I SHORE Institute for Social Sciences, Humanities and Oceanic Research

We collaborate with different Indian and Dutch institutions to organize this workshop on different matrilineal communities in Kerala. Please share among your circles or submit an abstract if you would like to join us on December 15-16, 2023 in Kannur.

https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2023/12/call-for-papers-matrilineal-kerala-investigations-across-borders

We are inviting applications for for 1 to 3 months. Great opportunity to learn practically the foundations of academic research and institution building, under the mentorship of established experts & scholars!
Deadline: 31 Aug 23.
Apply here: http://bit.ly/ishore-internship-23

We are thrilled to announce our 24th webinar led by the distinguished Prof. Arjun Appadurai (Goddard Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University). Join us as he explores both earlier and recent theories on the global movements of labor, bodies, and commodities, shedding light on the circulation of forms that preceded the commodity flows. Prof. Brian Edwards (Dean and Professor, School of Liberal Arts, Tulane University) will provide commentary based on his collaborative research on port cities.

We are proud to partner with MES Mampad College for this event. Dr. Manzur Ali, the College Principal, will chair the session, while Divya Kannan (Shiv Nadar University) will moderate it. Don't miss out on this engaging session! Register by scanning the QR code or sending an email to [email protected].

The recording of our latest webinar with Prof. Ananya Jahanara Kabir is now available! We had a great turnout during the live session, yet many more people have been asking for the recording. Don't miss out on the opportunity to listen to the insightful lecture and discussion.

In this talk, Prof. Kabir examines how fiction offers a route to recall, valorise, and reactivate the creolisation processes that were set into motion by the advent of the Portuguese on the Malabar Coast at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. In particular, she examines novels that depict the Latin Catholic community that formed thereby, including N. S. Madhavan’s Litanies of Dutch Battery and J***y Miranda’s Requiem for the Living.

Prof. Ananya Jahanara Kabir | Creole Cochin and Archipelagic Memory: Novels of Latin Catholic Life In this talk, Prof. Kabir examines how fiction offers a route to recall, valorise, and reactivate the creolisation processes that were set into motion by the...

We are delighted to announce that Professor Ananya Jahanara Kabir (King’s College London) would lead our 23rd webinar with a talk on Cochin and its creole and archipelagic memory (see the abstract below) this Thursday (27 Apr) at 7pm IST.

Dr. Rajesh James (Sacred Heart College, Cochin) would comment on the lecture, and Dr. V.J. Varghese (University of Hyderabad) would chair and moderate the session.

For more info and to register, visit: https://bit.ly/ishore23

Abstract:

In this presentation, I will examine how fiction offers a route to recall, valorise, and reactivate the creolisation processes that were set into motion by the advent of the Portuguese on the Malabar Coast at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. In particular, I will examine novels that depict the Latin Catholic community that formed thereby, including N. S. Madhavan’s Litanies of Dutch Battery, J***y Miranda’s Requiem for the Living, Ponjikkara Rafi’s Ora pro nobis, and George Thundiparambil’s Maya. In these novels, the geography, history, and community dynamics of the area known as Fort Kochi are invoked through a narrative technique that I call archipelagic. Using literary close reading alongside theories of creolisation and archipelagicity, I will reveal the political significance of thus narrativizing the Latin Catholics even while arguing for the theoretical inadequacy of the vocabulary of ‘syncretism’ frequently deployed to characterise Kochi’s culture.

We are extremely happy to announce that Prof. Shivaji Panikkar (former dean of Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda; and professor at Ambedkar University, Delhi) would lead our 22nd webinar. As an Art Historian, he will talk about Indian art collectives in the 1980s (see the abstract below).

Dr. Kavitha Balakrishnan (Govt. College of Fine Arts, Thrissur) would be the discussant, and Sudheesh Kottembram (RLV College of Music and Fine Arts) would chair and moderate the session. We are equally happy to collaborate with Govt. College of Fine Arts for this event.

Please register by sending an email to [email protected].

Abstract:
For several reasons early to mid-1980s can be located as defining years for contemporary Indian art. The social responses through art threw open the limits of “social art” in the exhibition Place for People (1981), a very significant moment when Indian art turns political and takes a turn towards global alignments. Starting with the manifesto of Group 1890 by J. Swaminathan, two other art manifestos namely Place for People exhibition catalog essay written by Geeta Kapur and Questions and Dialogue (1987), the manifesto/exhibition catalog essay of the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors Association written by Anita Dube will be considered as path-breaking towards the formations of extreme political ideals and aspiration in the art field. The presentation will argue that without a robust notion of subjectivity and an avowal of the agency of the radical artist persona, there is no relevance of individual freedom and liberation, no locus of struggle and opposition, and no agency for progressive political transformation, which are manifested in newer ideological positions of Feminists, Q***r and of the subalterns.

We are excited to announce that Prof. Federico De Romanis (University of Rome, Italy) would lead our first webinar of this year! He would talk about the unique Muziris papyrus on early trade relations between the Roman Empire and South India with special attention to the pepper cargo transported in the ship Hermapollon (see Abstract below).

Prof. Pius Malekandathil (formerly at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University) would comment on the lecture. Dr. Priya P. (Head, Department of History, Govt. Arts & Science College, Calicut) would chair and moderate the session.

We are also delighted that we will collaborate with the Government Arts & Science College, Calicut for this event. Please register at [email protected] to attend.

The pepper cargo of the Hermapollon
Abstract:
The extant part of the text on the Muziris papyrus verso includes an assessment of the three-quarters cargo of a ship returning to Egypt from Muziris. One of the most remarkable achievements in recent research is the ascertainment of the monetary value of the pepper cargo entry: 771 talents and 4,632 drachmas. To how much pepper will that sum correspond?

In addition to the book discussion today, tomorrow we also organize a public seminar on an integrated approach towards the early modern history of Kerala on the basis of sources from multiple languages. The event initiates a dialogue between specialists in Dutch, Malayalam, Syriac and Arabic sources produced in/on Malabar during the so-called “Dutch period” between the late-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Speakers would explore how diverse sources with arguably different cultural provenances could potentially construct or deconstruct different epochs in regional and global histories.

The seminar follows three masterclasses-cum-workhop led by Prof. Jos Gommans, Dr. Lennart Bes and Dr. Binu John Mailaparambil on using the Dutch archives to study Kerala's past. In the workshop, 13 researchers from different Indian and international universities would participate.

Please join us today and tomorrow in Mattanchery!

We are delighted to announce our first event of this year: two eminent historians discuss two latest books on south Indian history.

Gopinath Ravindran (Vice Chancellor, Kannur University) would discuss Abhilash Malayil’s "Ryotwari: Company State and Political Economy" and N.J. Francis (Professor, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit) would discuss Lennart Bes's "The Heirs of Vijayanagara: Court Politics in Early Modern South India". Both authors would respond to the questions and comments.

Noted academic and activist, Dr. Rekha Raj would chair and moderate the session.

This event is our first offline event and will be held in Cochin in collaboration with the Aazhi Archives.

Please join us at Mattancheri on Friday at 6pm!

Call for Applications
Masterclass & Workshop

We are organizing 3 Masterclasses-cum-workshop for PhD candidates & early career scholars interested in using the Dutch archives to explore Kerala’s past. They can study from, and interact with, leading experts on the early modern Dutch archives on South Asia and South India.

If you are interested, please send a motivation letter, synopsis of your PhD, CV, and contact details of two potential referees to [email protected] before January 05, 2023.

Preference will be given to candidates who are already working on “the Dutch period” in South Asian history or who know some Dutch and historical research. However, these are not mandatory.

The selected participants should pay Rs. 1000 as a registration fee, unless you do not have sufficient resources.

For more details, visit: http://ishore.org/activities/

We'll start in one hour, please join us!

We are happy to announce that our 20th webinar would be led by Prof. Ritty Lukose (New York University, USA) on Wednesday, 30 Nov 2022 at 7pm IST. She will talk about feminist and anthropological trajectories of thinking about the region transnationally (see Abstract below). Dr. Mythri Prasad (Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA) would be the discussant.

​For the session, we are also delighted to collaborate with the departments of History and Political Science at the Government College Madappally, Kerala. Dr. Jine​e​sh PS from the college would chair and moderate the session and Umesh K will propose the vote of thanks.

Abstract

The frame of the “region” has been a productive site for unsettling embedded national framings in literary and historical analysis within and beyond South Asia. This talk draws attention to itineraries of the “the region” within feminist and anthropological approaches to the “global”. How does “region” configure and/or disrupt conceptions of the “global” in feminism? What are the itineraries of “region” in anthropologies of the “global”? Situating a discussion of the transnational trajectories of the “Kerala Model of Development” within such questions, this talk explores shifting frames of locality across the regional, national and the global.

We are happy to announce that our 20th webinar would be led by Prof. Ritty Lukose (New York University, USA) on Wednesday, 30 Nov 2022 at 7pm IST. She will talk about feminist and anthropological trajectories of thinking about the region transnationally (see Abstract below). Dr. Mythri Prasad (Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA) would be the discussant.

​For the session, we are also delighted to collaborate with the departments of History and Political Science at the Government College Madappally, Kerala. Dr. Jine​e​sh PS from the college would chair and moderate the session and Umesh K will propose the vote of thanks.

Abstract

The frame of the “region” has been a productive site for unsettling embedded national framings in literary and historical analysis within and beyond South Asia. This talk draws attention to itineraries of the “the region” within feminist and anthropological approaches to the “global”. How does “region” configure and/or disrupt conceptions of the “global” in feminism? What are the itineraries of “region” in anthropologies of the “global”? Situating a discussion of the transnational trajectories of the “Kerala Model of Development” within such questions, this talk explores shifting frames of locality across the regional, national and the global.

We are extremely happy to announce that Professor P. Sanal Mohan (School of Social Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam) would lead our next webinar on migration, caste, and new spatialities on November 17, 2022, at 7.00pm IST. Dr. Jayaseelan Raj (Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen) would be the discussant.

We are equally happy to collaborate with the Sullamussalam Science College Areekode for the event. Dr. Haskerali EC from the college would chair and moderate the session.

Please register by emailing [email protected]

This event is today at 6pm IST.
We'll start in a couple of hours.
Please join us!

We are extremely happy to announce that Sonja Thomas (Associate Professor and Department Chair, Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies, Colby College, USA) would lead our next webinar. She would talk about her latest research into the Malayalee/Indian Christian diaspora in the United States, specifically on Indian Catholic priests serving in rural areas and their engagements with questions of race and caste. Irene Promodh (University of Michigan) would be the discussant.

We are equally happy that we'll collaborate for this event with three departments of the Mahajaraja's College, Eranakulam. Rekha Karim (Head of the English Department) would chair the session and A.M. Shinas (History Department) would moderate.

Please register by sending your name and address to [email protected]

We are extremely happy to announce that Sonja Thomas (Associate Professor and Department Chair, Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies, Colby College, USA) would lead our next webinar. She would talk about her latest research into the Malayalee/Indian Christian diaspora in the United States, specifically on Indian Catholic priests serving in rural areas and their engagements with questions of race and caste. Irene Promodh (University of Michigan) would be the discussant.

We are equally happy that we'll collaborate for this event with three departments of the Mahajaraja's College, Eranakulam. Rekha Karim (Head of the English Department) would chair the session and A.M. Shinas (History Department) would moderate.

Please register by sending your name and address to [email protected]

We'll start the event in a couple of hours. Please join to listen to Prof. Upinder Singh, Dr. Manu V. Devadevan and Dr. Sanjukta Datta, all talking about ancient Indian history!

We are delighted to announce that Professor Upinder Singh (Ashoka University, Sonepat), one of the most noted Indian historians, would lead our next webinar with a lecture titled "Ancient India: Culture of Contradictions" on Saturday, 27 August 2022 at 5pm IST.

Dr. Sanjukta Datta (Ashoka University) would be the discussant and Dr. Manu V. Devadevan (Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi) would chair and moderate the session.

Please register right away at [email protected]

We are delighted to announce that Professor Upinder Singh (Ashoka University, Sonepat), one of the most noted Indian historians, would lead our next webinar with a lecture titled "Ancient India: Culture of Contradictions" on Saturday, 27 August 2022 at 5pm IST.

Dr. Sanjukta Datta (Ashoka University) would be the discussant and Dr. Manu V. Devadevan (Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi) would chair and moderate the session.

Please register right away at [email protected]

If you missed our last webinar with a fascinating lecture by Professor Dilip Menon (University of Witwatersrand, South Africa) and an insightful discussion by Dr. Mahvish Ahmad (London School of Economics, UK), please watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkhSXT7z6ok&t=8s

Prof. Dilip Menon: "Changing Theory: Doing Social Sciences in the Global South" I-SHORE Webinar 16 led by Dilip Menon (Professor of History, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa) with a lecture titled "Changing Theory: Doing Social ...

I-SHORE is delighted that our next webinar is led by Dilip Menon (Professor of History, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa) with a lecture titled "Changing Theory: Doing Social Sciences in the Global South" at 7.30 pm IST, Wednesday 29 June 2022.

Dr. Mahvish Ahmad (Assistant Professor in Human Rights and Politics, London School of Economics, UK) will be the discussant.

We are equally happy that we'll collaborate for the event with the Department of Malayalam, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit. Dr. M.C. Abdul Nazar, Associate Professor at the Koyilandi Centre, will chair and moderate the session.

To participate, please register by sending an email to [email protected]

We are happy to announce that Prof. K. Satchidanandan, well-known poet, cultural critic and President of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, would give a talk at our 15th webinar this Sunday (22 May 2022) at 7.30pm Indian Standard Time.

We are equally happy that we collaborate with the Thunchan Memorial Government College, Tirur, for the session. Dr. Dayanandan K., Head of the Malayalam Department at the college, would chair and moderate the event while Dr. Vinni Rani Krishna, Assistant Professor at the Department of English, would be the discussant.

To participate please register at [email protected]

We start in 30 minutes, please sign in!

We are extremely happy to announce that our next webinar would be led by Dr. Ophira Gamliel (University of Glasgow, United Kingdom) together with Meydad Eliyahu Kallingal (Jerusalem), Yehoshua Eliyahu Palliparambil (Haifa) and Orna Eliyahu Oron (Seattle). The session, scheduled for 26 April at 6.30 pm IST, would contrast the historical evidence of the lost Jew Town of Kochi with the historiographical fallacies that obfuscate their significance. For more details, see the abstract below.

We are equally delighted that we will collaborate for this event with the Union Christian College, Aluva. Dr. Jenee Peter from its Department of History would chair and moderate the session.

To attend, please register at [email protected]

Abstract:
The Jewish heritage of Kochi is associated with a single synagogue of the Paradesi or “White” Jews of Mattancherry, while two other synagogues dated 1344 and 1489 respectively are erased from the history and the urban landscape of the town. One of these synagogues, the Kadavumbhagam Synagogue in Marakkadavu was subject to neglect and decay, gradually dismantled of its furnishings, until its façade collapsed in September 2019. The other, Tekkumbhagam Synagogue, was razed to the ground sometime around the migration of its community members to Israel in the late 1950s. The cemeteries of these two communities did met a similar fate; tombstones were scattered, the burial grounds transformed into residential built areas, and only one grave still standing, that of the poet saint Namya M***a (Nehemia Ben Abraham). This state of affairs begs the question of why some monuments are well preserved and cherished while others are neglected and destroyed. Moreover, the inscriptional evidence recorded and discovered in these two synagogues was belittled, dismissed, and ignored in the conventional historiography of Kochi Jews, erasing the historical significance of these two communities in favour of the historical ‘ghosts’ of a lost Jewish kingdom called Shingly (Kodungallur), and a mystery synagogue allegedly burnt by Tipu Sultan.
The presentation aims at contrasting the material and inscriptional evidence of the lost Jew Town of Kochi with the historiographical fallacies that obfuscate their significance. We argue that 1) these fallacies are rooted in the colonial period and the ethnocentric and biased records it produced, 2) their orientalist biases still block the production of evidence-based history of Kerala Jews, and 3) Kerala Jewish history is crucial for constructing the history of Jewish networks in Indian Ocean maritime history.

We are extremely happy to announce that our next webinar would be led by Dr. Ophira Gamliel (University of Glasgow, United Kingdom) together with Meydad Eliyahu Kallingal (Jerusalem), Yehoshua Eliyahu Palliparambil (Haifa) and Orna Eliyahu Oron (Seattle). The session, scheduled for 26 April at 6.30 pm IST, would contrast the historical evidence of the lost Jew Town of Kochi with the historiographical fallacies that obfuscate their significance. For more details, see the abstract below.

We are equally delighted that we will collaborate for this event with the Union Christian College, Aluva. Dr. Jenee Peter from its Department of History would chair and moderate the session.

To attend, please register at [email protected]

Abstract:
The Jewish heritage of Kochi is associated with a single synagogue of the Paradesi or “White” Jews of Mattancherry, while two other synagogues dated 1344 and 1489 respectively are erased from the history and the urban landscape of the town. One of these synagogues, the Kadavumbhagam Synagogue in Marakkadavu was subject to neglect and decay, gradually dismantled of its furnishings, until its façade collapsed in September 2019. The other, Tekkumbhagam Synagogue, was razed to the ground sometime around the migration of its community members to Israel in the late 1950s. The cemeteries of these two communities did met a similar fate; tombstones were scattered, the burial grounds transformed into residential built areas, and only one grave still standing, that of the poet saint Namya M***a (Nehemia Ben Abraham). This state of affairs begs the question of why some monuments are well preserved and cherished while others are neglected and destroyed. Moreover, the inscriptional evidence recorded and discovered in these two synagogues was belittled, dismissed, and ignored in the conventional historiography of Kochi Jews, erasing the historical significance of these two communities in favour of the historical ‘ghosts’ of a lost Jewish kingdom called Shingly (Kodungallur), and a mystery synagogue allegedly burnt by Tipu Sultan.
The presentation aims at contrasting the material and inscriptional evidence of the lost Jew Town of Kochi with the historiographical fallacies that obfuscate their significance. We argue that 1) these fallacies are rooted in the colonial period and the ethnocentric and biased records it produced, 2) their orientalist biases still block the production of evidence-based history of Kerala Jews, and 3) Kerala Jewish history is crucial for constructing the history of Jewish networks in Indian Ocean maritime history.

We are super-excited that Dr. Bindu Menon (Associate Professor of Media Studies, Azim Premji University, Bangalore) would lead our next webinar!
The noted historian Professor Lakshmi Subramaniam (Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Goa) would be the discussant, and Dr. Saji Mathew (School of Letters, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam) would chair and moderate the session.

We are equally happy that we are organizing this event in collaboration with the School of Letters, Mahatma Gandhi University.

Please register by sending an email to [email protected]

Abstract:
Sound in technical terms, that is, synchronised dialogue, pre-recorded sounds, and originally recorded music arrived in Malayalam cinema only in 1938. Even before cinema turned into talking films, new modes of listening were cultivated by the arrival of audio technologies like gramophone records and the radio. While mapping the broad shifts in sound media of the period, the lecture will pay specific attention to the cusp years of the late colonial period of 1930-1950, to demonstrate the relevance of ‘voice’ and subsequently of ‘language’ in shaping the central characteristics of the Malayalam publics. Through a close reading of listening practices, dialogue renditions, songwriting competitions and recitations that emerged in the vernacular print and aural practices, the lecture will try to demonstrate the relationship between sound aesthetics and language that enabled new affections for language and various political movements of the late colonial period. By excavating an affective vocality that bound media publics and political movements, the lecture will argue that cinema played a historically pivotal role in negotiations of regional identity through “voice”.

We are delighted to announce that Professor Rajan Gurukkal (Vice-Chairman, Kerala State Higher Education Council & Former Vice-Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi University) would lead our twelfth webinar. With a fresh probing into the source materials on Aryanisation and Brahman invasion in the context of early Kerala, he would question the existing historiographical representations and repressed indicators of aggression.

Dr. Manu V. Devadevan (Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi) would be the discussant, and Dr. T. Mohammed Ali (Farook College, Kozhikode) would chair and moderate the session.

We are also happy that we collaborate with Farook College for this event.

To participate please register at [email protected]

Later today is our 11th webinar with Prof. E.V. Ramakrishnan and Manu V. Devadevan, in collaboration with S.B. College Changanassery. Please register right away, if you have not done yet!

We are delighted that this year we will start our webinar series with a talk by the eminent Comparative Literature scholar, E.V. Ramakrishnan (Professor Emeritus, Central University of Gujarat). The talk is titled "When Transnational Imagination Deconstructs the Novel Form: Language in Search of Space" and will be on this Saturday (29 January) at 7.00pm IST.

Dr. Manu V. Devadevan (Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi) will be the discussant and Dr. Josy Joseph (Associate Professor, SB College, Changanassery) will chair and moderate the session.

We are equally delighted that we are collaborating with St. Berchmans College, Changanassery, for this webinar. Please join us this Saturday!

We are delighted that this year we will start our webinar series with a talk by the eminent Comparative Literature scholar, E.V. Ramakrishnan (Professor Emeritus, Central University of Gujarat). The talk is titled "When Transnational Imagination Deconstructs the Novel Form: Language in Search of Space" and will be on this Saturday (29 January) at 7.00pm IST.

Dr. Manu V. Devadevan (Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi) will be the discussant and Dr. Josy Joseph (Associate Professor, SB College, Changanassery) will chair and moderate the session.

We are equally delighted that we are collaborating with St. Berchmans College, Changanassery, for this webinar. Please join us this Saturday!

In less than one hour we'll start the event. The registration is open for half an hour more!

We are delighted to announce that the 10th and the last webinar of this year "Intersections & Confluences 2021" will be led by Professor Meena T. Pillai (University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram). She will talk about "Gendering the Politics of the Popular in Malayalam Cinema".
Dr. C.S. Venkiteswaran, an eminent filmmaker and film critic, will be the discussant. Dr. V. Abdul Lathief (Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady) will chair and moderate the session.
Please register by sending an e-mail with your full name, address and mobile number to [email protected]

We are delighted to announce that the 10th and the last webinar of this year "Intersections & Confluences 2021" will be led by Professor Meena T. Pillai (University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram). She will talk about "Gendering the Politics of the Popular in Malayalam Cinema".
Dr. C.S. Venkiteswaran, an eminent filmmaker and film critic, will be the discussant. Dr. V. Abdul Lathief (Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady) will chair and moderate the session.
Please register by sending an e-mail with your full name, address and mobile number to [email protected]

In our webinar series "Intersections and Confluences 2021", we are delighted to announce that Dr. Anna Lindberg (former Director, Swedish South Asian Studies Network, Lund University) would deliver the next lecture titled "Emancipatory Research and Academic Speed-up: Working in Archives and Doing Oral History in Kerala" on November 19, Friday at 7.30pm IST.

Prof. J. Devika (Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram) will be the discussant and Dr. Abhilash Malayil (Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady) will chair and moderate the session.

To register, please e-mail your full name, address and mobile number to [email protected]