In season 3 of the Ala podcast, we hold a series of conversations with educators, academics and activists on Education[…]
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A Kerala Studies Blog
In season 3 of the Ala podcast, we hold a series of conversations with educators, academics and activists on Education[…]
Read moreIn season 3 of Ala podcast, we hold a series of conversations with educators, academics and activists on Education in Kerala. We begin the season with an exploration of the legacy of Protestant Mission schools in Kerala and how they informed childhood-making in colonial Kerala. Who was the good educated child? What kind of values were refracted through these constructions?
Read moreAs 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.
Read moreWe 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.
Read moreWith streaming services bringing transnational attention to Malayalam cinema, it becomes important to examine the nature of Kerala’s “new gen” cinema and to locate it in a longer history. C S Venkiteswaran, film critic, Don Palathara, film director, and Jolly Chirayath, actor, feature in Ala’s first audio essay on cinema in Kerala.
Read moreIn this episode, Ala’s Deepti Sreeram speaks with Sudha Padmaja Francis, an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker about her practice as a filmmaker and her documentary Ormajeevikal, a film that captures the city of Kozhikode through a community of music lovers
Read moreപത്തൊൻപതാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിലും ഇരുപതാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിന്റെ തുടക്കത്തിലും ഉയർന്നുവന്ന കേരളത്തിലെ ഭാഷയെയും ആധുനികതയെയും പറ്റിയുള്ള സംവാദങ്ങളെക്കുറിച്ചും ലിന്റോ ഫ്രാൻസിസ് പ്രതിപാദിക്കുന്നു.
Read moreIn 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.
Read moreIn 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.
Read moreWhy 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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