A Kerala Studies Blog
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, how did the incumbent LDF’s support for women’s entry into Sabarimala turn the tables for a government that otherwise enjoyed popular support? K. K. Kailash uses survey data to understand the role of religious sentiment in Kerala’s public sphere.
Read more
Traditional elites harboured peculiar notions of purity and pollution in pre-modern Kerala, which were revised by the neo-savarna of twentieth-century. This article reflects on notions of personal hygiene, cleanliness and clothing, using two excerpts from early-modern Kerala.
Read more
Kumbalangi nights garnered critical claim and praise for its perceptive portrayal of the lives of four half brothers. Lipin Ram delves deeply into the question of family at the centre of the movie.
Read more
How can we re-imagine urban planning to be non-disruptive, to promote environmental conservation and to preserve the humanity of our streets and walkways? Taking us through the undulating and thronging landscape of the city of Thiruvananthapuram, Thomas Oommen and Rajshree Rajmohan propose a solution that is both innovative and grounded in the realities of everyday life.
Read more
കേരളത്തിൽ ‘അനാദായകരമായ വിദ്യാലയങ്ങള്’ വർദ്ധിക്കുന്നതെന്തുകൊണ്ട്? ജെ. രത്നകുമാറും സുജിത്കുമാറും കേരളത്തിലെ പൊതുവിദ്യാഭ്യാസരംഗത്തെ സങ്കീർണതകൾ വിശകലനം ചെയ്യുന്നു.
Read more
കേരളത്തിലെ തൊഴിൽ മേഖലയിലുള്ള സ്ത്രീകളുടെ ജോലി സംബന്ധമായ സ്ഥിതിയും അവയിൽ ഗാര്ഹികപരമായ ചുമതലകളുടെ സ്വാധീനവും രാജേഷ് ചർച്ച ചെയ്യുന്നു.
Read more
Ever since his works began to be translated into Malayalam in the mid-nineteenth century, Shakespeare’s adaptations have appeared as books, plays, comics and films in Kerala. Thea Buckley writes about the history of Kerala’s engagement with Shakespearean literature.
Read more
What gave rise to the ‘Shakeela wave’ and the subsequent national appeal of the Malayalam soft-porn genre? Darshana Sreedhar Mini makes a case for foregrounding this ‘parallel history’ of Malayalam cinema.
Read more
Sonja Thomas delves into the rarely acknowledged racial dynamics in India, and how the complex interrelationship between caste and race have impacts not just within India, but internationally.
Read more
How can revisiting the various age-old legends about Ayyappan nuance the debate on women’s entry to Sabarimala in contemporary Kerala? The following is an excerpt from Madhavi Menon’s book, Infinite Variety: A History of Desire in India (Delhi: Speaking Tiger, 2018).
Read more