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Notes from the Field:
The International Congress on Kerala Studies
by Richard W. Franke and Barbara H. Chasin
22 September 1994
More than 1,500 scholars and political activists attended the
first International Congress on Kerala Studies in Thiruvanantha-
puram, Kerala on 27-29 August, 1994. The Congress was organ-
ized by progressive academics and activists at the A. K. G.
Centre for Research and Studies -- named for a famous peasant
and labor leader -- and held on the nearby campus of Kerala
University. About 40 foreign academics were present, along with
many Indian intellectuals from outside Kerala. The majority of
the 550 papers were read by Kerala academics or activists who
also made up most of the audiences. Most papers were presented
in English, with about 5% being read in Malayalam, Kerala's prin-
ciple language.
The first day of the Congress included opening speeches and
six symposia on (1) The New World Order, India, and Kerala; (2)
Technology, Environment, and Development; (3) Survey of Kerala
Historiography; (4) Lessons of the Left Movement in Kerala; (5)
Crisis in Kerala's Higher Education; and (6) Evolution of Kerala
Culture and Language.
The second day included 67 panels running in four time slots
covering all the remaining papers. The final day had summary
reports on the various sessions followed by closing speeches.
Among the 67 sessions were papers on:
The Kerala Model: Facts and Fallacies
Problems of Industrialization
The Energy Crisis
Agricultural Performance and Individual Crops
Finances
Poverty, Consumption, and the Standard of Living
Employment
Migration
The Demographic Transition
Spatial Aspects of Development
Medicine and The Health Care System
Decentralized Development
Education
Matrilineality
Tribal, Fishing, and Caste Issues
Science and Literacy Movements
Religion and Social Change
History and Literature
Peasant, Union, and National Independence Movements
Kerala Architecture
The Media
Popular Culture
Writing, Music, Sculpture, Painting, Movies
The Library Movement
Malayalam Linguistics, and
The Environmental Crisis: Biodiversity, Plant Resources, For-
ests, and Land Use
The Congress was originally organized around five major
themes: Natural Resources and Geography, Kerala Economy,
Kerala History, Society and Politics, and Culture and Language.
It brought together scholars with common interests in a particular
area of Kerala studies such as Malayalam linguistics. It also
brought together political activists and academics working on
aspects of Kerala that could be applied to the state's social and
economic problems. A theme of many Congress presentations was
the Kerala model of development: its achievements, limitations,
and future prospects. Almost all sessions with topics that could
have a development -- or Kerala model -- aspect, did.
The emphasis of the Kerala model papers and discussions was
on the many and serious problems faced by the state's people.
Although Kerala has rightly been praised by outside observers
for its accomplishments in literacy, life expectancy, infant mortali-
ty, and other development areas, intellectuals and activists within
Kerala are becoming increasingly concerned with threats to the
model's sustainability. They stressed the need for new initia-
tives. A few papers attacked the basis of Kerala's development,
and several drew attention to groups that have hardly benefited
from the much-lauded achievements: tribal peoples, female agricul-
tural laborers, female household servants, female stone crushers,
and migrant workers from nearby Tamil Nadu state, among oth-
ers. Other questions concerned the ability of Kerala to continue
its relatively egalitarian, participatory, mobilized, activist ap-
proach to development in the absence of substantial economic
growth of the kind that has been absent in recent years.
One major theme was the threat posed to Kerala by India's
recent acceptance of World Bank and IMF Structural Adjustment
Loans. Kerala's people-first approach seems in conflict with the
emerging world order which brings the assets of the Indian state
into the hands of finance capitalists who want to buy and sell
them to make money. Economist Prabhat Patnaik questioned
whether price controls on essential goods can be maintained in the
present situation. One result of a market economy might be that
better-off consumers in Punjab would buy Kerala's rice, exacer-
bating the state's chronic food shortage and driving up local
prices that would no longer be protected by an effective public
food distribution system -- up to recently one of Kerala's most
remarkable achievements. Economist M. A. Oomen remarked that
Kerala might be the most seriously affected of all the Indian
states by the policies being implemented in New Delhi.
A related subject was the tasks for the left movement in the
new situation. Among the proposals debated were: (1) the need
for the left to enter into a dialogue with religious communities
without compromising its commitment to secularism, (2) the need
to re-invigorate mass organizations and try to prevent them from
becoming only front organizations for particular political parties,
and (3) the need to regain the cultural influence enjoyed by the
left in earlier times such as the 1950s, and (4) the need to go
from talking about women's equality in theoretical Marxist terms to
taking actions to bring women into participation and into positions
of leadership.
Women themselves took an initiative on this last point. Few
women had presented papers. About 30 women participants held
a special meeting to discuss their concerns. They were especially
critical of gender being relegated to two separate sessions instead
of being integrated into various panels. They also agreed that
the concept of politics used by many at the Congress was too
narrowly confined to political parties and government agencies.
Several women spoke of the importance of discussing mass strug-
gles, many of which transcend formal political structures. They
also felt that the Congress should have paid more attention to the
women's movement in Kerala. Their concerns were reported to
the Congress at the summing up plenary session.
Despite the criticisms and concerns, an atmosphere of optimism
and energy pervaded the Congress. Most of the talks were by
academics, but activists crowded the hallways and cornered pro-
fessors at the book exhibits to pose questions, challenge state-
ments, and ask for further sources. A fair amount of dialogue
thus occurred at the Congress, and it is likely that the Congress
served to inspire and energize activists who would return to their
youth, peasant, labor union, women's, or other organizations to
argue for new initiatives and further actions in the interest of
Kerala's ordinary people.
Despite the difficult logistics of housing and transporting so
many people in a city with limited facilities, Congress organizers
managed to keep everything running smoothly. Left-affiliated
mass organizations provided back-up services. The difficult task
of feeding participants was taken on by the Kerala State Agricul-
tural Workers Union, the Kerala State Committee of CITU, the
Centre for Indian Trade Unions (confederation), and the Federa-
tion of State Employees and Teachers Organizations. Morning and
afternoon tea was donated by the Kerala Peasants Association.
The first International Congress on Kerala Studies was overall
an informative and inspiring event. The 1200 word abstracts for
the papers fill 993 pages in 5 volumes (and one small supplement)
as printed for the conference. Extra copies of certain volumes
may be available. Full texts of papers can be requested from the
individual authors whose addresses appear with the abstracts.
For information on obtaining the program and available abstract
volumes, contact: Dr. T. M. Thomas Isaac, AKG Centre,
Thiruvananthapuram 695 034, Kerala, India.
FAX (011-91) 471-447141 or 447137.
Email: sscds@ren.nic.in
Anyone wishing a copy of either the abstract or the full text
of the paper by Richard W. Franke and Barbara H. Chasin, enti-
tled The Relevance of the Kerala Model in the Emerging World
Order can contact us on e-mail at franke@saturn.montclair.edu.
We will e-mail the text unless you specify otherwise. We can also
be contacted at the Department of Anthropology, Montclair State
University, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043. FAX 201-655-5455 or
201-655-7031.
Thomas Isaac, T. M., and Michael P. K. Tharakan
1995 Kerala: Towards a New Agenda. Economic and Political Weekly 30(31-32):1993-2004, August 5-12 1995.
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