A Kerala Studies Blog
Billboards advertising luxury condominiums in Kochi, with their roof-top infinity pools, waterfront balconies, French windows, and Italian marble floors, are difficult to miss for any passing by the city. Reflecting on the rise of these new living spaces, Siddharth looks at what it tells us about Kerala’s changing urban space and social life, and its ties to the state’s altering migration patterns.
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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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We rarely take much note of mushrooms that crop up in the dirt. Drawing on his locale, Abdul Basith shows how mushrooms, in fact, shape and reshape the relationships between people, property and nature.
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At a time when working from home, adopted at the height of the pandemic, is being presented as offering added flexibility for women in the workplace, G S Divya delves into the lived experiences of Malayali women in the IT sector to examine the patriarchal implications of ‘work-from-home’.
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Why are the state and the public unwilling to accept the hereditary rights of the protesting fisher community at Vizhinjam? In answer, the protests must be located within broader histories and discussions. Ala presents a translation of Sindhu and Robin’s article on the Vizhinjam protests first published in our September 2022 issue.
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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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കാലാവസ്ഥ വ്യതിയാനവും കടൽവിഭവങ്ങളുടെ ശോഷണവും കേരളത്തിലെ പരമ്പരാഗത മത്സ്യത്തൊഴിൽ സമുദായങ്ങളെ ദുരിതത്തിലാഴ്ത്തുമ്പോൾ കൃത്യമായ കാലാവസ്ഥാ പ്രവചനം അവർക്കു ലഭിക്കുക എന്നത് സുപ്രധാനമാണ്. ഇതിനായി പല മേഖലകളിൽ ഉള്ള ഗവേഷകർ മത്സ്യത്തൊഴിലാളികളോടൊപ്പം ഒത്തുചേർന്നപ്പോൾ ഉടലെടുത്തത് നൂതനമായ സാങ്കേതിക ഇടപെടലുകളും സങ്കീർണ്ണമായ സാമൂഹിക ഉൾക്കാഴ്ചകളും ആണ്.
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Kerala’s fishing communities are beseiged by long-standing social marginalisation, ongoing climate change, and the recent pandemic. The women of these communities, who are predominantly engaged in fish vending, voice the multiple challenges they face.
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For two years now, a group of social scientists, physical geographers, atmospheric and marine scientists, and communications and media experts have been working closely with artisanal fishers in three villages near Thiruvananthapuram, to find effective ways to make the livelihoods of these fishing communities more secure and sustainable by improving safety at sea. In this episode, we speak with Dr Johnson Jament who is part of this team, to understand more about why this is an issue that deserves attention, and affects wider society.
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Working closely with Kerala’s fishers, the Forecasing with Fishers team developed the localised weather forecasts that they need to survive. But how can artisanal fishers use this technology when they are often under-resourced or far at sea? Members of the ‘Forecasting with Fishers’ project team write about the process through which they developed tools for fishers in Kerala to effectively access and understand weather forecasts.
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