Social spaces and the public sphere: a spatial-history of modernity in Kerala, India

Every society produces its own social space—where people meet, engage and socialise in everyday life. Here, opinions are formed and “public consciousness” is shaped; it is a physical manifestation of the “public sphere”. What, then, can these social spaces tell us about modernity and social relations in a society? I explore this question in my research, in the context of Kerala modernity. Using discourse analysis, participant observation, and personal interviews, my work traces the transformation of public spaces in nineteenth and twentieth century Kerala. Here, I move away from an abstract notion of the public sphere, to focus on physical public spaces. Henri Lefebvre’s work on the production of (social) space, and the conceptualisation of a spatial triad—representations of space (conceived space), spatial practices (perceived space) and representational spaces (lived space)—allows us to study space “as itself”. Modernity then becomes linked to a contest for—and in—space.\nTraditional social relations in pre-modern Kerala were determined by caste, and the lowered castes were excluded from mainstream society socially, ideologically, and indeed, spatially. The struggle for access to mainstream public spaces—markets, teashops, public roads—was pivotal in subverting this traditional social order. The socio-economic reforms of late nineteenth early-twentieth century created new spaces by the that continued to shape a rich and vibrant (masculine) modern public sphere centred around the various literary and science associations, reading rooms and libraries, film, arts and sports clubs, public grounds, etc. By the 1980s, a new struggle for spaces emerged between the state, capital and religion. Decentralisation project adopted by the government in the 1990s as a political response led to the creation of new spaces and a radical redefinition of civil society organisations in Kerala, thereby opening up a new spatiality—and new power struggle. Contemporary struggles in social spaces attempt to nurture on the one hand, the new grassroots movements, issue-based groups and rights-based organisations, while on the other, fight against the looming threat of political hijacking, privatization and communalisation. A spatial-history allows us to problematize a linear narrative of modernity, and account for its complexities in the contemporary times.