Abstract 122: Prof. EV.Ramakrishnan
Representation as resistance: A reading of some testimonials from Malayalam
The literary genre, “testimonial” differs from autobiography in the manner in which it moulds its narrative voice and addressivity to breach the conservative world views that circulate in a society. In the last two decades several ‘testimonials’ have caught the imagination of readers in Malayalam. They have gained wide currency among the readers and also have been translated into English. Many of their authors have been activists and are well-known public figures in Kerala. They are not ‘authors’ in the conventional sense, but have contributed to the understanding of social and political issues that are contemporary. They have raised moral issues that have been ignored by the mainstream. Among them are Pokkudan, an environmental activist, C.K.Janu, the tribal leader and Nalini Jameela, the leader of sex workers. The present essay would examine how some of these first person singular narratives that can be classified as “testimonials” interrogate the common sense of Kerala society. As narratives, they enact the formulation of new subject positions. They find an experiential lexicon for conflicts and confrontations that are yet to become part of the common man’s consciousness. They also resist the prevailing aesthetics of narratives in Malayalam that tend to erase radical subject positions. The contradictions inherent in such articulations are also brought out in the present paper.
Representation as resistance: A reading of some testimonials from Malayalam
The literary genre, “testimonial” differs from autobiography in the manner in which it moulds its narrative voice and addressivity to breach the conservative world views that circulate in a society. In the last two decades several ‘testimonials’ have caught the imagination of readers in Malayalam. They have gained wide currency among the readers and also have been translated into English. Many of their authors have been activists and are well-known public figures in Kerala. They are not ‘authors’ in the conventional sense, but have contributed to the understanding of social and political issues that are contemporary. They have raised moral issues that have been ignored by the mainstream. Among them are Pokkudan, an environmental activist, C.K.Janu, the tribal leader and Nalini Jameela, the leader of sex workers. The present essay would examine how some of these first person singular narratives that can be classified as “testimonials” interrogate the common sense of Kerala society. As narratives, they enact the formulation of new subject positions. They find an experiential lexicon for conflicts and confrontations that are yet to become part of the common man’s consciousness. They also resist the prevailing aesthetics of narratives in Malayalam that tend to erase radical subject positions. The contradictions inherent in such articulations are also brought out in the present paper.
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