by Sriram

Journal article / Motivation Model of Serial Killers

Deepak, S. A., and S. Ramdoss. ‘The Life-Course Theory of Serial Killing: A Motivation Model’. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. Published ahead of print, 17 December 2020.

Abstract (edited): Case studies were conducted on eight serial killers in India who were inmates in central prisons of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The study is a pioneering one on serial killers in the locale of the study.

All available information about the lives of offenders were collected through multiple sources, including in-depth interviews with serial killers in the prisons, interviews of relatives of the killers, surviving victims, investigators, crime scene studies, etc. The collected data were chronologically arranged to construct biographies of the offenders.

The rich biographies were carefully analysed to construct an inclusive motivation model that can explain the process of individuals evolving into serial killers from a life-course approach.

The motivation in each of the eight cases was explained with the proposed motivation model. The constructed motivation model is unique from the existing models, which were mostly rigid and, therefore, not applicable to cases outside the studies.

The model proposes three critical determinants for explaining the evolution of a person into a serial killer—‘nature’, ‘Deep Resting Life Factor’, and ‘key Incidents’. The study found a relatively short incident named ‘trigger’ in the lives of six serial killers, which played a significant role in bringing out the dormant killer instinct and push the subjects toward the first murder.
The comparative analysis of the motivation in different cases revealed that though there were recurring factors in the lives of serial killers, their interactions were more important than standalone factors. The study also found that there are no predetermined recipes for the making of a killer like some past researchers claimed.

More info: https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20981030

~~~~

Reposted from Kerala Scholars eGroup

~~~~

Subscribe KSM on Telegram here https://t.me/keralascholars

by Sriram

Event / Seminar on Restoration of Raja Ravi Varma’s Oil Paintings

Seminar on Restoration of Raja Ravi Varma Oil Paintings: Scientific Techniques and Methods
19 January 2021 (Tuesday)
11:00 a.m. IST (India)
Venue: Office of Kerala Council for Historical Research, Pattanam, Ernakulam District live-streamed on Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/KCHRTrivandrum/

About the speaker: M. Narayanan Namboodiri is an art restorer involved in art conservation projects and training. He was a technical restorer at Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata.

Organised by Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR)

More info: http://kchr.ac.in/archive/214/Restoration-of-Sri-Raja-Ravi-Varma-Oil-Paintings-Scientific-Techniques-and-Methods.html

 

~~~~

Reposted from Kerala Scholars eGroup

~~~~

Subscribe KSM on Telegram here https://t.me/keralascholars

by Sriram

Journal article / Availability, Price and Affordability of Essential Medicines in Kerala for Managing Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes

Satheesh, Gautam, Abhishek Sharma, Sandra Puthean, Muhammed Ansil T.P., Jereena E., Shiva Raj Mishra, and M. K. Unnikrishnan. ‘Availability, Price and Affordability of Essential Medicines for Managing Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes: A Statewide Survey in Kerala, India’. Tropical Medicine & International Health 25, no. 12 (December 2020): 1467–79.

Abstract (edited): Limited access to essential medicines (EMs) for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes is a major concern in low‐ and middle‐income countries. We aimed to generate data on the availability, price, and affordability of EMs for CVD and diabetes in India.

Using WHO/HAI survey methodology, we evaluated the availability and prices of 23 EMs in 30 public sector facilities (government hospitals and semi‐public/government‐subsidised‐discount‐pharmacies (GSDPs)) and 60 private retail pharmacies across six districts in Kerala (November 2018–May 2019).

Median Price Ratios (MPRs) were calculated by comparing consumer prices with international reference prices. We also analysed data (collected in July 2020) on six anti‐hypertensive fixed‐dose‐combinations (FDCs) that were designated as ‘essential’ by the WHO in 2019.
Mean availability of surveyed generic EMs was 45.7% in government hospitals, 64.7% in GSDPs and 72.0% in private retail pharmacies. On average, the most‐sold and highest‐priced generics, respectively, were 6.6% and 8.9% costlier than the lowest‐priced generics (LPG). Median MPR for LPG was 2.71 in private retail and 2.25 in GSDPs.
Monthly supply of LPG would cost the lowest‐paid worker 1.11 and 0.79 days’ wages in private retail and GSDPs, respectively. Mean availability of the surveyed FDCs was poor (private retail: 15–85%; GSDPs: 8.3–66.7%), and the private retail prices of FDCs were comparable to the sum of corresponding constituent monotherapies.

Availability of CVD and diabetes EMs fall short of WHO’s 80% target in both sectors. Although availability in private retail pharmacies was near‐optimal, prices appear unaffordable compared to GSDPs. Initiatives such as mandating generic prescribing, adding the WHO‐approved FDCs in local EM lists, improving price transparency, and streamlining medicine supply to ensure equitable access to EMs, especially in the public sector, are crucial in tackling Kerala’s ever‐increasing CVD burden.

More info: https://doi.org/10.1111/tmi.13494

~~~~

Reposted from Kerala Scholars eGroup

~~~~

Subscribe KSM on Telegram here https://t.me/keralascholars

by Sriram

Journal article / Rise and Growth of Hindutva in Kerala, 1925–2015

Arafath, P. K. Yasser. ‘Southern Hindutva: Rhetoric, Parivar Kinship and Performative Politics in Kerala, 1925–2015’. Economic and Political Weekly 56, no. 2 (9 January 2021): 51–60.
Excerpt (edited): Considering itself as the surrogate family (parivar) of all Hindus, Hindutva has created a decisive presence—physical, emotional, and ideological—in Kerala over the past eight decades. However, mainstream academics have treated the presence of Hindutva either as the effect of an invisible melancholy or an inconsequential anomaly and, as a result, have failed to unearth the intricate web of relations that underlie its political growth.
Therefore, this paper tries to open up some important questions about the rise and growth of Hindutva in Kerala by examining some core elements of its political and ideological characteristics. It argues that even though Hindutva’s modus operandi in Kerala has not been significantly different from other places in India, the strategies it evolved in the state have certain interesting characteristics.
To comprehend those, the intrinsic connections between the growth of Hindutva and the elements of violence, sexual politics, and the notion of purity need to be analysed. It is important to see how the parivar designed its scheme in Kerala where all three of its declared internal threats— Communist, Muslims, and Christians—have powerful shares and decisive presence in every walk of life.
~~~~

Reposted from Kerala Scholars eGroup

~~~~

Subscribe KSM on Telegram here https://t.me/keralascholars

by Sriram

Blog post / Enslavebility in Dutch-Ruled Cochin

Alexander Geelen. “Testimonies of Enslavement: Enslavebility in Dutch-Ruled Cochin”.
Ala: A Kerala Studies Blog, December 2020.

Excerpt : What did it mean to be deemed ‘enslavable’ by the Dutch colonisers in south India? Geelen writes about neglected archives in Kerala that can help answer this question and provide valuable insight into the lived experiences of enslaved people in Dutch-ruled Cochin.

~~~~
Reposted from Kerala Scholars eGroup
~~~~
Subscribe KSM on Telegram here https://t.me/keralascholars

by Sriram

Blog post / Malayali migrants to Tanzania

May Joseph. “Dreaming Dar es Salaam: Forced Migration and the Impossibility of Return”.
Ala: A Kerala Studies Blog, December 2020.

Excerpt : Moving between memory and history, poetry and prose, Kerala and Tanzania, May Joseph reflects on her family’s experiences as Malayali migrants to Tanzania in the mid-twentieth century.

More info : http://ala.keralascholars.org/issues/28/dar-es-salaam/

 

Reposted from Kerala Scholars eGroup

~~~~

Subscribe KSM on Telegram here https://t.me/keralascholars

by Sriram

Journal article / Recent Debates among Mappila Muslims on ‘True Islam’

Thadathil, Hashim. ‘Constructing Authenticity in Discourse(s): Debates among the Mappila Muslims of Malabar, South India’. Asian Journal of Social Science 48, nos. 5–6 (December 2020): 449–67.
Abstract: Claiming and representing ‘True’ Islam has been a major preoccupation among Muslim groups in Kerala in recent times. In a way, this has augmented the Muslim public sphere in which active debates happen, and also breaks with the general understanding of Islam as monolithic in its ideology and practice.
This paper attempts to bring precisely this dynamics of Muslim public sphere in Malabar, where prominent groups like the Sunni, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen debate constantly over the representation and following of what is called ‘True Islam’. The claim towards a true Islam is done by each of the groups by claiming authenticity over what they preach and practice.
This paper highlights these debates in the context of the academic debates over ‘True’ and ‘Authenticated’ Islam.

 

~~~~

Reposted from Kerala Scholars eGroup

~~~~

Subscribe KSM on Telegram here https://t.me/keralascholars

by Sriram

Blog post / Everyday Sketches of Kerala Monsoons

Vipindas. “Where the Skies Descend: Everyday Sketches of Kerala Monsoons”. Ala: A Kerala Studies Blog, December 2020.

In a bilingual article with evocative illustrations of Kerala rains, Vipindas stirs an emotion shared by Malayalis in any part of the world and transports them to a shared space and time—Kerala’s monsoons.

More info : http://ala.keralascholars.org/issues/28/where-the-skies-descend/

 

Reposted from Kerala Scholars eGroup

~~~~

Subscribe KSM on Telegram here https://t.me/keralascholars

by Sriram

Book chapter (OA) / The Rise of ‘New Generation’ Churches in Kerala Christianity

John, Stanley. ‘The Rise of “New Generation” Churches in Kerala Christianity’. In World Christianity: Methodological Considerations, edited by Martha Frederiks and Dorottya Nagy, 19:271–91. Theology and Mission in World Christianity. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2021.

Abstract: Pentecostalism has experienced stupendous growth globally in the 20th century, and new churches and movements of ‘pentecostal’ or ‘charismatic’ nature continue to emerge within World Christianity in the 21st century.

This chapter grapples with the question of how to understand these new movements in the light of global Pentecostalism and local histories. It explores what may be appropriate terminologies and conceptual frameworks that can best capture the complexity and uniqueness, and situate these new movements in context with other movements globally.

Focusing on the case of ‘New Generation’ churches from Kerala and its diaspora, this chapter cautions us from creating an assumption of normativity of Pentecostalism’s origin and features, instead inclining our ears to understand contemporary movements within local contexts shaped by the movements and denominations to which they are responding and reacting.

More info and full text (OA): https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004444867_014

Reposted from Kerala Scholars eGroup

~~~~

Subscribe KSM on Telegram here https://t.me/keralascholars

by Sriram

Journal article / Pre-trip usage of Social Media by Tourists in Kerala

Joseph, Ansted Iype, Sangeeta Peter, and Victor Anandkumar. 2020. ‘Development of a Typology of Tourists Based on Pre-Trip Use of Social Media’. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration. Published ahead of print, 28 December 2020.

Abstract: Four hundred domestic and international tourists visiting Kerala were typologised using cluster and discriminant analysis into three clusters – ‘Enthusiastic Travellers,’ ‘Information Seekers’, and ‘Planners’ based on their pre-trip usage of social media. Association between the clusters and external variables were used to characterise the typologies.

Findings indicate that domestic tourists and international tourists differ in their usage of social media. Domestic tourists use social media for gathering information, and international tourists use social media for trip planning and online travel booking in addition to gathering information.

Findings also indicate that gender does not influence the usage of social media in the pre-trip phase.

This study expands the understanding of typologies in tourism and suggests directions to destination marketing organisations and tourism service providers.

Reposted from Kerala Scholars eGroup

~~~~

Subscribe KSM on Telegram here https://t.me/keralascholars