Fables from the Ocean: Locusts, Goliath, and Resilient Miracles in the Age of Long Disorder (C.1500-1900)

This lecture examines how colonial intrusion, which began at the beginning of the 16th century, led to the dissemination of what can be referred to as "resilient fables" in the Indian Ocean regions. The early modern scholars in Indian Ocean port towns, who were a part of an ever-evolving transnational knowledge network, transposed these fables into their writings for local consumption. Most of these fables were collected from various Islamic traditions. Islamic scholars from Malabar turned these fables into an important method to teach their port town audience, which was made up of Africans, South East Asians, Europeans, Marathas, and Gujaratis, apart from the Mappilas. Thus, these fables played a crucial role in the creation of a persistent network of resistance against colonial intrusion, which resulted in a longue durée disorder across the Indian Ocean region. By the turn of the 20th century, these fables were being sung, performed, and printed across the Malabar region and became part of the Mappila-everyday.

This talk explores the dissemination of such resilient fables that travelled from various regions of Africa and Asia to Kerala and helped colonial Malabar develop an anti-colonial consciousness.