Prof A.R. Venkatachalapathy

Visiting ICCR Professor,

BA (Madras), MA (Madurai Kamaraj), Ph.D (JNU)

A.R. Venkatachalapathy

Contact Information

Telephone: 6516 4085

Email: sasarv@nus.edu.sg

Location:

South Asian Studies Programme

National University of Singapore

5 Arts Link, AS7-04-07, Singapore 117570

 
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About Me

A.R. Venkatachalapathy (1967) is Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai. He took his Ph.D. in history from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and has taught at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, the University of Madras and the University of Chicago, and has held research assignments in Paris, Cambridge, London and Harvard. He has published widely on the social, cultural and intellectual history of colonial Tamilnadu. Apart from his scholarly writings in English he has written/edited over twenty books in Tamil combining scholarly discipline with literary flair.

 

 
 

The modules I teach

  • SN4102 Critical Debates in South Asian Studies

  • SN4880A Print Culture in India: History and Its Future (pending confirmation)
 

My selected publications

Books (English)

2011                 The Province of the Book: Print Culture in Colonial Tamilnadu, Permanent Black, Ranikhet.


2011                 (ed.) Red Lilies and Frightened Birds: A Translation of the Tamil Classic Muttollayiram, Penguin Black Classics Series, Penguin, New Delhi.


2010                 (ed.) Love Stands Alone: Selections from Tamil Sangam Poetry, Penguin Viking, New Delhi.


2009                 Guest Editor (with Esther Fihl), Review of Development and Change, XIV (1–2), January–December, special double no.: ‘Cultural Encounters in Tranquebar: Past and Present’.


2006                 In Those Days There Was No Coffee: Writings in Cultural History (New Perspectives on Indian Pasts, Series Editor: Saurabh Dube), Yoda Press, New Delhi.


2006                 (ed.) A.K. Chettiar, In the Tracks of the Mahatma: The Making of a Documentary, Orient Longman, Hyderabad.


2006                 (ed.) Chennai, Not Madras: Perspectives on the City, Marg, Mumbai.


2003                 (trans.) Sundara Ramaswamy, J.J.: Some Jottings, Katha, New Delhi.


1999                 (ed.) Guest Editor, South Indian Folklorist, Special number on ‘Folklore in Print’.

 

Books (Tamil)
2010                 (ed.) Tilaka Maharishi by V.O.C. (unpublished biography of Tilak by V.O. Chidambaram Pillai), Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.


2008                 (trans.) Romila Thapar, Past & Prejudice, National Book Trust of India, New Delhi.


2008                 Bharati Karuvoolam: ‘Hindu’ Nalithalil Bharathiyin Eluthukkal (uncollected writings of Subramania Bharati in the Hindu), Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.


2006                 (ed.) Pudumaippithan Mozhipeyarppukal (third volume of the chronological and variorum edition of the complete works of Pudumaippithan), Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.


2005                 (trans.) Thuyarmiku Varikalai Indriravu Nan Ezhutalam (Tamil Translation of Pablo Neruda’s poems), Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.


2004                 (ed.), Bharatiyin ‘Vijaya’ Katturaigal (The uncollected writings of Subramania Bharati from Vijaya, 1909-1910), Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.


2004                 Mucchanthi Ilakkiyam (Popular Literature in Colonial Tamilnadu), Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.


2004                 Mullai: Oar Arimugam, Mullai Pathippagam, Chennai.


2003                 (ed.), A.K.Chettiar, Annal Adichuvattil(The making of the documentary, Mahatma Gandhi), Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.

 

2002b               Novelum Vasippum: Oru Varalattru Parvai (Early Novels and Reading Practices: A Historical View), Nagercoil (second edition 2003).


2002a               (ed.) Pudumaippithan Katturaigal (second volume of chronological and variorum edition of the complete works of Pudumaippithan), Nagercoil (second edition 2003).


2000b               Andha Kalathil Kappi Illai Muthalana Aaivu Katturaigal (collection of research papers on Tamil cultural history), Nagercoil (second edition 2001).


2000a               (ed.) Pudumaippithan Kathaigal (first volume of chronological and variorum edition of the complete works of Pudumaippithan), Nagercoil (fifth edition 2006).


1999                 (ed.) Va. Oo. Chiyin Sivagnana Bodha Urai (Critical edition of V.O.Chidambaram Pillai’s commentary on Sivagnana Bodham), Tuticorin.


1998                 (ed.) Annai Itta Thee (Uncollected works of Pudumaippithan), Nagercoil.


1994c               (ed.) BharatiyinIndia Karuthuppadangal, 1906-10 (Bharati's ‘India’ Cartoons, 1906-10), Madras.


1994b                (ed.) V.O.C.yum Bharatiyum (V.O.C. and Bharati), Madras.


1994a               Dravidar Iyakkamum Vellalarum, 1927-44 (The Dravidian Movement and the Vellalars, 1927-44), Madras.


1990                 (With A.Sivasubramanian).  Binny Alai Velainirutham 1921 (The Binny Mills' Strike 1921), Madras.


1988                 (ed.) Maraimalai Adigalar Natkurippugal (Diaries of Maraimalai Adigal, 1898-1950), Madras.


1987                 V.O.C.yum Tirunelveli Eluchiyum (V.O.C. and the Tirunelveli Riots, 1908), Madras.


1984 (ed.)         (ed.) V.O.C. Kadithangal (Letters of V.O.C., 1901-36), Madras.

 

Research Papers (English)

2011                 ‘More Kshatriya Than Thou: Caste and Ritual Ranking in Colonial Tamilnadu’, in Michael Bergunder, Heiko Frese and Ulrike Schröder (eds), Ritual, Caste, and Religion in Colonial South India, (Neue Hallesche Berichte; 9) Halle: Verlag der Franckeschen Stiftungen.


2010                 ‘In Search of Ashe’, Economic and Political Weekly, 9–15 January.


2010                 ‘In Those Days There Was No coffee’: Consumption, Popular Culture, and Middle-Class Formation in Madras’ in Sanjay Joshi (ed.), The Middle Class in Colonial India, Oxford Univ. Press, New Delhi.


2009c               ‘Written on Leaves in the Malabarian Manner: Print Culture in Eighteenth-Century Tranquebar’, in Review of Development and Change, XIV (1–2), January–December.


2009b               ‘Grammar, the Frame of language: Tamil Pandits at the College of Fort St George’, in Thomas R. Trautmann (ed.), The Madras School of Orientalism: Producing Knowledge in Colonial South India, Oxford Univ. Press, New Delhi.


2009a               ‘Making a Modern Self in Colonial Tamilnadu’, in Vijaya Ramaswamy  & Yogesh Sharma (eds), Biography as History: Indian Perspectives, Orient BlackSwan, New Delhi.


2008a               ‘Kalaikkalanjiyam: The Making of the Tamil Encyclopaedia, 1947-1968’ in Swapan Chakravorty & Abhijit Gupta (ed.), Movable Type: Book History in India, Permanent Black, Ranikhet.


2007                 ‘Exaggerated Obituaries: The Tamil Book in the Age of Electronic Reproduction’, in Nalini Rajan (ed.), Digital Culture Unplugged: Probing the Native Cyborg’s Multiple Locations, Routledge, London, New York & New Delhi, 2007.


2006b               ‘Subaltern Studies in the Tamil Context: Some Reflections’ in N. Rajendran, (ed.), Sources: Construction & Reconstruction of South Indian History, ICHR, Bangalore.


2006a               ‘Madras Manade: How Chennai remained with Tamilnadu’, in A.R.Venkatachalapathy (ed.), Chennai, Not Madras: Perspectives on the City, Marg, Mumbai.


2005d               ‘Andha Kalathil Kapi Illai: Tamilagathe Kapiyude Samskariga Charithiram’, Pachakuthira, August (Malayalam translation of 2002c)


2005c               ‘Enna Prayocanam: Constructing the Canon in Colonial Tamilnadu’. Indian Economic and Social History Review, 42(4), October-December, special number on Language, Genre and Historical Imagination in South India.


2005b               ‘Review symposium: Literary Cultures in History’, Indian Economic and Social History Review, 42(3)


2004c               ‘Triumph of Tobacco: The Tamil Experience’, in Jean-Luc Chevillard, Eva Wilden (eds.), South-Indian Horizons: Felicitation Volume for Francois Gros, Institut Francais de Pondichery & Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient, Pondicherry.


2004b               ‘In Those Days There was no Coffee: Coffee-Drinking and Middle-Class Culture in Late Colonial Tamilnadu,’ in Sanjay Subrahmanyam (ed.), Land, Politics and Trade in South Asia, Oxford University Press (reprint of 2002c).


2004a               ‘Street Smart in Chennai: The City in Popular Imagination’, in C.S. Lakshmi (ed.), The Unhurried City: Writings on Madras, Penguin.


2003c               ‘Caricaturing the Political: A Brief History of the Cartoon in Tamil Journalism’, Art India, 8(4), Quarter 4.


2003b               ‘In Print, On the Net: Tamil Literary Canon(s) in the Colonial and Post Colonial Worlds’, in Sumit Gupta, Tapan Basu (eds.), Globalisation, Conflict and Identity, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.


2002c               ‘In Those Days There was no Coffee: Coffee-Drinking and Middle-Class Culture in Late Colonial Tamilnadu,’ Indian Economic and Social History Review, 39(2-3), Dharma Kumar Memorial Volume.


2002b               ‘Coining Words: Politics and Language in Late Colonial Tamilnadu’ in Vasant Kaiwar & Sucheta Mazumdar (eds.), Antinomies of Modernity: Essays on Race, Orient, Nation, Duke University Press (reprint of 1995b). Indian reprint: Tulika, Delhi, 2003.


2002a               ‘Fiction and the Tamil Reading Public’, in Meenakshi Mukherjee (ed.), Early Novels in India, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.


2001                 ‘What is it Worth?: Reflections on the Making of the Tamil Literary Canon’, in G. Karunanithi & R. Balachandran (eds.), Literature and Society, M.S. University, Tirunelveli.


1999                 ‘Songsters of the Crossroads: Popular Literature in Colonial Tamilnadu’, South Indian Folklorist,


1998                 ‘Almanacs and Railway Timetables: A Brief History of Tamil Book-Publishing’ in Gum and Calico: Libraries of India, Alliances Francaises, Delhi.


1997                 ‘Domesticating the Novel: Society and Culture in Inter-War Tamilnadu’, The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 34(1), January-April.


1996c               ‘Lampooning the Raj: Subramania Bharati and the Cartoon in Tamil Journalism, 1906-1910’, ICCTR Journal, V(1-2).


1996b               ‘At the Margins: Saivite Intellectuals in the Dravidian Movement, 1927-44’ in K.A. Manikumar (ed.), History and Society, Madras.


1996a               ‘Subramania Bharati and the Modernisation of Tamil’, South Indian Studies, 1, Jan.-June.


1995b               ‘Coining Words: Politics and Language in Late Colonial Tamilnadu’, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East: South Asia Bulletin, XV(2), Duke University Press.


1995a               ‘Dravidian Movement and Saivites, 1927-44’, Economic and Political Weekly, 8 April.


1994                 ‘Reading Practices and Modes of Reading in Colonial Tamilnadu’, Studies in History, X(2), July-December.


1991                 (With M.S.S. Pandian and S. Anandhi) ‘Of Maltova Mothers and Other Stories’, Economic and Political Weekly, 20 April.


1989                 (With P. Athiyaman) ‘On Gandhi, Mayo and Emilsen’, South Asia, 12(2).


1988                 ‘Colonial Education, Bureaucracy and a Genius’, Economic and Political Weekly, 13 February.

 

Research Papers (Tamil)

2010                 ‘Tamilil Kandana Ilakkiyam’ in  P.Saravanan (ed.) Arutpa Marutpa: Kandana Thirattu, Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.


2009                 ‘Ashe Adichuvattil…’, Kalachuvadu 118, October. (Reprinted in A. Sivasubramanian, Ashe Kolaiyum India Puratchi Iyakkamum, Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil, 2009.

 

2007                 ‘Maruthuva Akarathi Thanta Medhai’, Kalachuvadu 85, January.

 

2006b               ‘Bharatiyin Tharasu’, Kalachuvadu 84, December.

 

2006a               ‘Bharatam Thanta Bakiratar’, Kalachuvadu 73, January.

 

2005c               ‘Uthiratha Malargal: Urainadai U.Ve.Sa.’ in Perumalmurugan (ed.), U.Ve.Sa: Panmuka Alumaiyin Peruruvam, Nagercoil (reprint of 2005a).

 

2005b               ‘Tamil Novelin Nilaiperu, 1900-1950’, in Ba. Mathivanan, R. Cheran (eds.), Tamilini 2000: Manattu Katturaigal, Kalachuvadu Pathippagam.

 

2005a               ‘Uthiratha Malargal: Urainadai U.Ve.Sa.’, Kalachuvadu 63, March.

 

2004a               ‘Bharati Elutha Thaviriya Ettaiyapura Valalaru’, Dinamani Deepavali Malar.

2004b               ‘Tamil Adaiyalathin Thiru’, Kalachuvadu, September.

 

2004e               ‘Anandanum Andalum: Pudumaippithan Pathippitha Dinamani Malargal’, in Vaikarai and K. Chandrasekaran (eds), Azhipadum Tamilar Vizhakkal, Chennai. (reprint of 2003b)

 

2003d               ‘Mullai: Oru Varalattru Pathivu’, in Mu.Palaniappan, Mullai Ilakkiya Kalanjiyam, Mullai Pathippagam.

 

2003c               ‘Elutha Thavariya Pudumaippithan’, Kumudam Theeranadhi, July.

 

2003b               ‘Anandanum Andalum: Pudumaippithan Pathippitha Dinamani Malargal’, Ira Ilavarau Manivizha Malar.


2003a               ‘Panchangamum Railway Guideum: Naveena Tamilaga Pathippulagam’, Kalachuvadu, Jan.-Feb.


2002b               ‘Vanathu Amaran: Pudumaippithan Samakala Mathippeedugal’, Kalachuvadu, Sep.-Oct.


2002a               ‘Novelin Nilaiperu, 1900–1950’ in B. Mathivanan (ed.), Tamil-ini Katturaigal, Nagercoil.


1999                 ‘Va. Oo. Chiyum Saiva Siddhantamum’, Yugam Marum, London: reprinted from Araichi, No. 47.


1997                 ‘Va. Oo. Chiyum Saiva Siddhantamum’, Araichi, No. 47.


1997                 ‘Emakku Tholil Kavithai: Bharatiyin Eluthu Valkai’, Kalachuvadu, No. 19.


1996.                ‘Bharatiyum Mozhiyin Naveenamayamakkamum’, Kalachuvadu, No. 13, March.


1994b               ‘Bharatiyin Karuthupadangal’, Kalachuvadu, No. 9, December.


1990a               ‘Suyamariyathai Iyakkamum Saivarum, 1927-44’, Araichi, No. 35, April.


1989                 ‘Pugaiyilai: Payanpadum Panpadum’, Araichi, No. 32, July.