alablog.in/issues/82/mala… My article published in Ala Magazine.

Saranya Narayanan examines how Don Palathara's Family (2023) unmasks the unsettling truth lurking behind social respectability, and uses the predator-prey metaphor to expose the true danger—human, not animal—that hides in plain sight. alablog.in/issues/82/refr…

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Ever since his works began to be translated into Malayalam in the 19th 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. alablog.in/issues/issue-1…

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. alablog.in/issues/issue-1…

Priya Menon writes about the different dimensions of an emerging genre of ‘petrofiction’ in Keralan literature, in the context of emigration from Kerala to the Gulf countries. alablog.in/issues/23/kera…

J. Devika on the life of Saraswathi Amma, her contributions to feminist literature in early modern Kerala, and the need to translate her works in the context of today’s political climate. alablog.in/issues/23/sara…

Recent research on Hoysala history contradicts the assumption that the second Chera empire extended across the length of present-day Kerala. C.K. Ramachandran explores what the Hoysalas can tell us about Malabar’s medieval history. alablog.in/issues/35/has-…

Why then do we see ‘modernity’ as something that emerged only in the colonial era? What do medieval texts tell us about alternative strands of literature? Why do we mainstream some histories while marginalising others? We discuss with T. T. Sreekumar alablog.in/issues/46/reth…

Through oral narratives collected during their fieldwork, Shibina and Anjitha delve into the obscure history of a bonded labour system that was practised in the Valliyurkaav temple of Wayanad. alablog.in/issues/58/memo…

.Anand Sreekumar explores how visions of the Soviet Union were imagined, circulated, and contested in Malayali public life during the Cold War through travelogues, Soviet children’s books, and sharp literary counter-narratives. alablog.in/issues/issue-8…

ജീവിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന പരമ്പാരാഗത മോഹിനിയാട്ട നർത്തകിമാരുടെ ഓർമ്മകളും അവർ നേരിട്ട വിവേചനവും കൈചൂണ്ടുന്നത് സങ്കീർണ്ണമായ ഒരു ചരിത്രത്തിലേക്കാണ്. ഒരു കലാരൂപം എന്നതിനുപരി, നർത്തകിമാരുടെ സാമൂഹിക–ജാതിപദവികളുടെ പശ്ചാത്തലത്തിൽ മനസ്സിലാക്കേണ്ടതാണ് ഈ ചരിത്രം. ✍️ അമിത്ത് alablog.in/issues/issue-8…

കേരളത്തിൽ ‘അനാദായകരമായ വിദ്യാലയങ്ങള്‍’ വർദ്ധിക്കുന്നതെന്തുകൊണ്ട്? ജെ. രത്‌നകുമാറും സുജിത്കുമാറും കേരളത്തിലെ പൊതുവിദ്യാഭ്യാസരംഗത്തെ സങ്കീർണതകൾ വിശകലനം ചെയ്യുന്നു. alablog.in/issues/issue-1…

How can we re-imagine urban planning to be non-disruptive, to promote environmental conservation and to preserve the humanity of our streets? Thomas and Rajshree propose a solution that is both innovative and grounded in the realities of everyday life. alablog.in/issues/issue-1…

Regional media has brokered public engagement with science and opened a new sphere for political deliberation. Tracing the history of Kerala’s scientific public sphere, Shiju Sam delves into the major shift in the nature of public engagement with science. alablog.in/issues/24/scie…

ഒന്നിൽക്കൂടുതൽ എഴുത്തുരീതികളും, വാമൊഴി വ്യവസ്ഥകളും ഒരേസമയം ഉപയോഗത്തിലുണ്ടായിരുന്ന നാട്ടുഭാഷകളിൽ നിന്ന് ഒരു ആധുനിക ഭാഷയിലേക്കുള്ള മലയാളത്തിന്റെ പരിണാമം നിവേദിത കളരിക്കൽ ചർച്ച ചെയ്യുന്നു alablog.in/issues/24/mala…

Accompanied by lively illustrations of her own, anthropologist Eléonore Rimbault takes us through the ways in which Kerala’s circuses are entangled with India’s history. alablog.in/issues/36/mala…

Greeshma explores the evolution of the “photographer-hero” in Malayalam cinema, tracing how the camera symbolically shapes modern Malayali masculinity; these characters reveal the tensions between modernity, patriarchy, and cinematic identity. alablog.in/issues/84/traj…

Traditional elites harboured peculiar notions of purity and pollution in pre-modern Kerala. This piece explores hygiene, cleanliness & clothing through 2 early-modern texts, translated by Hari. Prefatory note by J. Devika. alablog.in/issues/13/agai…

The Plachimada struggle led by Mayilamma reflects grassroots environmental resistance. Sreejith Varma explores the challenge of translating her story. alablog.in/issues/13/mayi…