Globalization and the Re-Articulations of the Local: A Case Study from Kerala’s Midlands

This paper is a preliminary attempt to understand globalisation and social transformation in the rural Kerala. It addresses the socioeconomic changes in a village in the mid-land region of Kerala namely Kavakad, by looking at the historical shaping of the determinants of change. The paper triangulates quantitative data and qualitative materials from fieldwork alongside the historical sources to understand social transformation. It focuses on the historical trajectories of mobility (spatial, educational, and occupational) of three communities in the village, namely Syrian Christian, Ezhava and Pulaya. The shaping of the locality and development trajectory is entrenched in the power dynamics of land ownership between the Pulaya and Syrian Christian communities, which facilitated Syrian Christian dominance in the development process, and hence, the community appeared to be the locus of 20th-century socio-economic transition in the village.