In Calicut, “Reading Rumours” “Around The Sufrah” Of Mappila Women Writers

An exhibition in Calicut titled Reading Rumours seeks to shine a long-overdue spotlight on the forgotten Mappila women writers of Kerala, whose voices were influential from 1900 to the 1950s. Curated by Haneena PA and Jazeela Basheer, the exhibition is part of their collaborative project ‘Around The Sufrah’ and invites visitors to explore the literary contributions of Muslim women that were often lost to time, misattributed, or dismissed as mere rumours.

The exhibition is the culmination of two years of dedicated research by Haneena and curation by Jazeela, both are in their twenties. Their work explores a chapter of Kerala’s print culture that has largely been overlooked—the role of Muslim women writers, particularly those contributing to Mappila literature. The term “Reading Rumours” cleverly alludes to both the dismissive way women’s knowledge is often treated and to the traditional ‘Reading Rooms’ or vayanashaala, where men gather to discuss matters of literature and society.

Unearthing Forgotten Voices

Haneena, a media and culture studies postgraduate, shared the personal nature of her journey into the subject. “It all started with my research on Mappilapattu, the songs that reflect memories of the Malabar Rebellion,” she said. “While studying these songs, I began noticing some were written by women. This sparked a curiosity in me. I wanted to know more about these women, especially those writing in Mappila literature, because their contributions weren’t well-documented.”

Haneena PA (Image: aroundthesufrah.in)

Haneena’s chance meeting with Jazeela, an exhibition designer from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, in 2021, laid the groundwork for a collaborative effort. Their joint vision was clear: they didn’t want the fruits of their research to sit in academic papers, inaccessible to the public. “Academic research often limits dissemination,” Haneena explained, adding that the duo wanted to create something more engaging, a platform that made these stories accessible to everyone.

A Collaborative Archive

Together, they developed ‘Around The Sufrah’, a living digital archive that serves as a repository for the micro-histories of Mappila women writers. “We wanted to rethink the concept of an archive,” Haneena said. “Archives are often closed-off, institutional. We wanted something open, something that the public could access without barriers like subscriptions.” Thanks to funding from organisations like the Shergil Sundaram Arts Foundation, the Asia Art Archive and India Foundation For The Arts, they were able to make this dream a reality.

About the project, Harshita Bathwal, Programme Officer of Arts Research from the India Foundation For the Arts, said:

“During the late 19th and early 20th century, the Mappila community in Kerala published several magazines for community education and reform, some of which were exclusively run by women. However, due to lack of space and resources, many important magazines are discarded frequently. Considering this, studying Mappila women’s magazines has become all the more important before they are lost to history. This project attempts to bring to the fore the hitherto marginalised history and contributions of women from a minority community in a state that is known for its literary heritage; and yet has not given this history its due. This is the reason why IFA decided to support this project under its Arts Research programme.”

Jazeela Basheer (Image: aroundthesufrah.in)

Jazeela explained the philosophy behind their project’s name, Sufrah, a traditional round mat used in households where people gather for communal meals. “The Sufrah is a symbol of gathering, of community,” she said. “The idea behind ‘Around The Sufrah’ was to create a space where people could come together. ‘Reading Rumours’ is just one of our first projects which is our exhibition, but we want to look at other things like food and other non-inspirational, very not formal ways of looking at history.”

A Journey of Discovery

Much of their research involved combing through personal collections rather than established archives. “We call them bedroom archives,” Haneena said with a smile, recounting how most of the materials they discovered were tucked away in people’s homes, far from the formal collections one might expect to find in libraries. “I’m not a PhD. So as a researcher, I’m not much equipped with a lot of methodologies. So all these methodologies were developed along the research. And we haven’t used much theories as well, and it was like our personal experiments and a lot of personal interventions.”

From ‘Reading Rumours’ exhibition

The exhibition features the names and works of women like Haleema Beevi, MK Fathima Beevi, Dr MK Ayeshakutty among others. “These names are largely forgotten,” said Haneena. “We were able to trace around 20 to 25 women writers from this period.” However, their journey was not without its challenges. Many of the writings had been misattributed or lost altogether. “When we took these writings to people and asked, ‘Do you know who wrote this?’ the answer was often that it couldn’t have been a woman. People assumed it must have been a male relative, like a father or brother. That’s where the idea of ‘reading rumours’ came from.”

“We have travelled across Kerala searching for materials. I did the field visits and travelled to Trivandrum, Kochi and Calicut. We have spent more than two three months in Trivandrum searching for materials. Some of the libraries were closed for years and it was like a full of drama to open these libraries. I have kept my field diaries for people in the exhibition to go through all these funny experiences that we had had in the field,” Haneena added.

Curating Research

For Jazeela, the challenge was a unique one: how to turn research into an interactive exhibition. “Most exhibitions are art-focused, so this was different,” she said. “This is research-heavy, a lot of text, but I didn’t want to oversimplify it. People often say exhibitions should have less text, but I wanted people to engage, to read and discover.”

From ‘Reading Rumours’ exhibition

The exhibition is designed to be interactive, almost like a game. Visitors are encouraged to ‘play’ and uncover materials for themselves, making the discovery process more engaging. Jazeela believes that an exhibition doesn’t have to be boring or dry. “We don’t have to make everything simple,” she said. “I want people to connect with the stories, to be curious enough to read more.”

A Living Archive

Around The Sufrah began as a research initiative and what started as a documentation of Muslim women’s writings in Kerala has now evolved into a dynamic, living archive. It continues to grow through individual contributions, with Haneena and Jazeela working tirelessly to ensure that the stories of these women are not forgotten.

In many ways, ‘Reading Rumours’ marks the beginning of a new chapter in the story of Mappila women writers. By placing their works in the public eye, Haneena and Jazeela are helping to reframe how we think about history, literature, and the role of women in both.

From ‘Reading Rumours’ exhibition

The archive is available at aroundthesufrah.in. “With our website, we want to bring a lot more. With a lot of websites and archives that we’ve seen that once you put materials… after a point we have done uploading… it stops…  we are also facing that challenge. The exhibition is a way to activate an interest. So now we can put this on the website for the people to see after coming out from the exhibition. Visually we are doing what we want to do, but there is a connection between our website and our exhibition and then what we do next… it all grows together,” Jazeela said about the designing strategy behind the archives and exhibition.

Haneena added the digital archive is a combination of what they have gone through in the past two years and it’s not mostly about primary data because most of the data were either lost or misplaced or missing. “Initially, the way we took this research was in a way to digitize something that was physically missing. So, this whole archive is a collection of residues, traces and some of the primary that as we came across,” she said.

Looking Forward

The duo hopes to take their exhibition to other cities in Kerala and beyond. “We’ve had a fantastic response in Calicut,” said Haneena. “We were worried no one would come, but surprisingly the gallery was never empty.” Their ultimate goal is to inspire young researchers to continue their work, using ‘Around The Sufrah’ as a starting point.

From ‘Reading Rumours’ exhibition

To that end, the website for ‘Around The Sufrah’ is accessible to all, offering an open digital archive filled with the materials Haneena painstakingly collected. “We hope young researchers will use our archive to build on what we’ve started,” Haneena said. “We’re also exploring ways to support those who want to contribute to this body of knowledge.”

(With inputs from Kabani R)

Exhibition details:

Date: 4-6, October, 2024
Venue: 1st floor, Sona building, above 1980’s-a nostalgic restaurant, silk street, Calicut.