The Gulf Migrant Archives in Kerala: Reading Borders and Belonging Focusing on the changing order of visuality in the 1980s in the south Indian state of Kerala, this talk looks at the transformative role of lower-class migrations in reconfiguring relations of modernity in Kerala. By the 1980s, Kerala had a robust relation of circular migration in large numbers with the Arab Gulf region. The coming of cheap cameras and the photo albums with it, changed the existing image regime. Focusing on the Muslim community of south Malabar in Kerala, the talk looks at the nature of this change and its implications. The talk argues that photography as a migrant technology dislodged the reverence in photography towards a new aesthetic of staging and imposturing. The talk will further deliberate on reading these photographs in the paradigm of rumour, a condition which characterizes the discourse on the Gulf migration in general.Dr Mohamed Shafeeq KarinkurayilMohamed Shafeeq Karinkurayil is Associate Professor at the Manipal Centre for Humanities, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), India. He is the author of The Gulf Migrant Archives of Kerala: Reading Borders and Belonging (Oxford University Press, 2024). He has co-edited (with E. Dawson Varughese) a symposium on ‘The Gulf-Kerala Literary Publics’ for The Journal of Commonwealth Literature. He has numerous academic and media publications. Mar 17 2025 13.00 - 14.00 The Gulf Migrant Archives in Kerala: Reading Borders and Belonging A special lunchtime seminar featuring Dr Shafeeq Karinkurayil (Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India). Free event but registration necessary. Room 2.05 (second floor) Appleton Tower 11 Crichton Street Edinburgh EH8 9LE Find Venue Register Free
The Gulf Migrant Archives in Kerala: Reading Borders and Belonging Focusing on the changing order of visuality in the 1980s in the south Indian state of Kerala, this talk looks at the transformative role of lower-class migrations in reconfiguring relations of modernity in Kerala. By the 1980s, Kerala had a robust relation of circular migration in large numbers with the Arab Gulf region. The coming of cheap cameras and the photo albums with it, changed the existing image regime. Focusing on the Muslim community of south Malabar in Kerala, the talk looks at the nature of this change and its implications. The talk argues that photography as a migrant technology dislodged the reverence in photography towards a new aesthetic of staging and imposturing. The talk will further deliberate on reading these photographs in the paradigm of rumour, a condition which characterizes the discourse on the Gulf migration in general.Dr Mohamed Shafeeq KarinkurayilMohamed Shafeeq Karinkurayil is Associate Professor at the Manipal Centre for Humanities, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), India. He is the author of The Gulf Migrant Archives of Kerala: Reading Borders and Belonging (Oxford University Press, 2024). He has co-edited (with E. Dawson Varughese) a symposium on ‘The Gulf-Kerala Literary Publics’ for The Journal of Commonwealth Literature. He has numerous academic and media publications. Mar 17 2025 13.00 - 14.00 The Gulf Migrant Archives in Kerala: Reading Borders and Belonging A special lunchtime seminar featuring Dr Shafeeq Karinkurayil (Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India). Free event but registration necessary. Room 2.05 (second floor) Appleton Tower 11 Crichton Street Edinburgh EH8 9LE Find Venue Register Free
Mar 17 2025 13.00 - 14.00 The Gulf Migrant Archives in Kerala: Reading Borders and Belonging A special lunchtime seminar featuring Dr Shafeeq Karinkurayil (Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India). Free event but registration necessary.
