Hindu Nationalism in South India

Nissim Mannathukkaren is Professor in the Department of International Development Studies, Dalhousie University, Canada.

• 1. Introduction: Kerala, South India and Hindu Nationalism Part I: National versus Local? 2. The Fate of Secularism in India; 3.Kerala: The Antinomy of Hindutva Nationalism; 4. Faith Revival in Kerala: The 2019 Parliamentary Election and Beyond Part II: Hindutva and its Lineages 5. Chattampi Swamikal and the Deconstruction of the Malayala Sudra: Contradictions of Hindu Revisionist Theology in 19th Century Kerala Part III: Gender and Hindutva 6. A Gendered History of the Rise of the Neo-Savarna in Twentieth Century Kerala; 7. Feeling’ Malikappuram: Soft-Hindutva and Filmic Mediation of the Sabarimala Controversy Part IV: Hindutva and the Everyday 8. Sangh Parivar: Remaking of Temples in the World of Politics; 9. The Hindutva ‘Practice’ in Kerala: A Political Ethnography of RSS in Thalassery; 10. Crisis as Opportunity: Exploring the Hindu Nationalist Politics of ‘Seva’ During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kerala; Index

"The shape of religion and secularism has hardly been uniform in India. Yet Hindu nationalism has affected them in all regions and states. Through a wide range of insightful essays, this extraordinary volume focuses on Kerala and deftly shows how this state is no longer the exception it once was. A pioneer in the study of state politics in India, this is a compelling read."--Rajeev Bhargava, Director, Parekh Institute of Indian Thought, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.