Migration, Money and Masculinity in Kerala

Abstract

This article examines migration, styles of masculinity and male trajectories through the lifecycle in Kerala, South India, in a region with a long history of high migration, most lately to the Persian Gulf states. Ethnography suggests that migration may be integrated into wider identity projects and form part of local subjectivities. The article considers four important local categories: the gulfan migrant, typically an immature unmarried male; the kallan, a selfinterested maximizer or individualistic anti-social man; the pavam, an innocent good-guy, generous to the point of self-destruction; mature householder status, a successful, social, mature man holding substantial personal wealth, supporting many dependents and clients. Another theme to emerge is the relationship between masculinity and cash: migration appears as particularly relevant to masculinity in its enhanced relationship with money, an externalizable (detachable) form of masculine potency: maturity means being able to use such resources wisely.

Hegemonic at home and subaltern abroad: Kamaiya masculinities and changing mobility in Nepal

“…However, the formative links between masculinity and hard work, while changing, have remained constant. ii As Osella and Osella (2006) also report from Kerala.…”

“…iii Osella and Osella (2006) indicate that the 'breadwinner' ideal has become the predominant mode of masculinity in their research in South India.…”

“…Mobility and masculinity in South Asia have been examined in Nepal (Sharma 2007a;Sharma 2007b), South India Osella 2000, 2006;Osella and Gardner 2004), North India (Jeffrey, Jeffery, and Jeffery 2005;Jeffrey 2010;McDuie-Ra 2011) and Pakistan (Charsley 2005). These studies cumulatively find that mobility and migration are important aspects of masculinity in the region.…”

Migrants in liminal time and space: an exploration of the experiences of highly skilled Indian bachelors in Amsterdam

“…For many young men, migration has become a desirable element in their 'coming of age'. Within the context of personal, social and national development, spending some time working abroad seems to have become an expected element of the transition into adulthood (Ali 2007;Osella and Osella 2000;Rutten and Verstappen 2014). As Dirash told us: '[Migration] brings pride, it is considered a smart thing to do' (Dirash, 28, IT Specialist).…”

“…Scholars have established that migration is a means of performing socio-cultural ideas of what it means to be an Indian man (Osella and Osella 2000;Batnitzky, McDowell, and Dyer 2008). Migration brings with it respect for the migrants as men, as migration signals economic power (Pribilsky as cited in Sinatti 2014, 219).…”