By Sydney Lang During my first week at CREST, I was shocked by the visible intimacy between students; they would hold hands, play games with each other, and hug each other often. This was in direct contrast to the interactions I had experienced in the public sphere, particularly on the bus, where women sit at … Continue reading →

    By Shannon McKechnie The students I met at CREST were forthcoming about the transitions they felt they went through during the program. They described being scared or nervous to participate and speak with each other or the program interns when they first arrived in Calicut, but by the end of the five month … Continue reading →

By Sam Tait Long heralded as an oasis of ‘development,’ democracy, literacy, gender­equality, caste ­consciousness and political mobilization against the formalized caste system (Devika 2010; Steur 2009), in truth, structural inequality arranged across caste ­lines persists in Kerala (Mosse 2010; Nampoothiri 2009; Isac 2011). Dr. Susamma Isac, a project officer at CREST, asserts that in … Continue reading →

By Sara Christensen Kerala is a unique place. Within India, it is a state known for its development, both economic and social. Yet institutions such as the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation (CREST) are still needed. Although the caste system is now officially illegal in India, “former low­caste citizens,” now referred to … Continue reading →