Papers by Kavya Krishna K R
Contemporary Education Dialogue, 2024
This article examines the schooling experiences of Dalit–Bahujan students in India through a read... more This article examines the schooling experiences of Dalit–Bahujan students in India through a reading of select Dalit–Bahujan autobiographies. Dropout rates of Dalit–Bahujan students from schools and their suicides in higher educational institutions are a matter of concern for the state and educationalists. At the same time, there is a lack of studies that attempt to understand their ‘experiences’ of schooling. Quantitative research is often inadequate to document how they ‘feel’ inside the school space. We argue that Dalit–Bahujan autobiographies are a valid source for understanding the ‘experiences’ of Dalit–Bahujan students affectively. Considering the historical specificity and political significance of the terms ‘Dalit’ and ‘Bahujan’, we propose ‘Dalit–Bahujan studenthood’ as a framework to perceive the particularity of experiences of the Dalit–Bahujan child as a student. The attempt here is to elucidate the usefulness of Dalit–Bahujan autobiographies as a resource for educators and pedagogic practitioners to understand Dalit–Bahujan students’ lifeworld, which, in turn, can enhance the experience of schooling for Dalit–Bahujan students. The article closely reads Dalit autobiographies such as Joothan (2003) by Omprakash Valmiki, Baluta (2015) by Daya Pawar, and Interrogating My Chandal Life: An Autobiography of a Dalit (2018) by Manoranjan Byapari and the autobiography From a Shepherd Boy to an Intellectual: My Memoirs (2019) by Bahujan scholar Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd.
Journal of Homosexuality, 2024
Focusing on the Malayalam film "Ka Bodyscapes" (2016), this article attempts to historically trac... more Focusing on the Malayalam film "Ka Bodyscapes" (2016), this article attempts to historically trace and critically engage with the representations of gay sexuality in Malayalam cinema from the South Indian state of Kerala. It interrogates how "Ka Bodyscapes" brought to the forefront hitherto unexplored visual dynamics of the gay male body and homoeroticism on screen while troubling the heterosexual dynamics of the Malayalam film industry. By situating this film within the history of representation of male homosexuality in Malayalam cinema and the changing regimes of queer politics and feminist interventions in Kerala in the last decade, the article argues how the film’s radical visual representation of gay sexuality at the intersection of caste and religion problematizes the heterosexual family/state, thereby challenging the patriarchal masculinity that marginalizes women and sexual minorities in Kerala.
Diotima's:A Journal of New Readings (Issue on Popular Culture), 2019
Dance and its performers were always under the surveillance of
colonial and/ postcolonial author... more Dance and its performers were always under the surveillance of
colonial and/ postcolonial authorities in India. The reform and reinvention of Devadasi dance in early twentieth century, the ban on Lavani folk dance in 1940’s and the 2005 ban on Bar Dance proves the same. The ban on Cinematic Dance in schools of Kerala issued in 2005 and 2011 by Kerala Educational Department adds to the history. Focusing on the moment of Cinematic Dance ban in schools, the paper will try to do two things: on the one hand it will try to map the debates the dance ban generated in Kerala Public Sphere and secondly it will try to read the apprehension on Cinematic Dance, as actually the anxiety about the function of dance as a social text that can pose threat to the existing norms of gender/bodily performance in the given society. The question of gender/bodily performance cannot but intersect with that of caste in the Kerala/Indian society. To explore the above concerns the paper maps the contemporary print, online and visual materials on the Cinematic Dance/ ban including the documentary 3D Stereo Caste (2012) by A.S. Ajit Kumar and it also goes back to the history of classical dance reform in Kerala/ India.
Sanghaditha , 2020
കലാരൂപങ്ങളെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള പഠനങ്ങള് പൊതുവെ അതിന്റെ സങ്കേതങ്ങളെയും സമ്പ്രദായങ്ങളെയും കുറിച്ചാണ് പ്... more കലാരൂപങ്ങളെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള പഠനങ്ങള് പൊതുവെ അതിന്റെ സങ്കേതങ്ങളെയും സമ്പ്രദായങ്ങളെയും കുറിച്ചാണ് പ്രതിബാധിക്കാറുള്ളത്. എന്നാല് നൃത്തം എന്ന രംഗകലയെ, അതില് ഉള്പ്പെട്ട പ്രദേശത്തെയും ലിംഗനിര്മ്മിതിയെയും കുറിച്ച് ചിന്തിക്കാനുള്ള ഒരു ഇടമായി എങ്ങനെ ഉപയോഗിക്കാം എന്ന് മോഹിനിയാട്ടത്തെ മുന് നിര്ത്തിയുള്ള ഒരു അന്വേഷണമാണ് ഈ ലേഖനം .
Reference for citation
Nrittam Enna Social Text: Mohiniyattavum Strainathayum( Dance as a Social Text: Mohiniyattam and Feminininity) Sanghaditha Magazine, December 2020, Special Issue on 'Nirtham' Vol 21, issue 2
Dialogist: International Journal of Literary Studies and Interdisciplinary Research, Kannur University, 2022
The paper analyses the changed sensibility in representing gay men, their masculinity and sexuali... more The paper analyses the changed sensibility in representing gay men, their masculinity and sexuality in recent Hindi films/series. It closely reads the visual texts Aligarh (2016), Kapoor & Sons (2016), Made in Heaven (2019), and Badhaai Do (2022) to see the shifts in the portrayal of gay masculinity and sexuality in the popular/ mainstream Hindi media. It analyses the role of decriminalisation of homosexuality together with exposure to global visual content through improved internet access and coming in of Over The Top (OTT) platforms behind the break away from stereotypes to a realistic portrayal of gay masculinity in Hindi films. It does a detailed textual analysis of select films to show the new sensitivity in representing gay masculinity and sexuality in contemporary films and highlights the possibilities for an egalitarian existence the films as political textsopen up for the gay community in India.
Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific(The Australian National University), 2023
Focusing on the actor Fahadh Faasil, this article studies the shifts in the notions of masculinit... more Focusing on the actor Fahadh Faasil, this article studies the shifts in the notions of masculinity, heroism and stardom in contemporary Malayalam cinema of the South Indian state of Kerala. Rising to fame after 2010 as a significant figure of the 'New Generation' cinema in Malayalam, Faasil complicated the centrality of the male star in the film narrative by disrupting the hegemonic models of heroic masculinity. The first section of the article places Faasil's stardom in relation to those of the two major superstars of Malayalam cinema, Mohanlal and Mammootty, particularly with regard to when they were in the prime of their careers in the 1990s. The subsequent section of the article examines Faasil's films in the larger context of 'New Generation' cinema in Malayalam and contemporary developments in gender regimes in Kerala. The article also provides a detailed analysis of his select films based on tropes to see how his film career and/or characters contributed to the deconstruction of existing patterns of performing masculinity, heroism and stardom, which made him a unique figure representing a change in Malayalam cinema.
Visual Anthropology, 2023
The Sabarimala Temple in the South Indian state of Kerala garnered national and global attention ... more The Sabarimala Temple in the South Indian state of Kerala garnered national and global attention following violent protests against the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict in September 2018, allowing the entry of women of menstruating age to the temple. By studying popular Malayalam films released over the years, this article examines how beliefs around Sabarimala are intrinsically linked to the notion of the male householder, while simultaneously marginalizing women’s religiosity. We first delineate the influence of the film Swami Ayyappan (1975) in establishing the role of the deity Ayyappa in the welfare of hetero-patriarchal families in Kerala. The second section studies how the film Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala (1998) problematizes the centrality of the male householder in Kerala after liberalization and the way that the Sabarimala pilgrimage is used within the narrative to reinstate the patriarchal male. The following section examines the film The Great Indian Kitchen (2021) against the backdrop of the Sabarimala protests and developments in gender regimes in Kerala post-2000. Poised at the intersections of gender and religion, we argue that this film unravels the subtle forms of everyday gender discrimination and the undesirability of patriarchal masculinity in contemporary Kerala. It concludes by discussing briefly a few other recent Malayalam films, like Malikappuram (2022), released after the women’s temple-entry protests, to show their treatment of the Sabarimala issue and the politics of gender therein.
CAESURAE: POETICS OF CULTURAL TRANSLATION, 2022
The Malayalam film Kumbalangi Nights (2019) received wide appreciation as a mainstream/popular mo... more The Malayalam film Kumbalangi Nights (2019) received wide appreciation as a mainstream/popular movie which decoded masculinity. This article attempts a close reading of the film to see how the film unsettles the usual representation of 'the hero' in Malayalam/Indian films. It argues that Kumbalangi Nights can actually be read as a satire of the filmic hero usually seen in the earlier decades' Superstar films in Malayalam. It argues that what Kumbalangi Nights does is to show that the 'hegemonic masculinity' which hero centric popular Malayalam/Indian films celebrate is actually 'toxic masculinity'. The institution of family is quite central in keeping the gender divisions intact. The article also tries to point out that our set understanding about the 'proper' middle class family as the space of ideal domestic contentment, as usually depicted in popular movies, is shattered in Kumbalangi Nights. It also tries to delineate how the agency of women is central to the narrative of the film in the unravelling of toxic masculinity and in problematising power relations within the family. The article argues that the film shows the inside of the ideal middle class household as a place of power play, where women are most often living in constant fear; it is the space of the most violent attacks-physical and emotional-against women and children. It reads that Kumbalangi Nights offers an alternate model of family based on love, empathy, kindness and virtue rather than relation through body fluids. The article is divided into five sections: the first section gives the theoretical framework of the article, the second section introduces the plot and setting of the movie, the third section-Men of Kumbalangi and Masculinity-is further divided into two parts which look at the film's undoing of the concept of hero and hegemonic masculinity and its portrayal of other masculinities. The fourth section presents a critique of the normative middle class family in the film. The fifth section analyses the characterization of women in the film and its importance in the undoing of the hegemonic masculinity and power play in the normative family. The final section concludes the article by briefly placing Kumbalangi Nights against the Malayalam Superstar films of the 1990s and 2000s to bring out the contrast and ends by opening up further possibilities of research on the film.
Gendered Ways of Transnational Un-Belonging from a Comparative Literature Perspective Cambridge Scholars, 2019
World Journal of Gender and Literature ISSN 2349-1620, 2016
The paper Engendering Revolution: A Study of Select Textual
Representations of the Radical Left M... more The paper Engendering Revolution: A Study of Select Textual
Representations of the Radical Left Movement in Kerala
analyses select textual representations of the Naxalbari
movement in Kerala which happened in late nineteen sixties
from the perspective of Gender Studies. The left politics in
Kerala which supposedly fought to build an egalitarian society
for the farmers and the working class is now being criticized
for its blindness towards caste and gender inequalities. The
contemporary crisis makes it imperative to reread the history of
some of the political movements in Kerala from the perspective
of gender studies. In such an attempt the paper will try to
understand the gender relations and discourse on sexuality
which informed the extreme left movement by looking at two
textual representations of the same. The Malayalam texts
analysed in this paper are Kakkanadan’s novel
Ushnamaekhala(first published in 1969) and the ex-Naxalite
Ajitha’s autobiography Ormakkurippukal(first published in
1982).
Written in 2009.
Diotima's: A Journal of New Readings, Dept of English, Providence Women's College Calicut, 2017
Its an introduction to the journal Diotima's : A Journal of New Readings Volume 8, December 2017,... more Its an introduction to the journal Diotima's : A Journal of New Readings Volume 8, December 2017, on the topic-The Body: History Representation Resistance - edited by me.
https://www.pwcenglish.com/diotimas-a-journal-of-new-readings/
Transcultural negotiations of gender: Studies in (be)longing, 2016
This article is an attempt to look at the practices and discourses of
gendering the body within ... more This article is an attempt to look at the practices and discourses of
gendering the body within the site of a particular dance form—Mohiniyattam.
Mohiniyattam is considered to be the classical dance form of women of Kerala.
It is understood as a ‘feminine’ or lasya style of dance, based on its use of body
movements. Currently, Mohiniyattam is being represented as the heightened version of the ideal Kerala/Malayalee woman’s identity and femininity through tourism advertisements, films and other popular representations. This article traces the
process of gendering which had gone into the reinvention of Mohiniyattam in the
1930s. It tries to see whether the reinvention of Mohiniyattam was a reimagining
and refashioning of the Malayalee woman’s identity. It also reads how training
the body for a dance form overlaps with instructions for disciplining the female
body to be ideally feminine. It is interesting to see how Mohiniyattam produces,
defines and sustains a gender ideal for a regional feminine identity through bodily
practices. The effort is to see how the dancer’s body and her movements are constructed, and how it spills over into the shaping of female bodies within a particular culture and history.
Keywords Mohiniyattam · Invention of Tradition · Constructed femininity ·
Vallathol Narayana Menon · Performativity · Dance · Gender
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Papers by Kavya Krishna K R
colonial and/ postcolonial authorities in India. The reform and reinvention of Devadasi dance in early twentieth century, the ban on Lavani folk dance in 1940’s and the 2005 ban on Bar Dance proves the same. The ban on Cinematic Dance in schools of Kerala issued in 2005 and 2011 by Kerala Educational Department adds to the history. Focusing on the moment of Cinematic Dance ban in schools, the paper will try to do two things: on the one hand it will try to map the debates the dance ban generated in Kerala Public Sphere and secondly it will try to read the apprehension on Cinematic Dance, as actually the anxiety about the function of dance as a social text that can pose threat to the existing norms of gender/bodily performance in the given society. The question of gender/bodily performance cannot but intersect with that of caste in the Kerala/Indian society. To explore the above concerns the paper maps the contemporary print, online and visual materials on the Cinematic Dance/ ban including the documentary 3D Stereo Caste (2012) by A.S. Ajit Kumar and it also goes back to the history of classical dance reform in Kerala/ India.
Reference for citation
Nrittam Enna Social Text: Mohiniyattavum Strainathayum( Dance as a Social Text: Mohiniyattam and Feminininity) Sanghaditha Magazine, December 2020, Special Issue on 'Nirtham' Vol 21, issue 2
https://www.cambridgescholars.com/gendered-ways-of-transnational-un-belonging-from-a-comparative-literature-perspective
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=CYCXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA309&lpg=PA309&dq=Gendered+Ways+of+Transnational+Un-Belonging+from+a+Comparative+Literature+kavya&source=bl&ots=I43ucUDmry&sig=ACfU3U1YWUhqdjm4pXaLO5c6Nk8wgBy5EA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiYsPPiyqnsAhV67HMBHV5oATcQ6AEwB3oECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=Gendered%20Ways%20of%20Transnational%20Un-Belonging%20from%20a%20Comparative%20Literature%20kavya&f=false
Representations of the Radical Left Movement in Kerala
analyses select textual representations of the Naxalbari
movement in Kerala which happened in late nineteen sixties
from the perspective of Gender Studies. The left politics in
Kerala which supposedly fought to build an egalitarian society
for the farmers and the working class is now being criticized
for its blindness towards caste and gender inequalities. The
contemporary crisis makes it imperative to reread the history of
some of the political movements in Kerala from the perspective
of gender studies. In such an attempt the paper will try to
understand the gender relations and discourse on sexuality
which informed the extreme left movement by looking at two
textual representations of the same. The Malayalam texts
analysed in this paper are Kakkanadan’s novel
Ushnamaekhala(first published in 1969) and the ex-Naxalite
Ajitha’s autobiography Ormakkurippukal(first published in
1982).
Written in 2009.
https://www.pwcenglish.com/diotimas-a-journal-of-new-readings/
gendering the body within the site of a particular dance form—Mohiniyattam.
Mohiniyattam is considered to be the classical dance form of women of Kerala.
It is understood as a ‘feminine’ or lasya style of dance, based on its use of body
movements. Currently, Mohiniyattam is being represented as the heightened version of the ideal Kerala/Malayalee woman’s identity and femininity through tourism advertisements, films and other popular representations. This article traces the
process of gendering which had gone into the reinvention of Mohiniyattam in the
1930s. It tries to see whether the reinvention of Mohiniyattam was a reimagining
and refashioning of the Malayalee woman’s identity. It also reads how training
the body for a dance form overlaps with instructions for disciplining the female
body to be ideally feminine. It is interesting to see how Mohiniyattam produces,
defines and sustains a gender ideal for a regional feminine identity through bodily
practices. The effort is to see how the dancer’s body and her movements are constructed, and how it spills over into the shaping of female bodies within a particular culture and history.
Keywords Mohiniyattam · Invention of Tradition · Constructed femininity ·
Vallathol Narayana Menon · Performativity · Dance · Gender
colonial and/ postcolonial authorities in India. The reform and reinvention of Devadasi dance in early twentieth century, the ban on Lavani folk dance in 1940’s and the 2005 ban on Bar Dance proves the same. The ban on Cinematic Dance in schools of Kerala issued in 2005 and 2011 by Kerala Educational Department adds to the history. Focusing on the moment of Cinematic Dance ban in schools, the paper will try to do two things: on the one hand it will try to map the debates the dance ban generated in Kerala Public Sphere and secondly it will try to read the apprehension on Cinematic Dance, as actually the anxiety about the function of dance as a social text that can pose threat to the existing norms of gender/bodily performance in the given society. The question of gender/bodily performance cannot but intersect with that of caste in the Kerala/Indian society. To explore the above concerns the paper maps the contemporary print, online and visual materials on the Cinematic Dance/ ban including the documentary 3D Stereo Caste (2012) by A.S. Ajit Kumar and it also goes back to the history of classical dance reform in Kerala/ India.
Reference for citation
Nrittam Enna Social Text: Mohiniyattavum Strainathayum( Dance as a Social Text: Mohiniyattam and Feminininity) Sanghaditha Magazine, December 2020, Special Issue on 'Nirtham' Vol 21, issue 2
https://www.cambridgescholars.com/gendered-ways-of-transnational-un-belonging-from-a-comparative-literature-perspective
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=CYCXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA309&lpg=PA309&dq=Gendered+Ways+of+Transnational+Un-Belonging+from+a+Comparative+Literature+kavya&source=bl&ots=I43ucUDmry&sig=ACfU3U1YWUhqdjm4pXaLO5c6Nk8wgBy5EA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiYsPPiyqnsAhV67HMBHV5oATcQ6AEwB3oECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=Gendered%20Ways%20of%20Transnational%20Un-Belonging%20from%20a%20Comparative%20Literature%20kavya&f=false
Representations of the Radical Left Movement in Kerala
analyses select textual representations of the Naxalbari
movement in Kerala which happened in late nineteen sixties
from the perspective of Gender Studies. The left politics in
Kerala which supposedly fought to build an egalitarian society
for the farmers and the working class is now being criticized
for its blindness towards caste and gender inequalities. The
contemporary crisis makes it imperative to reread the history of
some of the political movements in Kerala from the perspective
of gender studies. In such an attempt the paper will try to
understand the gender relations and discourse on sexuality
which informed the extreme left movement by looking at two
textual representations of the same. The Malayalam texts
analysed in this paper are Kakkanadan’s novel
Ushnamaekhala(first published in 1969) and the ex-Naxalite
Ajitha’s autobiography Ormakkurippukal(first published in
1982).
Written in 2009.
https://www.pwcenglish.com/diotimas-a-journal-of-new-readings/
gendering the body within the site of a particular dance form—Mohiniyattam.
Mohiniyattam is considered to be the classical dance form of women of Kerala.
It is understood as a ‘feminine’ or lasya style of dance, based on its use of body
movements. Currently, Mohiniyattam is being represented as the heightened version of the ideal Kerala/Malayalee woman’s identity and femininity through tourism advertisements, films and other popular representations. This article traces the
process of gendering which had gone into the reinvention of Mohiniyattam in the
1930s. It tries to see whether the reinvention of Mohiniyattam was a reimagining
and refashioning of the Malayalee woman’s identity. It also reads how training
the body for a dance form overlaps with instructions for disciplining the female
body to be ideally feminine. It is interesting to see how Mohiniyattam produces,
defines and sustains a gender ideal for a regional feminine identity through bodily
practices. The effort is to see how the dancer’s body and her movements are constructed, and how it spills over into the shaping of female bodies within a particular culture and history.
Keywords Mohiniyattam · Invention of Tradition · Constructed femininity ·
Vallathol Narayana Menon · Performativity · Dance · Gender