[Reader-list] lecture at CSDS, today, on Caste Idenity in Kerala

[ravikant]

*Centre for the Study of Developing Societies*

*Programme for Social & Political Theory*
/(Rethinking the Political Series)/

invites you to a lecture

by

Professor P. Sanal Mohan on

*'Caste Identities in Contemporary Kerala'*

The lecture is scheduled to be held on April 11, 2011, 3.30 PM at CSDS 
Conference Hall.

You are cordially invited to attend the Lecture.


Here is the abstract:


_*Abstract*_

*Caste Identities in Contemporary Kerala*

The proposed paper tries to problematise the articulations of caste in 
contemporary Kerala which is significant in the analysis of the politics 
that has evolved in the post colonial times. While there are definite 
continuities with the manner in which caste was invoked in the early 
twentieth century mobilizations, the postcolonial political developments 
seemingly centred more and more on the developmental interventions of 
the state. The upwardly mobile Ezhavas assumed a new social self, the 
elements of which were drawn from the powerful reform movement of the 
community that began in 1904. The social movements made the transition 
to middle class relatively easy for Ezhavas while the same process was 
not available for various Dalit communities including Dalit Christians 
in spite of the powerful social movements that they had developed in the 
first half of the twentieth century. Fishermen community also remained 
marginalised even in areas where they developed social movements. The 
movements of upper caste communities such as the Nair and Namboodiri in 
the early decades of the twentieth century were instrumental in 
modernising their castes and help them evolve as modern social selves. 
One could also identify reform movements among Syrian Christians as well 
as Muslims following this general pattern. We don’t find any movement 
among the Adivasi communities except the Mala Arayas in the eastern 
hills of Travancore accepting Christianity in the mid nineteenth century.

While there are definite continuities with the invocation of caste in 
the early twentieth century mobilizations, the post colonial political 
and social development seemingly centred more and more on the state. 
However, it was not happening in a social vacuum. The newly emerged 
middle class drawn mostly from upper castes articulated its values as 
desirable for all social groups aspiring to be modern. The consequences 
of such a development were far reaching. Nationalist and left 
mobilizations had evolved a particular language for discussing issues of 
caste which did not go into the deeper issues of domination. As a result 
of it caste domination continued to be a problem in the civil society 
which was never acknowledged in Kerala. The oft repeated argument was 
that caste was losing its significance in Kerala. However, the 
articulations of caste became increasingly evident in the last few 
decades. The proposed paper attempts to analyse how issues of caste came 
to be discussed in Kerala in the after math of the discussions on much 
hyped developmental model of Kerala.


Sanal Mohan teaches history at School of Social Sciences,Mahatma Gandhi 
University, Kerala.



Praveen Rai
Academic Secretary
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29, Rajpur Road
Delhi - 110054
Phone: 91-11-23942199
Fax: 91-11-23943450
www.csds.in <http://www.csds.in>