CEFRES Team

Kannan Muthukrishnan: Research & CV

Research program on contemporary Tamil culture

Research Area 1: Displacements, “Dépaysements” and Discrepancies: People, Knowledge and Practices

Research Project:  Archives and Interculturality 

Since 1991, Kannan Muthukrishnan has been leading the research program on contemporary Tamil culture, establishing a collection of sources comprising journals and books in the library of the IFP (French Institute of Pondicherry). This research program functions as a bridge linking the isolated fields of classical Tamil and contemporary Tamil.
The studies, conferences, collections and publications taken up by this program aim to build a Centre for Contemporary Tamil at the IFP.

In the framework of this program, Kannan Muthukrishnan has supervised more than 30 doctoral students from India and abroad. He has been on regular lecture-research visits to Belgium, France, and the USA in several universities (University of Namur, Paris III, Sorbonne, INALCO, UC Berkeley, Rutgers University, Princeton, Harvard, etc.). He is an active and founding member of the Historical Atlas program at the IFP.

In trying to write a cultural history of contemporary Tamil in India, one is inevitably led to raising the question of sources. There are sources In India, but there is no access or path to them — there is serious lack of “archive fever” (either oral, written, or visual) among the people. Our research at the IFP looks into this lacuna in Indian culture and explores the following question: What constitutes an archive in India? The current research entails a return from the sources at hand to the construction of an archive. What kind of process will enable it? How do we make an archive alive in the present context?

 CV

Specialization

Contemporary Tamil, Language, Literature and History, Translation Studies, Indian Media and Cultural Studies, Dalit Literature and Politics, World Literature.

Experience

1991-present: Researcher, Department of Indology, French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry.

1987-1991: Assistant Lexicographer, CRE-A’s Contemporary Tamil Dictionary, Mozhi Trust, Chennai.

11 books edited and published by the French Institute of Pondicherry and more than 20 with other publishers

Publications

Books edited for IFP

  • Kannan.M, Rebecca Whittington, Senthil Babu, David.C.Buck, (tr&eds.), 2014, Time will write a song for you, contemporary Tamil writing from Srilanka,  Penguin books, New Delhi, French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry, pp 274.
  • Kannan.M. (ed.), Vadivacal, Ci.Cu. Chellappa, translated into French by Francois Gros, French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry, 2014, pp 112.
  • Kannan.M (ed.), Le vagabond et son ombre , selected writings of G. Nagarajan, translated into French by Francois Gros, French Institute of Pondicherry, 2013,  pp 256.
  • Kannan, M. and David C. Buck. (eds.), 2011, Tamil Dalit Literature: My Own Experience, French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry, pp 158.
  • Kannan, M. and Jennifer Clare. (eds.), 2009, Passages: Relationships Between Tamil and Sanskrit, French Institute of Pondicherry and Tamil Chair, UC Berkeley, pp 423.
  • Kannan, M. and Jennifer Clare. (eds.), 2009, Deep Rivers: Selected Writings on Tamil Literature by Francois Gros, French Institute of Pondicherry and Tamil Chair, UC Berkeley, pp 520.
  • Kannan, M., Francois Gros and V.Arasu., (eds.), 2008,  Narrinai: Text and Translation by N.Kandasami Pillai,  French Institute of Pondicherry, pp 284.
  • Kannan, M., (ed.), 2008, Streams of Language: Dialects in Tamil, French Institute of Pondicherry, pp 335.
  • Kannan, M. and Carlos Mena. (eds.), 2006, Negotiations with the Past: Classical Tamil in Contemporary Tamil, French Institute of Pondicherry and Tamil Chair, UC Berkeley, pp 478.
  • Kannan, M., (ed.), 2004, Dalit Ilakkiyam – Enatu Anupavam, French Institute of Pondicherry and Vitiyal Patippakam, pp 200.
  • Kannan, M., (Trans), 1993, Nakaramum  Vitum, Valumitattin unarvukal, French Institute of Pondicherry, pp 138.

Books edited, translated for other publishers

(under the Frame work of the IFP programme on Contemporary Tamil culture)

  • Kannan, M., (ed.) 2016, karril mitakkum karrin nila, Short Stories by Gowribalan, Vitiyal Patippakam, Coimbatore, pp 284.
  • Kannan, M., (ed.) 2014, kili ninra calai, Novel by Sentamilinian, Vitiyal Patippakam, Coimbatore, pp 200
  • Kannan, M., (ed.) 2014, malaipparai, Novel by Pantiyakkannan, Vitiyal Patippakam, Coimbatore, pp 224
  • Kannan, M., (ed.) 2012, ini enatu natkale varum, long poems by Nilanthan, Vitiyal Patippakam, Coimbatore, pp 104.
  • Kannan, M., (ed.) 2012, Kaiman, Short stories by Sudhakar Ghatak, Parvai Pathivukal, Coimbatore, pp 156.
  • Kannan, M., (ed.) 2012, Malai Nakaram, Poems by Raja Vadivel, Parvai Pathivukal, Coimbatore, pp 50.