Areas of Current Research Interest:

South Asian Studies , Cultural Studies, Film and Media Studies , Critical Dance Studies, Caste and Race Studies

Contributions to Teaching:

March 2020-PRESENT

Associate Professor, Department of Studies in English, Kannur University, Kerala, India

February 2012 - March 2020

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Central University of Karnataka, Karnataka, India

July 2011 - November 2011

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Motilal Nehru College, Delhi University, India

July 2010 - June 2011

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University, India

Fellowships Awarded:

Charles Wallace Trust India Research Grant, 2024

Kerala State Chalachitra Academy Fellowship, 2020

Papiya Ghosh Memorial Fund Fellowship, CSSC, Kolkata, 2009 -2010

Anveshi Women’s Studies Research Centre, Hyderabad, 2006-2007

Select Invited Talks

“Herbs and Spirits: Indigenous Wisdom and the Colonial Modernity”, ICSSR sponsored National Seminar, "Understanding Indigenous Knowledge Systems through Exploration of Life, Literature and Culture of Tribal Communities in Maharashtra" organised by the Department of English, New Arts Commerce and Science College, Shevgaon, 21 March, 2025.

“Discourse on Buddhism and Conversion in Malabar”, International online seminar series 2025, organized by the Centre for Buddhist Studies, SSUS in association with SNDP Public Library, Kalady on 13th March 2025.

“Beyond Oceans and Cultures: The Thiyya Chronicles of Migration and Identity”, International Conference, “Rethinking South Asian Modernities: Trajectories, Contexts, and Debates,” organized by the Department of Comparative Literature and India Studies at The English and Foreign Languages University(EFLU), Hyderabad, The 28th January, 2025.

“Censoring Mohiniyattam: The Lost History of Women’s Erotic Dance Idiom in Malayalam Cinema”, Online Talk, PG Deparment of English & Center for Research, Government College Mokeri, Kozhikode, 30th November, 2024.

“Oceanic Desires: Malayali-Sinhalese Wedding”, International Seminar, "The Sea: Literature, History, Culture”, Department of Malayalam, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, 04th January, 2024

“Staging the Malayali Nation: The Curious Case of Kerala Natanam”, International Seminar, “Comparative Literature ‘Ever in the Making”, Department of Russian and Comparative Literature, University of Calicut, 20th December, 2023

“Dancing all the Way: Imagining Keralam and Kerala Natanam”, National seminar, "Reimagining the Narrative of Alterity-Aesthetics, Politics and the Contemporary", P G Department of English, Govt. Arts and Science College, Kondotty,17thNovember ,2023

“Forbidden Archives and Memory: Cabaret Bodes from Kerala’s Pasts”, International conference “The Politics of Memory and History: Beyond the Postcolonial and the Postmodern”, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, Kerala, 14th March 2023

Paper Presentations (International)

“Performing Violence and Justice: Looking at Street Theatre in Kerala, South India” The 2024 IFTR Annual Conference to be held at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) on 15 – 19 July 2024 hosted by the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA) and the College of Arts and Letters, in cooperation with the UPD Film Center, the UP-Food Service, the Asian Institute of Tourism, and the Manila Metropolitan Theater.

“Screen Dance in Pan Indian Cinemas: Body and Sexuality” co-authored with Dr. Sreedevi P has been accepted for oral presentation at the The 13th International Convention of Asia Scholars to be held at Surabaya, Indonesia, from 28 July – 1 August 2024.

“Marriage and No Visiting Husbands: Law of Kinship among Thiyya and Ezhava Communities of India.” The 4thIACSS International Conference, Higher Education Forum, Singapore, 12th December, 2017

“Bharatanatyam: Caste and Gender Bias in Constructed History of the Indian Art Forms”, International Seminar, “The South Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities”, ICASH, 2015, Japan, 2ndApril, 2015

Paper Presentations (International/National)

“Colonial State and Subaltern Mobility: Ezhava/Thiyya Migration to Sri Lanka (1900-1950)”, International Interdisciplinary Series of Conferences, “The Global Indian Diasporas: Literary, Cultural and Socio-Economic Perspectives in the 21st Century”, Centre for Diaspora Studies, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, India, 24th February 2023

“Toni Morrison’s Sweetness: Reflections on Black Motherhood”, National seminar, “Toni Morrison: Race, Identity, Gender and Beyond”, Department of English, Central University of Karnataka, 24thOctober 2019

“Dialects of Malayalam Cinema: Community, Identity and Censorship”, International Conference, “Indigenous Languages and Translation Studies”, Department of English, JainUniversity, Bangalore, 3rdAugust, 2019

“Dialects of Malayalam Cinema: Envisaging the Region”, 47th All India Conference of Dravidian Linguists and International Symposium on Language, DLA and Central University of Karnataka, 20thJune, 2019

“Samajams, Yogams, Organisations of Thiyya and Ezhava Social Reform Movent in Kerala: Strategies and Differences”, International Conference, “The Politics of Difference: (Re)Locating Subalternity/Marginality”, Department of History, Assam University, 22nd September, 2017

“Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi: Gender, Sexuality and Performance”, National Conference, “Performing Life: Theorising Quotidian”, Victoria College, Palakkad, 1s tDecember, 2016

“Gendering Performance and Classical Dance Forms: Dance Like a Man?”, International Conference, “In Between: Critical Humanities in Context”, Amrita University, Kochi, 2nd October, 2016

“The Politics of Language and Cinemas of Malabar: Questions of Caste, Religion and Gender”, International Seminar, “Comparative Literature: The Question of Language and Minority”, Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad, 2nd October, 2015

“Valorising Motherhood: A Critique of Lalithambika’s Agnisakshi, National Seminar, "Portrayal of the Mother in Indian English Fiction”, Arts and Commerce College, Nagthane, 2nd November, 2013

“Regulation regarding Marriage and Divorce: Question of Caste, Community and Gender”, International Conference, “South Asian Literature & Culture, Mumbai, September, 2013

“Community Identity Formation: Early Twentieth Century Magazines in Kerala”, National Conference, “Literature & Human Rights”, Pondicherry University, 3rdAugust, 2013

“Caste Markers: Dress Reform, Women and Caste/Community Identity”, National Conference, “English Language, Literature, Criticism, and Cultural Studies”, Shri Sant Damaji Mahavidyalaya, Mangalwedha, Solapur, 2ndAugust, 2013

“Ezhava Magazines in Kerala”, National Students Conference, “Literary and Cultural Studies RAW.CON 2011”, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, 1st September, 2011

“Difference in Discourse and Difference as Discourse: A Study of Malabar Thiyyas and Thiruvithamcore Ezhavas”, IACLALS Annual Conference, “Comparative Cultural Studies: Towards New Postcolonial Paradigms”, University of Kerala, 1st January, 2011

"Nations/Communities Imagined? Ezhava Reform, Modernity and Women's Magazines", National seminar, “Representation of the Subalterns: Problems and Perspectives”, Sri Venkataramana Swami College, Bantwal, Karnataka, 12th April 2009

“Nations Imagined? Ezhava Reform, Modernity and Women's Magazines”, National seminar, “Revisions of History: Region, Literature and Culture”, MS University, Baroda, 2nd March, 2009

“Regional Representations in the Magazines of Ezhava Community” National seminar, “Region and Nation in Literary and Cultural Studies”, Madras University, Chennai, 3rd February, 2009

“Notions of Chastity and Fidelity: A Critique of Lalithambika Antherjanams Select Writings”, National conference, “Women Writers of Kerala”, Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad, 10th January, 2009

“Censoring Mohiniyattam: The Lost History of Women’s Erotic Dance Idiom in Malayalam Cinema”, Cross Waves, Vol.2. 2023

“Manichithrathazhu: Classical Dance Forms, Linguistic Identity and the Cultural “Other’’”, Malayalam Literary Survey Quarterly, Vol. 42, 2023

“Archiving an Era: Cabaret Dancers of Malayalam Cinema.” Chalachitra Sameeksha, Vol.5, Issue 57, 2023

“Trajectory of Classical Dance Professionals in Malayalam Cinema '', New Literary Horizons: A Peer Reviewed International Biannual Refereed Journal of Critical & Creative Writing in English, Vol. 9, Issue 2, 2023

“Classicism” of Bharatanatyam: A Critique of the Historiography”, Anhad Lok, Special Issue 3, 2023

“North Malabar Thiyyas and Thiruvithamkoor Ezhavas: Laws of Kinship, Customs and Women’s Voice”,Tapasam, Vol. XVII, 1-2, 2023

“Question of English Language and Higher Education: Early Twentieth Century Ezhava Women’s Magazines in Kerala” Samyukta. Vol. 7, Issue. 1, 2022

(co-authored with) Rafseena M. “Construction of Subversive Black Motherhood: Ruptured Mother Line inGod Help the Child”, Singularities, Vol 9, Issue 2, 2022

(co-authored with) Navya Raveendran“ Liminality and Masculinity: Representation of Kathakali Artists in Select Malayalam Cinemas”,, Crosswaves, 2022

“Puthooram Pattukalute Cinimavishkaram: Bashabedham, Jathi, Lingapadavi”. Thudi: Research Journal, Vol. 9, Issue 4, 2021

(co-authored with) Priya Chandran, “Nayattu: Fears and Anxieties”. Dialogist: International Journal ofLiterary Studies and Interdisciplinary Research, Vol 1, Issue 1, 2021

“Linguistic Identity in Malayalam Cinema: The othering of Castes and Communities,” Think India, 2019

“Lalithambika Antherjanam's Writings on Widowhood: A Critique or Affirmation of Reform Agendas?”Pramana Research Journal, Vol.9, Issue 6, 2019

“The Scent of Breast Milk: Critique of Motherhood,” Research Journal of English Language and Literature, Vol. 7, Issue 2, 2019

“Facing the Sunrise: Women, Sexuality and Public Sphere” International Journal of English Language, Literature and Translation Studies, Vol 6, Issue 2, 2019

“Ezhava Social Reform Movement in Kerala: Women’s Education and the Question of Community,” Historicity (International Research Journal), Volume IV, Special Issue, 2018

“The Breast Cloth Struggle in Kerala: Missionaries, Community and Women,” Shodh Sarita, Vol 4, Issue 16, 2018

“Varenya Kutumbathinte Apranirmithikal” Chalachitra Sameeksha, Vol 1, Issue 4, 2018

“Notions of Chastity in Lalithambika Antherjanam’s “The Goddess of Revenge,” GNOSIS, Vol 4, No 1, 2015

“Within the Folds of Seclusion: Patriarchal Ideology and Nambutiri Women,” Literary Miscellany, Vol 4, No 1-2, 2015

“Tradition, Modernity and Sexuality in Lalithambika Antherjanam’s Agnisakshi,” WJGL (World Journal of Gender and Literature), Vol 2, No 1, 2015

“Ezhava Social Reform Movements in Kerala: Questions, Concerns and Women’s Role,” International Journal of Business, Management and Social Science (IJBMSS), Vol II, Issue 8 (V), 2013

Chapters in Edited Anthologies

“Celebration of Menstruation: Reform, Community and Heterogeneity of Women's Experiences”, Period.: Taking the Dialogue Forward, Kozhikode: Rat Books, 2024

“Thiyya Ezhava Ekathvam: Oru Charithra Nirmithi”[ The Sameness of Thiyya and Ezhava: A Historical Construction) Tharatamya Sahithyam: Chila Kazchappatukal [Comparative Literature: Some Perspectives], Thiruvananthapuram: NBS, 2018

“Dance Like a Man and Vanaja: Gender, Caste and Classical Dance Forms” Explorations in Critical Humanities, New Delhi: Viva, 2017

“Ezhava Women’s Magazines: Addressing Issue of Community, Reform and Nation” in Feminism and Literature: Text and Context, Sanjeev Kumar Vishwakarma, Ed. Allahabad: Takhtotaaz, 2015

Forthcoming Publications

Book

Choreographing Keralam: Pleasures and Politics of Dancing in Malayalam Cinema, Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, 2024

Chapters in Edited Anthologies

“Thiyya and Ezhava Women’s Magazines: Discourses on English and Gendered Education” in the volume titled Early Women’s Magazines in Malayalam: Revisiting the Beginnings of Modern Gender Discourses (Edited by Shalini M a and Angela) published by Orient Blackswan

“On the Erasure of a Dance Language: The Absence of the Gendered Classical Dance-form Mohiniyattam in Malayalam Cinema” Co-authored with Arunlal K, An anthology on Mohiniyattam edited by Kavya Krishna and Mythili, 2024