Bodies That Remember: Caste, Cultural Memory and Narrative Mourning in Malayalam Counter-Archives

Book: Cultural Memory in Translation: Revisiting Cultural Memory Through Interpretative Lens from India by CSMFL Publications

Nandana S.1 & Dr. Sangeeta Mukherjee2
1Research Scholar, Department of English, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India – 632014; 2Senior Assistant Professor, Department of English, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India – 632014.

10.46679/9789349926639ch02
This chapter is a part of: Cultural Memory in Translation: Revisiting Cultural Memory Through Interpretative Lens from India
ISBN (Ebook):978-93-49926-63-9
ISBN (Hardcover Print):978-93-49926-41-7
ISBN (Softcover Print):978-93-49926-75-2

© CSMFL Publications & its authors.
Published: November 10, 2025

S., N. & Mukherjee, S. (2025). Bodies That Remember: Caste, Cultural Memory and Narrative Mourning in Malayalam Counter-Archives. In A. G. Uppal & D. Barot, Cultural Memory in Translation: Revisiting Cultural Memory Through Interpretative Lens (pp 15-24). CSMFL Publications. https://dx.doi.org/10.46679/9789349926639ch02

Abstract

This chapter explores the dynamics of counter-memory in literary cultures and Malayalam visuals through a comparative analysis of Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Ee.Ma.Yau (2018) and the Dalit short fictions of C. Ayyappan, a collection from Ayyappante Theranjedutha Kathakal (2010). Ee.Ma.Yau set against the backdrop of a coastal Christian community, appears to be a black comedy at first which talks about the death rituals, but beneath it lies a poignant critique of institutional religion, patriarchal authority and the performative spectacle of mourning. The movie follows the chaotic aftermaths of a man’s sudden death and his son’s several attempts to provide him a dignified funeral. Death is not given the idea of closure in this particular movie; rather it is used as a disorienting narrating device to expose the performativity of ritual and the quiet violence of social hierarchies. In parallel, C. Ayyappan’s Dalit stories revolve around the Dalit communities in Kerala, mapping their humiliation, exclusion and resistance. His raw style becomes an act of memorialization, refusing to let the society erase or ignore the experiences or struggle the community faces. Both the film and the literary text do not follow a linear storytelling, but foregrounds the body, especially the dead or suffering body to highlight how deeply issues like memory, social status and power are connected. Through close textual and cinematic analysis, this chapter argues how Ee.Ma.Yau and Ayyapan’s short stories function as counter archives that challenge Kerala’s progressive self-image and reclaims the narrative space for subaltern memory, revealing how silence, decay and absurdity can speak the loudest truths.

Keywords: Counter-Memory, Malayalam Cinema, Dalit Literature, Death And Ritual, Body And Memory

References

  1. Ayyappan, C. (2010). Ayyappante Theranjedutha Kathakal. D.C. Books.
  2. Ellrich, R. J., & Foucault, M. (1978). Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: selected essays and interviews. Modern Language Journal, 62(4), 206.
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  4. Kumar, C., & K, N. T. (2024). Discourse of dissent: Languaging resistance and consciousness in subaltern literatures – Dalit and Black. Studies in Linguistics Culture and FLT, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.46687/ychk2293
  5. Menon, D. M. (2006). The Blindness of Insight: Essays on Caste in Modern India. Navayana.
  6. Pellissery, L.J. (Director). (2018). Ee.MaYau [Film]. OPM Dream Mill Cinemas.
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  9. Sarkar, A., & Arathdar, D. (2024). Death, desire, and desolation in Ee.Ma.Yau. In K. Moti Gokulsing & W. Dissanayake (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Indian cinemas (pp. 567–578). Routledge. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390418131_Death_Desire_and_Desolation_in_EeMaYau
  10. Tharu, S. J., Satyanarayana, K., Ravikumar, & Yasudasan, T. M. (2011). No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing from South India.
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