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JANAL Articles

Adivasi Schooling in Kerala

A view of formal education in the context of a tribal community, looking at practices, aspirations and (dis-)connections through voices from a forest village.

A Insider’s View on Kadar Community Life in Vazhachal

Over field visits and conversations, social activist and Anganwadi teacher Geetha Vazhachal shares her experiences as moopathi of the Vazhachal Kadar community.

Behind the Scenes of Chavittunatakam Makeup

Chavittunatakam makeup artist Antony shares his experiences, describing his career and insights into the art. of makeup.

Homes Adrift: Flooding and Erosion along the Chellanam Shore

Residents of Chellanam, a flood prone coastal village, give an insider's view of negotiating climate uncertainty and minimising loss.

Mechanised Fisheries in Kerala: The Indo Norwegian Project

Two generations ago, a group of Norwegians lived in Kerala, and together with local fisheries personnel, transformed the fishing industry in India.

The Fishing Industry in Munambam

Voices from a fishing port describe the current status of mechanised fishing, and draw attention to the practices and techniques in the transformation of the fisheries sector.

Malayali Women’s Magazines in the Colonial Period

This overview of a century of magazines for women in Kerala, reveal a generation of Malayali women emerging from entrenched patriarchy and caste–class nexus, and a politics within their seemingly apolitical presence.

The Bund on Lake Vembanad

Describing the unique ecosystem of below sea level agriculture in the reclaimed farmlands of Kuttanad.

Discovering Theyyam: Characters Within and Without

Theyyam is a performing art that is exclusive to the Kannur and Kasargod districts. This paper explores Muthappan Theyyams through their customs, practices, and audiences.

Collecting Clams at Vembanad Lake

Caught between the dynamics of farming and fisheries, the niche livelihood of clam collection along the lake finds ways to survive.

Chavittunatakam : A Synthesis of Cultures and Artforms

Cultures of Christianity and cultural form of Kathakali bring together a unique form of Indian Christian Dance Drama.

Student Holidays in Late Nineteenth-Century Cochin and Twentieth-Century Kerala

Oral histories and archival research help us understand historical school closures in Kerala.

Teak: Boon or Bane

How Adivasi homes and livelihoods became an economic resource for the British.

The Rubber Plantations of Kerala

Once a lucrative business most farmers in India's highest rubber producing state are finding alternative uses for their land, yet some hold on in hope. Tracing the trajectory of rubber through farmers' perspectives.

Vocational Higher Secondary Schools in Kerala

A study of two Vocational and Higher Secondary Schools in Kerala at present: St. Ignatius VHSS, Ernakulam and Rahmaniya VHSS for Handicapped, Kozhikode, to track factors that influence the aspirational Malayalis’ Higher Education choices.

History of Women’s Education in Colonial Kerala

Taking a closer look at the various initiatives that resulted in high literacy and educational statistics for women in Kerala.

History of Women's Dress in Schools

A pictorial story of the evolution of school and college dresses for girls and women for over a century.

Tutorial Colleges in Kerala

A forerunner of the private sector in higher education today, tutorial and parallel colleges emerged out of an unmet demand for college education, with a culture of non-formal higher education that is still remembered.

Therapeutics to Cosmetics

Hygiene entered the Indian market through a unique Ayurvedic formulation for the Cosmetic Soap involving ideas and characters from movies and newspapers, to caste and nationalism.

Travelling Plants - Cinchona, the Fever Tree

Tracing the miraculous drug quinine from Andean flowering plant to a potent agent in the transcontinental colonising process of European powers.

Land Tenures in Colonial Kerala

An overview of land tenures in Kerala from the middle ages to the twentieth century

Of Land and Castes Part 1

Narratives of upper-caste landowners on land and caste transactions among Malayalis in the past.

Of Land and Caste Part 2

How land tenures, land reform, law, and caste position worked in the midlands of Kerala - voices from the field.

Decline in Paddy Cultivation in Kerala

Land reforms have been touted as the reason for the decline in paddy cultivation in the state of Kerala. Are they the only reason for the decline?

Educational Narratives of Malayali Women

Mapping women’s voices of their educational experiences in the last 120 years through interviews, autobiographies, and biographies.

The Evolution of Kangani System

A closer look at the lives of plantation workers bound by restrictions of the Kangani System in South India and other parts of Southeast Asia.

Cartoons in Malayalam Magazines

Tracing the evolution of Malayali cartoonists and their impact on the Malayali imagination.

Is Laughter a Man’s World

The influence of Western imagination, the Indian national movement on the transformations and insecurities of the educated Malayali man through the cartoons of Sanjayan

The Rail and the Tree

How a rail innovation in Kerala drove the commercial needs of the British empire.

Mundan Parunki

The history of the Anglo-Indian community in Kerala through the book Mundan Parunki written by Francis Noronha.

Overnight Adulthood: The Story of my Thirandu Kalyanam

Reflecting on the cultural practices, taboos, and discriminations encountered by menstruating women.

Untold Histories Around the Anjengo Fort

The biography of a 300-yr old fort reveals a past of conquest and resistance, scandal and struggle.

Mid-twentieth-century Migration to Highland Kerala

The settlement of the Kerala Highlands by Syrian Christian migrants from Cochin-Travancore in the mid twentieth century unfold migration stories.

Kerala's Wetlands and Holocene Climate

Jenee Peter on archeology: How Kerala's residents forged remarkable strategies as they adapted ever-changing climatic shifts.

TOPASSES: Luso Indians after the Portuguese

Tracing the journey of the Luso-Indian community in Kochi from the Dutch conquest in 1663 to the final decades of the twentieth century.

Towards a Cosmopolitanism of Things

J Devika explores Kerala's evolving cosmopolitanisms, highlighting the impact of migration and transnationalism on the region's modernity.

Looks and Frictions in the Artwork of K.P.Reji

Satish Poduval zooms in on four of Reji’s key paintings to demoonstrate how he points to the fissures and the sutures that characterise Indian society today.

Vernacular Architecture - A Connection between Kerala and South Asia

A comparison and contrast of centuries old parallels that exist between the architectural traditions of Kerala and Southeast Asia.

Cochin Jews - The Cultural Fusion in Central Kerala

A close look at the emergence of Cochin Jews as a distinct religious community and their unique cultural history.

Koothambalam - Traditional Architecture in Precarity

Shifting patronage for the arts brings material precarity to Koothambalams, even as Koodiyattam sees a resurgence in following.

പൊയ്കയിൽ അപ്പച്ചന്‍റെ പാട്ടുകൾ - ഒരു ആമുഖം

പ്രത്യക്ഷ രക്ഷാ ദൈവസഭയുടെ സ്ഥാപകനും ശ്രീമൂലം പ്രജാസഭയിലെ പ്രതിനിധിയുമായിരുന്ന പൊയ്കയിൽ അപ്പച്ചൻ ശക്തമായ ജാതിമത വിമർശനങ്ങൾക്ക് തന്‍റെ പാട്ടുകളെ ആയുധമാക്കി. ഈ പാട്ടുകൾ വാമൊഴിയായും പുസ്തകരൂപത്തിലും ഇന്നും വായിക്കപ്പെടുകയും ചർച്ച ചെയ്യപ്പെടുകയും ചെയ്യുന്നു. വിമോചനത്തെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള ഭൗതികവും ആത്മീയവുമായ അപ്പച്ചന്‍റെ കാഴ്ച്ചപ്പാടുകളാണ് ഈ പാട്ടുകൾ.

The Commonwealth Trust Tile Factory in feroke

The Commonwealth tile factory in Feroke, Kerala, founded by German missionaries in 1905, played a pivotal role in the region's industrialisation, social transformation, and architectural development. This study highlights the precarious future of this historical landmark.

ലീലാതിലകവും തദ്ദേശീയതയും

തദ്ദേശീയഭാഷകളുടെ നിലനില്പിനുവേണ്ടിയുള്ള പ്രതിരോധത്തിന്‍റെ ചരിത്രത്തിന് വലിയ പഴക്കമുണ്ട്. പലകാലങ്ങളിൽ അത്തരം പ്രതിരോധങ്ങൾ ഇന്ത്യയിൽ സംഭവിച്ചു. മാതൃഭാഷയ്ക്കുവേണ്ടിയുള്ള സമരങ്ങൾ ഇന്നും ഇന്ത്യയിൽ സാധാരണമാണ്. അത്തരം പ്രതിരോധങ്ങളുടെ മധ്യകാല ഉദാഹരണമായി ലീലാതിലകമെന്ന ലക്ഷണശാസ്ത്ര ഗ്രന്ഥത്തെ പല പഠിതാക്കളും നിരീക്ഷിക്കുന്നു. ഈ ചിന്തകളിലൂന്നി ഭാഷയുടെ സ്വത്വം മധ്യകാല ചരിത്രത്തില്‍ രേഖപ്പെടുത്തുന്നതില്‍ ലീലാതിലകമെന്ന ലക്ഷണശാസ്ത്രഗ്രന്ഥത്തിന്‍റെ പങ്ക് എന്തെന്നുള്ള ഒരു അന്വേഷണം.

Narrative Styles of Visuality in Kalamezhuthu

Kalam is a material entity presented and performed through the corporeal intervention of the performers and devotees. Looking at the history of the sacred performed space of Kalamezhuthu.

ഭക്ഷണ സംസ്കാരം പത്തുപ്പാട്ടിന്‍റെ ആഖ്യാനത്തിൽ

വ്യത്യസ്ത പ്രദേശങ്ങളിൽ അനുയോജ്യമായ കാലാവസ്ഥയോടും മണ്ണിനോടും ഇണങ്ങിയ കാർഷികവിളകൾ കൃഷി ചെയ്യുകയും അതിൽ നിന്ന് ഓരോ ജനതയും തങ്ങളുടെതായ ഭക്ഷണസംസ്കാരം രൂപപ്പെടുത്തിയെടുക്കുകയും ചെയ്യുന്നു. ഇത് ഭക്ഷണസംസ്കാരത്തെക്കാളുപരി പ്രദേശത്തിന്‍റെ ചരിത്രമായി മാറുന്നു. പത്തുപ്പാട്ടിലെ ഭക്ഷണത്തെ ഉപാദാനമായി സ്വീകരിച്ചു കൊണ്ട് ഓരോ തിണയുടെയും തനത് സ്വഭാവത്തെ രൂപീകരിക്കുന്നതിന്‍റെ ആഖ്യാന സാധ്യതകളെ അന്വേഷിക്കുക കൂടിയാണ് ഈ പ്രബന്ധത്തിൽ ചെയ്യുന്നത്.

The Logic of Power Electricity Production in the Cochin State

The unique position of the Trichur Corporation Electrical department is a window to the role played by electrical power consumption as a marker of modern development.

The Kasargod Saree

Kasargod Saree, a unique weave of Kerala, seems to be on its last leg with a shortage of weavers plaguing this small-scale industry though demand is at an all-time high from Kerala and abroad.

The Paradoxes of Land Reforms

The state that most thoroughly implemented land reforms, Kerala, faces stunted agricultural growth. A continuation of plantation interests, exclusion of Dalits and Adivasis from land rights, and the rise of a rentier class, combine to perpetuate caste-feudal dominance.

Alamikkali-ALost Art Form Revived

Exploring the cultural context, geography, costumes, people, and origins of a folk festival that exists at the crossroads between two states and two religions.

Chaldean Syrian Christians in Kerala

The Chaldean Christians in Kerala are part of the larger Syrian Christian Community. This article traces the historical processes over centuries that led to the emergence of this community as a distinct Church in Kerala.

Kavadiyattam: A Cross-Cultural Comparison between Kerala and Tamilnadu

A comparison between Kavadiyattam performances, highlighting its spiritual significance in Tamilnadu versus its secular nature in Kerala. The article discusses the craftsmanship, rituals, and societal perspectives related to Kavadiyattam in both regions.

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