In this richly layered piece, Sneha Mary Mathew explores how missionary memoirs evolved into an unintentional climate record, capturing the rhythms of monsoon, daily weather, and life in colonial Travancore.
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Tag: travancore
Wherein Lies the Power of the Judge?
An editorial from 1909 published in The Svadeshabhimani gives us perspectives on a changing judicial order. The excerpt also offers a critical lens to think about morality and constitutional law–themes that are as relevant today as they were then.
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Moral Spectacles: Theatre, Caste, and Gender in The Svadeshabhimani
Editorials about women in public theatre in The Svadeshabhimani give us important clues about am emerging caste-gender order.
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A Window into The World of The Svadesabhimani (1905-1910)
The Svadeshabhimani was an influential newspaper of the Kerala Renaissance that was banned. Thought to be lost, its archives have been partially recovered over a century later. Sajitha Bashir presents us a glimpse into the recently digitised archives and the labour that went into making the archives accessible for all.
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[Podcast] Rethinking ‘Keraleeyatha’: Clothing and the Politics of the Body
We 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.
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A Forgotten Episode in the History of Science Popularisation in Kerala
Urmila Unnikrishnan delves into the obscure history of the science popularisation movement in Kerala, tracing the activities of the Travancore Public Lecture Committee, which educted the common public through lectures, demonstrations, and exhibitions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
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The Dewan and The Reformer: Sir C. P. Ramaswami Aiyer on Sree Narayana Guru
Historian and writer Uma Maheswari shares selected excerpts of a speech delivered by Sir. C.P. Ramaswami Aiyer in 1942 about Sree Narayana Guru, his teachings, and caste reforms.
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Miasmic Screens: Contagion and Control in Early 20th Century Cinema Halls
As cinema halls in Kerala emerge as sites of pandemic control, Bindu Menon explores a longer history of how moralized notions of public health and contagion played out in Kerala’s cinema halls, and through film as medium.
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Of Genealogy and Land Deeds: Some Thoughts on Family Histories in Kerala
Sarath Pillai writes about private collections of land-deeds and official records of Malayalees, and how they could be valuable sources[…]
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Interview with Robin Jeffrey – Part II
In part two of the interview by P. C. Saidalavi, Robin Jeffrey speaks about his body of work on Kerala, and his recent work on South and Southeast Asia.
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