Kerala   

‘Politics is a national sport here’

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“Burning books is not funny. It reminds one of Nazi Germany

U.S. anthropologist David A. Kideckel tells Mohamed Nazeer that political activism in the State is “bittersweet.”

“Politics in Kerala is a national sport and like sports everywhere, it creates a strong sense of competition and desire to win. But it has got some problems. Just like people who get caught up in a competition, they (people in Kerala) seem not able to withdraw from the game of politics readily and to a certain extent it causes difficulties.”

That is the observation of David A. Kideckel, Professor of Anthropology at the Central Connecticut State University in the United States.

He has been in the State since February last as part of a collaborative research project on citizenship and globalisation and on how people express their political identities and how these are changing at the time of globalisation. As a cultural anthropologist, Prof. Kideckel focuses on forms of political activism and protests in the State.

“Since I came here in February, there have been eight to 10 hartals,” said Prof. Kideckel while talking to The Hindu on the Thalassery campus of the Kannur University where he visited to deliver a lecture at the Anthropology Department the other day. He said that not a day went by in Thiruvananthapuram without the presence of one group or another marching past the Secretariat to press one demand or another.

This was his fourth visit to the State. “I came to Kerala in 2004 and I saw how intense politics was here. We reached Kerala then in the middle of the Students Federation of India’s strike,” he said adding that being interested in labour issues and political activism, he thought that the State might be a very interesting place to do research. Much of his research had been in Eastern Europe, especially Romania. Prof. Kideckel, who did his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts, published five books on subjects ranging from post-Socialist Romania, ethnicity in erstwhile Yugoslavia to East European communities. “Referring to the paper he wrote on Kerala and Romania, Prof. Kideckel said that though they were different places with different cultures, both had similar issues, especially those concerning questions of globalisation, new forms of capital that are entering and the extent of migration of people. He said he had tried to contrast different forms of political activism in Romania and Kerala.

“Globalisation in Romania is a settled fact. Many European and American corporates have set up businesses there. But in Kerala, globalisation is still an open question,” he pointed out.

Asked his view on the much-hyped Kerala Model of Development, Prof. Kideckel said that though the model had succeeded in providing basic education, health care, housing and literacy to most, globalisation, privatisation and intensification of agitations had begun to affect the model. “The government, whether the LDF or the UDF, is pulling back from its firm commitment to the basic necessities of individuals. There is a very rapidly growing privatisation of health care and education. I do not see Kerala holding firm to this model of development,” he said.

The culture of political activism in the State was bittersweet, he said. “It is great that people know their rights and stand up for them. But it is bitter because of its economical and personal costs,” the professor said. He said he was shocked by recent incidents including death of a school teacher during a protest against the controversial Class VII Social Science textbook, a copy of which he possessed. “Burning books is not funny. It reminds one of Nazi Germany. It is not funny when people are hit by stones. Lathicharges are not funny,” said the Prof. Kideckel.

Referring to his research project with a professor in Romania and another in Kerala, he hoped that a book would be produced on Kerala. He also intended to write a number of articles. “I hope my relationship with Kerala will be lifelong and I look forward to coming back often,” he said.

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