Invisible and Forgotten: Story of Modern Malayalam Literary Space c1880-1920

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This paper attempts to historicise the formation of a “newness” that southern Indian region of Kerala experienced with the spread of a Malayalam print culture there, under colonialism in the final decades of nineteenth century and early decades of twentieth century. Dr Nambiar will try to argue that this period occupies a special position in the history of modern Kerala because something specifically new occurred then which did not exist before (in the early part of nineteenth century) nor survived after this period, as twentieth century advanced. Dr Nambiar will do this by focusing on a culture of versification that existed in the Malayalam print world of Kerala at that time- writing in verse not just poems but also news reports, letters, and history. In short this paper attempts to see if a focus on this culture allow us to reconceptualise the constitutive process of “modernity” in colonial contexts in India.

Speaker: Dr Ashokan Nambiar, Charles Wallace India Trust Visiting Fellow at the King's India Institute

Ashokan Nambiar has a Ph.D. in English from Delhi University on a thesis titled “Print, Communities and the Novel in Nineteenth-century Kerala.” His areas of interest include literary history, print culture, and the historical interface between the realms of the social, the literary and the political in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Kerala, a south Indian state.

Dr Nambiar is currently engaged in a work that aims to think about the constitution of modernity in nineteenth century Kerala in newer ways. His work involves writing a history of the formation of a “newness” that southern Indian region of Kerala experienced, with the spread of a print culture, under colonialism in the final decades of nineteenth century. He intends to do this by specifically focusing on certain practices - such as the culture of versification which were often seen in scholarly works as belonging to the realm of “tradition” and hence evaded critical scrutiny while attempting an understanding of the formation of colonial modernity. The culture of versification in print-which included not just composing poems but writing newspaper editorials, news reports, letters, etc. in verse- is a significant site because they did not exist before the last decades of nineteenth century and began to disappear as twentieth century advanced. This work investigates this specific culture and hopes to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of the nebulous concept we name “modernity”.