Session Name: Tantric Futures III: Human, Nonhuman and Material Mediations
3 - Reverential Ecofear of Kaliyattamkavu: A Study of Mooniyur Village and its Culture
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
14:00 – 15:45 (GMT+7)
Presentation Abstract In the Essay, Ecophobia Reverential Ecofear and Indigenous World Views Susan S Deborrah and Rayson K Alex introduces the concept of Indigenous Reverential Ecofear ( IRE). IRE is nothing but the fear cum reverence that indigenous people possess towards nature.Kavus are local centres of worship that have a cultural order distinct from the temples. Kavu, the regional variant of sacred groves in Kerala. Described as a biological sanctuary in nature, Kavus developed into a cultural exchange site called Devatasanketam at a unique stage in the development and evolution of human culture. In the intellectual milieu of modernity, Kavus were recognised as part of a counterproductive value system and propagated as something that should be cut down. But the ecological consciousness that followed recognised the Kavu as the habitat of many endangered species. However, it is in post-modernist circles of thought that Kavus are identified as the centre of local cultures and caste power relations. Popularly described as a centre of worship, Kavu is a political place formed within a particular socio-historical power structure, that communicates with and sustains that same power structure. In this paper, we endeavour to explore how Kavu, especially Kaliyattamkavu, influences the culture of Mooniyur within the framework of the concept of Indigenous Reverential Ecofear.
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