Social Spaces and the Public Sphere
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Social Spaces and the Public Sphere: A spatial-history of modernity in Kerala, India Harikrishnan Sasikumar B.Sc., M.A A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Law and Government, Dublin City University Supervisor: Dr Kenneth McDonagh January 2020 I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Doctor of Philosophy is entirely my own work, that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: (Candidate) ID No.: 15212205 Date: Dedicated to my late grandmother P.V. Malathy who taught me so much about Kerala’s culture; late uncle Prof. T. P. Sreedharan who taught me about its politics; and late Dr Vineet Kohli who taught me the importance of questioning Your absence is forever felt. Acknowledgements When I decided to pursue my PhD in 2015, I was told to expect a tedious and lonely journey. But the fact that I feel like the last five years passed quickly is also testimony that the journey was anything but lonely; and for this, I have a number of people to thank. My utmost gratitude firstly to my supervisor Dr Kenneth McDonagh for his patient and continued guidance and support, and for reminding me to “come back” to my question every time I wandered too far. It has been my pleasure to work with him. DCU’s School of Law and Government and Ireland India Institute have been extremely welcoming spaces, and I am grateful to all my colleagues for this; especially Prof. Eileen Connolly, Prof. John Doyle, Dr James Fitzgerald, Dr Maria Adriana Deiana, Dr Paola Rivetti, and Prof. Iain McMenamin, whose academic and personal support at different stages of my work have strengthened it. I would also like to thank Prof. Dilip Menon for being generous with his time and expertise during my time at Centre for Indian Studies in Africa, and Prof. Jaffrelot (King’s College London), Prof. Chiriyankandath (Institute of Commonwealth Studies), Prof. J. Devika (Centre for Development Studies), Prof. R. Ramakumar (TISS), Prof. K.N. Panikkar, J. Prabhash (Kerala University), Prof. Sundar Sarukkai, M.G. Radhakrishnan (Asianet) and Dr Lea Sgier (Central European University) with whom I have had thoughtful discussions at various stages of my work. Priyanka and Naz kindly offered me feedback on my early drafts and I am thankful for this. Thanks also to Manisha (Appan Thampuran Archive), Kagiso (CISA), and Carol and Michelle (DCU) for putting up with my often annoying administrative requests; to Alice (godmother of CA126); and a hat-tip to Alexandra Elbakyan without whom most PhD students today would be lost. Finding good friends is comforting and reassuring in a city away from home. My first friends in Dublin—Arpita, Bitopi, Joe, Jonathan, Eline, Alessandra, and housemates at 66, Albert College Avenue—fulfilled their task of warming me up to Irish weather effortlessly, and Paula, Dani, Jack, Paul, Sweta, Vidushi, Liridona, Erika, Marije, Sandra, Denise, Rachna, Shruti, Verena, Luca, Luz, Natalia (and Rocky), and Barra have kept me sane and social over the years since. Epti and Tony have been my source of love, support and criticism for a decade now. I am grateful to all of them for their company and comfort. I’m also thankful for an amazing team at Ala (അല), and to the members of hiking and photography groups at DCU and outside who opened up Ireland’s landscapes and people to me. Studying Kerala also gave me the opportunity extensively for work. I cannot thank enough, my extended families in Irinjalakuda, Naduvil, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Payyannur, and Bengluru for their unconditional love and support, and hosting me during my many—sometimes unannounced—visits. My family has been my eventual support system through high and lows, and I owe all that I am to them—Yadu, Achan, and Amma. Without your love and encouragement, nothing I do would be fulfilling. Table of Contents List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. i List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .................................................................................................................................... iii 1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................1 1.1. Space and Time ............................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Space and Place ............................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 7 1.4 Chapter outline .............................................................................................................. 12 2. Studying Space: Public sphere and the Social Space ........................................................... 16 2.1. Rethinking the Public Sphere .......................................................................................... 17 2.2. Modernity and the Public Sphere in India ........................................................................ 22 2.3. The (Social) Production of (Social) Space ........................................................................ 28 2.4. Space, experience and socialization in India ..................................................................... 39 2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 40 3. Making “public”: Spatiality in pre-modern to early modern Kerala .................................. 42 3.1 Caste and Spatiality in Traditional Kerala ......................................................................... 43 3.2 Representational spaces and glimmers of resistance.......................................................... 60 3.3 Stepping out: Expanding social spaces............................................................................. 63 3.4 Placing religion in the public sphere ................................................................................ 72 3.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 74 4. Moving “out”: Nationalism, socialism and new social spaces .......................................... 76 4.1 Home as Space: Caste, gender and confrontations in “private-publics” ............................. 77 4.2 New spaces ................................................................................................................... 84 4.3 The Decade of the 1930s. .............................................................................................. 104 4.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 106 5. State, Capital and the Struggle for control ......................................................................... 108 5.1. The expansion of Social Spaces and (new) resistance ....................................................... 109 5.2 State, Capital and the Struggle for control ....................................................................... 124 5.3 Spatial Transformations................................................................................................. 134 5.4 (En)gendering the Social Space ...................................................................................... 137 5.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 139 6. Capitalism, Communalism and Social Spaces................................................................... 141 6.1 Social Spaces in the 21st Century .................................................................................... 145 6.2 Autogestion: Contradictions and challenges ....................................................................... 160 6.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 168 7. Spatial Contests: Hegemony and Resistance .................................................................... 170 7.1. Contemporary Spaces: Possibilities and Challenges ......................................................... 172 7.2. Social Space and Modernity ........................................................................................... 179 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 182 List of Interviewees ................................................................................................................... 200 List of Tables Table 1: Interviewee Profiles ............................................................................................................................... 10 Table 2: Most common public spaces mentioned in the interviews, coded on Nvivo .............................. 12 i List of Figures