Economics

Scopus indexed journal articles

1. Bhandari, A.K., & Sreelakshmi, P. (2020). Kerala State Road Transport Corporation: A Relook at Its Efficiency and Potential. Economic and Political Weekly 55 (48), 7-8. https://www.epw.in/journal/2020/48/special-articles/kerala-state-road-transport-corporation.html

This paper attempts a depot-wise efficiency analysis of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and its regional variations for the period 1988-97 using the data envelopment analysis methodology. It then links the findings to the KSRTC's overall financial position for the subsequent period from 2003-04 to 2014-15. The study concludes that the day-to-day operational position of the KSRTC can be substantially bettered if it can utilise its prevailing efficiency improvement potentials to some extent.

2. Kavya Lekshmi, R.S., & Mallick, H. (2020). Contribution of International Tourism to Economic Growth of Kerala: A Subnational-Level Analysis in India. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events. Advance Online Publication.https://doi.org/10.1080/19407963.2020.1854275

The study attempts to understand the contribution of international tourism on economic growth at a sub-national level (i.e. for Kerala) of the Indian economy. By exercising the Johansen cointegration test and Vector Error Correction Model on the annual data from 1980 to 2017, it reveals the existence of a positive long-run association between tourism and economic growth

3. Reja, M.S., & Das, B. (2020). Remittance arrangements within India and Covid-19: Kerala's Migrant Construction workers from West Bengal. South Asia Research, 41(1), 22-34. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0262728020966099 

This article highlights emerging patterns of domestic remittance arrangements among migrant construction workers from West Bengal in Kerala that have now become defunct because of COVID-19.

Books

1. Romanis, F. (2020). The Indo-Roman Pepper Trade and the Muziris Papyrus. Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-indo-roman-pepper-trade-and-the-muziris-papyrus-9780198842347

This volume presents a systematic and fresh interpretation of a mid-second-century A.D. papyrus-the so-called Muziris papyrus-which preserves on its two sides fragments of a unique pair of documents: on one side, a loan agreement to finance a commercial enterprise to south India and, on the other, an assessment of the fiscal value of a south Indian cargo imported on a ship named the Hermapollon. This study also considers imperial fiscal policy as it related to the south Indian trade, the overall evolution of Rome's trade relations with south India, the structure and organization of south Indian trade stakeholders, and the role played by private tax-collectors. 

Chapter in  edited books

1. Bathla, S., Jee, S. (2021). Temporal and Spatial Patterns in Employment and Productivity Growth in the Organised Food Industry. In S.Bathla & E. Kannan (Eds.), Agro and Food Processing Industry in India (pp. 127-152). Springer. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/978-981-15-9468-7_6

In the recent decades in India, the improvement in infrastructure and fiscal incentives has led to a favourable business environment, readily available markets, the availability of sufficient raw material for value addition and rising per capita income

 

History and culture

Scopus indexed journal articles

1. Joseph, I.A., Peter, S., & Anandkumar, V. (2020). Development of a Typology of Tourists Based on Pre-Trip Use of Social Media. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 15256480.2020.1842837

Four hundred domestic and international tourists visiting Kerala were typologised using cluster and discriminant analysis into three clusters - 'Enthusiastic Travellers,' 'Information Seekers', and 'Planners' based on their pre-trip usage of social media. Association between the clusters and external variables were used to characterise the typologies.Findings indicate that domestic tourists and international tourists differ in their usage of social media. Domestic tourists use social media for gathering information, and international tourists use social media for trip planning and online travel booking in addition to gathering information.

2. Mandakathingal, A. (2020). Gender Roles in Martial Art: A Comparative Analysis of Kalaripayattu Practices in India. Women's Studies. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2020.1843039

This paper is a comparative analysis of the gender differentiation seen in Kalaripayattu in the Kerala society and the metropolitan spaces of Bengaluru and Chennai. It seeks to demonstrate how gender differentiation in Kalaripayattu is related not merely to the nature of the practices of that institution but is rather the result of the continuing influence of social and geographical spaces on masculine and feminine roles.

Other journal articles

1. Mini, D. S. (2020). Transnational Ethical Screens: Empathetic Networks in Malayalam Short Films from the Gulf. Film History, 32(3), 141-69. https://doi.org/10.2979/filmhistory.32.3.06

This paper explores the emergence of ethical and empathetic modes of transnationality in the specific context of Malayali diasporic media in the Middle Eastern Gulf.Through a combined analysis of short films, literature, advertisements, bureaucratic policies, and ethnographic vignettes, this paper looks at the figure of the migrant labourer as both a social force and a media object around which ideas of justice and empathy cohere

Chapter in edited books

1. Brussel, N. V. (2020). Bhadrakali: Slaying the Demon in the Backwaters. In M. Slouber (Ed.),  A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses: Tales of the Feminine Divine from India and Beyond (pp.19-41). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1b742rd.7

 The narrative consists of two chapters translated from The Glorification of Bhadrakali (Bhadrakali Mahatmya), a Sanskrit text of the 'regional Purana' type, which mixes local narratives and perspectives with transregional myths and themes.It tells the tale of the demon Darika and his destined death at the hands of the fierce goddess Bhadrakali. In this way, it is part of an enduring motif in Hindu myth and art: that of demons being slain by fearsome goddesses.

Books

1. Bajpai, L.M. (2020). India, Sri Lanka and the SAARC Region: History, Popular Culture and Heritage. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429320514

The connection between Kerala in India and Sri Lanka can be traced across history, folklore and oral traditions, rites, rituals and festivals, architecture and lifestyle, and also the palate and food.The connection can be traced to ancient times when a Sri Lankan king visited the Chera country in Kerala during the Pattani festival at Vanchi in the Kerala region; was perhaps the contemporary of Senguttuvan Chera, according to the Sangam poems, and can be dated to either the first or last quarter of the 2nd century CE (depending on whether he was the earlier or the later Gajabahu).The Pattani cult (of the deity) is said to have been brought to Sri Lanka by Gajabahu.

 

Health

Scopus indexed journal articles

1. Sheldon, V. (2020). To Do Nothing: Revising Good Aging and Reviving Pre-Toxic Pasts at a Kerala Nature Cure Home. Asian Medicine, 15(1), 133-60. https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341464

This article narrates how two ageing patients internalise their naturopathic doctors' advice to detoxify and 'do nothing' rather than strive for biomedical cure. By naturally revitalising their bodies, they cultivate feelings of intense independence and ecological attachment that reconfigure experiences of migrated-kin isolation. In counterpoint to literature that frames biopolitical and medical discourses as causally producing moral subjectivities, this article demonstrates how persons agentively craft counter normative, vitalistic models of ageing and health, contributing to broader localist imaginaries of reviving pre-toxic lifeways.

 

Sociology

Scopus indexed journal articles

1. Chathukulam, J., & Tharamangalam, J. (2021). The Kerala model in the time of COVID19: Rethinking state, society and democracy. World Development, 137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105207

The objective of this paper is to examine Kerala's trajectory in achieving the success and then confronting the unanticipated reversal. It will examine the legacy of the Kerala model such as robust and decentralized institutions and provisions for healthcare, welfare and safety nets, and especially the capacity of a democratic state working in synergy with civil society and enjoying a high degree of consensus and public trust. It will then examine the new surge of the virus and attempts to establish if this was due to any mistakes made by the state or some deficits in its model of ''public action" that includes adversarial politics having a disruptive tenor about it.

2. Sheeja, K. P., Arunmozhi, A., & Francis, N. M. (2020).  Study On The Effect Of Stress Management And Life Satisfaction On Marital Adjustment Among Couples In Kerala. European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine, 7(8), 2154-2161.

 The purpose of this study was to find out the impact of stress management and marital adjustment on Life Satisfaction among couples in Kerala. The existing literature regarding stress management, marital adjustment and life satisfaction is to recognize the need to consider contextual factors. The simple random sampling technique was used to select samples from different areas of Thrissur District in Kerala. A sample of the study comprised of 400 couples (n=800) including 400 male and 400 female participants of age group 20 to 60 years.

Books

1. Vaddiraju, A.K. (2020). Urban Governance and Local Democracy in South India, Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429281907

Abstract: This chapter presents the trends of urbanization in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The chapter argues that the urbanization process has been more dispersed in both states than that of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.We also argue that the dispersed pattern of urbanization in Kerala and Tamil Nadu makes it a more inclusive development process.After discussing the trends of urbanization in both the states, we present a case study of one city in Tamil Nadu, namely Salem.