A Kerala Studies Blog
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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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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Why do we see ‘modernity’ as something that emerged only in the colonial era? What do the three medieval texts tell us about alternative strands of literature? Why do we mainstream some histories while marginalizing others? In this episode, we discuss these questions with Prof. T.T. Sreekumar.
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Accompanied by original sketches, Gaya Hadiya shares her experiences of chayakkadas in Kerala, highlighting how they reflect the gender, caste and class relations in the region.
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C.K. Ramachandran writes about an unlikely friendship forged in early-twentieth-century, between Gopalan Nair, a scholar from Malabar, and Philip Braithwaite, an English school inspector.
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The idea of a ‘mass film’ is an eminently recognisable one in south India, but just what is it? How do we make sense of the aesthetics and feelings that make fans say, ‘nalla mass padam’, and just why is it missing in some recent Malayalam films? Arjun Ramachandran writes.
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Reflecting on over a decade of her own research on bats in the Western Ghats, Kadambari writes about how bats have contributed to the plantation economy and ecology in Kerala over the years, and how, despite the Nipah outbreak, films like Virus and Maheshinte Prathikaram have portrayed this human-animal relationship with care.
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കേരളത്തിൻറെ വികസനമാതൃകാ പാരമ്പര്യത്തിൻറെ ഭാഗമായി ജനാധിപത്യ വികേന്ദ്രികരണം പലപ്പോഴും ആഘോഷിക്കപ്പെടുമ്പോഴും, മൂന്ന് ദശാബ്ദങ്ങൾക്കപ്പുറം വികേന്ദ്രീകരണത്തിൻ്റെ ഭവിഷ്യത്തുകൾ നമ്മൾ വിമർശനാത്മകമായി പരിശോധിക്കേണ്ടിയിരിക്കുന്നു. തദ്ദേശഭരണത്തെപ്പറ്റി ബാബു ജേക്കബിനൊപ്പം നടത്തിയ പഠനത്തിൻറെ കണ്ടെത്തലുകൾ സൂരജ് ജേക്കബ് പങ്കുവെക്കുന്നു.
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Recent filmic portrayals of alcoholism in Kerala are a mixed bag–they do much to shed light on the condition and address the stigma around it, but also fall into tired and problematic stereotypes. Sreejith Varma writes.
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