From Postmemory to Prosthetic Memory: The Narrative Battle Over the Malabar Rebellion

This paper interprets the dynamic collective memory of a historical event (Malabar Rebellion, 1921) in the light of the oral narratives that I collected during my research fieldwork in the region after a century of its occurrence. I argue that the orature of the Malabar Rebellion is undergoing gradual mnemonic changes in both individual and collective levels through a continuous process which mediates and remediates the memory of the subjects within the research population. The medium includes cultural formations like songs and stories prevalent within the Mappila community of Malabar, everyday conversations and interactions comprising the communicative memory of the subjects, formal and informal conferences conducted with the aim of commemorating the rebellion, print and electronic media which re-present the event and generate multiple narratives from time to time, and institutional actions by governmental agencies. Cultural identity and socio-political utility of the present dominated the narrative of the participants rather than the emotional connection with their ancestors' past. Marianne Hirsch's notion of postmemory is used as the starting point to analyse the construction of narratives from transmitted memory. David Herman's theorisation of cognitive narratology acts as the methodological tool for the study.