Regional and communal identity in response to politics, Islamism, and Hindutva in North Malabar
Abstract
This paper aims to address particular dimensions of regional and communal identity, concerning the peculiarities of spatial strategies and cultural locations as well as various inter- and intra-community political interactions. Identities of regions and communities are dynamic and evolving in relation to time and space. This paper is an attempt to address the complexities of the Hindu cultural nationalist Islamist politics. In this paper, the emphasis is on how the contemporary social life and politics of North Malabar appropriate and adopt cultural and political aspects of the past, in the creation of an identity in the present. The focus of this paper is more on latent political engagement and structural components of identity than the directly visible forms of articulations and assertions. Latent aspects of political engagements often associated with structural and cultural elements of regional and local societies directly relate to the ideological and political elements.
In North Malabar, ethics of folk art and martial tradition are inseparable from various aspects of the latent political engagement. Elements of courage, heroism, martyrdom, altruism, sacrifice and resistance are integral elements in everyday cultural elements of the region. The daily aspect of political engagement and socialisation reinforce these values in terms of regional and community identity. In North Malabar, the ethics of folk culture, and martial art are not only appropriated in political engagement but also functional as crucial elements in various stages of political socialisation.
In North Malabar, ethics of folk art and martial tradition are inseparable from various aspects of the latent political engagement. Elements of courage, heroism, martyrdom, altruism, sacrifice and resistance are integral elements in everyday cultural elements of the region. The daily aspect of political engagement and socialisation reinforce these values in terms of regional and community identity. In North Malabar, the ethics of folk culture, and martial art are not only appropriated in political engagement but also functional as crucial elements in various stages of political socialisation.
Full text
Permalink (doi)
Authors Affiliations
Shayju C
University of Hyderabad, India
Email: shyjuhcu@gmail.com
References
Alvarez S.E., Dagnino E. and Escobar A. (1998), “Introduction: The Cultural and the Political in Latin American Social Movements” in S.E. Alvarez (ed.), Cultures of Politics, Politics of Cultures: Re-visioning Latin American Social movements, Routledge, New York.
Awaya, T. (1997), “Some Aspects of the Tiyyas’ ‘Caste’ Movement with Special Reference to British Malabar”, in H. Kotani (ed.), Caste System, Untouchability and the Depressed (Japanese Studies on South Asia No. 1), Manohar. New Delhi.
Chandran TV. (2005), Ritual as Ideology: Text and Context in Teyyam, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi.
Chaturvedi, R. (2011), “Somehow it Happened’: Violence, Culpability, and the Hindu Nationalist Community”, Cultural Anthropology, vol. 26, no. 3, p. 340-362.
Chaturvedi, R. (2012), “North Kerala and Democracy’s Violent Demands”, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. XLVII, no. 42.
Ekman, J. and Amna, E. (2012), “Political Participation and Civic Engagement: Towards a new Typology”, Human Affairs, vol. 22, p. 283-300.
Giddens, A. (2001[1984]), The constitution of Society, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Glick Schiller, N. (1997), “Cultural Identities and the Politics of Culture”, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, vol. 4, no. 1.
Hart, S. (1996), “The Cultural Dimension of Social Movements: A Theoretical Reassessment and Literature Review”, Sociology of Religion, p. 87-100.
Innes, C.A. and Evans F.B. (1997), Malabar Gazetteer, Kerala Gazetteers Department, F.B. Evans (ed.), Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Kanchana, R. (2012), “Kozhikode (Calicut)’s Kuttichira: Exclusivity Maintained Proudly”, in L. Gayer and C. Jaffrelot (eds.), Muslims in Indian Cities: Trajectories of Marginalisation, Hurst Publication.
Koopmans, R. (2004), “Protest in time and Space: The Evolution of waves of Contention”, in D.A. Snow et al (eds), The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, Blackwell Publishing.
Loyal, S. (2003), The sociology of Anthony Giddens, Pulto Press.
Mayer, A.C. (1952), Land and Society in Malabar, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut.
Menon, D.M. (1992), “Conjuctural community: communism in Malabar, 1934-1948”, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 27, no. 51/52, p. 19-26.
Menon, D.M. (1994), Caste, Nationalism and Communism in South India: Malabar, 1900-1948, Cambridge University Press.
Menon, D.M. (1997), “Peasants and Politics in Malabar”, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 32, no. 41.
Menon, D.M. (1999) “Houses by the Sea: State Formation Experiments in Malabar, 1760- 1800”, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 34, no. 29.
Menon, D.M. (2016), “Pre-history of Violence? Revolution and Martyrs in the Making of a Political Tradition in Kerala”, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, p. 662-977.
NA, 2011, All India Religion Census Data 2011, viewed 23 April 2015, https://urlzs.com/Cujd4.
Osella, C. and Osella, F. (2000), “Migration Money and Masculinity in Kerala”, The Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 6, no. 1, p 117-133.
Osella, C. and Osella, F. (2000), Social Mobility in Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict, Pluto Press.
Osella, C. and Osella, F. (2006), Men and Masculinities in South India, Anthem South Asian Studies, Anthem Press.
Rogers, D.L., Bultena, G.L. and Barb K.H. (1975), “Voluntary Association membership and Political participation: an Exploration of the Mobilization Hypothesis”, The Sociological Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 3, p. 305- 318.
Snow, D.A., Soule, S.A. and Kriesi, H. (2004), “Mapping the Terrain”, in The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, D.A. Snow, S.A. Soule and H. Kriesi (eds.), Blackwell Publishing.
Thurston, E. and Rangachari, K. (1909), Castes and Tribes of Southern India, vol. VII, Government Press, Madras.
Yasser, A.P.K. (2016), “The Nadapuram Enigma: A History of Violence and Communalism in North Malabar (1957- 2015)”, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. LI. no. 15.
Zahira, M. (2014), “Folk Performances: Reading the Cultural History of the Thiyya Community in Kerala”, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, vol. 19, no. 2, p. 159- 164.
This post has already been read 3843 times!