmood Kooria about the role of the Indian ocean in shaping the social and political history of Kerala, and revisit the limitations of a ‘terracentric’ idea of modernity and the nation-state.
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Why Malayalis Love an ‘Inverted Coconut’: Whiteness and Media Influence in Postcolonial Kerala
When foreigners respond positively to what audiences perceive as ‘our’ culture, we feel validated. Soumithra M. S. asks: is this just the pleasure of inter-cultural sharing, or is there more at stake in the popularity of certain media handles and content creators?
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