Southern States - Kerala   

The Osellas are back here for their next book

By R. Madhavan Nair

KOZHIKODE NOV. 14. The Osellas are back in Kerala. And, yes, this time too their mission is to write a book on Kerala. Their first one centred around the Ezhava community. Their next project would focus on the Muslim community in Malabar.

Filippo Osella and his wife, Caroline Filippo Osella, familiar names to sociologists, are the joint authors of the book `Social mobility in Kerala: mobility and identity in conflict'.

Said Dr. Caroline, who is now in the city: ``Our book is a historical and ethnographic study of social mobility of the Ezhava community.'' This book focussed on marriage preferences, consumption patterns, religious practices and interaction of the community with Hindus and Christians. It concluded that while the 20th century had seen some absolute social mobility for many Ezhava families and for the community as a whole (examples were removal of the strict practices of untouchability and shifts to new forms of more paying jobs), the community remained subject to many forms of discrimination and negative stereotyping.

Their research for which the field work was done in a village near Mavelikara also indicated that absolute mobility did not mean relative mobility as the position of Ezhavas within a structural hierarchy had remained unchanged since the turn of the 20th century.

The Osellas are back again in search of data for their next project being funded by the British Economic and Social Science Research Council (ESRC).

Their study would take a close look at consumption pattern and consumption behaviour in the post-liberalisation period and, of course, how contacts with Gulf countries had impacted their lifestyle.

The anthropologists are on the look out for an ideal village where they could do field work for their two-year project. The focus of the study this time was going to be on the Muslim community.

``We are still looking for the right place for our field work. It has to be either in Malappuram or Kozhikode,'' said Dr. Filippo, who teaches social anthropology in the School of Cultural and Community Studies in the University of Sussex.

The Osellas are familiar with southern Kerala, having spent almost three years, during the period 1989 to 1996, on their first project.

The couple had been keeping touch with the social scene in Kerala even after completing their first project and were aware the Ezhava community had acquired for itself a new public image.

In their opinion, the community had achieved a spectacular social mobility even though their relative social status had not changed. ``The `savarna-avarna' divide is still strong,'' she said but was quick to add that ``what we have written applies to Travancore. We know the situation is different in Malabar''.

Dr. Caroline also believes that the upward mobility of Ezhavas had led to their getting distanced from the Communist movement of which they were once the backbone. Besides, she said, the disillusionment with Communism deepened after K.R. Gouri was expelled from the CPI(M).

She also is of the view that the SC/ST groups would have a more difficult time moving up the social ladder shaking off the effects of their long years of subjugation.

According to her, one factor which propelled the Ezhavas move into the path of growth was the presence of small but influential groups of educated and wealthy families within the community itself. This did not appear to be the case with SC/ST communities.

``Life must be still hard for them in the villages. And their number in Gulf countries is still small.''

Dr Filippo said he was looking forward to studying the effects of the liberalisation of the economy in the post-globalisation period. Globalisation, he believes, had been in Kerala for a long time as it was having overseas trade.

But the nature of globalisation often changed. Going by the experience of many developing countries, it had both plus and minus points .The gap between the rich and poor had been found to increase. The usually vulnerable groups become more vulnerable. He would like to find out how it had affected life in Kerala.

Dr Filippo also considers the Muslim community to be quite vibrant in Kerala since current issues were being the subject of debate within the community and the women appeared to have progressed educationally and socially.

He did not believe terrorism could pose a major threat. From what he had observed a big majority of the people of Kerala wanted peace. Their efforts would prevail even when occasions for conflicts arose, the Osellas believe. Dr Osella said it was their Professor at the London School of Economics, Chris Fuller, who kindled their interest in Kerala and its people. Dr Fuller has also authored a book on Kerala, `The Nairs Today'.

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