Historians join hands to form Kerala History Congress

Thiruvananthapuram: Keeping aside the ideological differences among themselves, historians in the state have launched an academic organisation, Kerala History Congress, modelled on the Indian History Congress and South Indian History Congress, as a platform for  academic discussions on history.

Historians having different perspectives like K.N. Panicker, who has a Marxist perspective on history, and M.G.S. Narayanan on the other end of the spectrum, will come under a single umbrella through this organisation.

The formal distribution of membership of the organisation will begin in the first week of December at a function to be attended by both Panicker and Narayanan. K.N. Panciker made the announcement on the History Congress at a function here on Friday.

Kerala University Social Sciences Dean and History Department head Suresh Jnaneswaran told Deccan Chronicle that the plan was to organise annual gathering of historians on the lines of Indian History Congress.

Another mission was to give more focus to  micro-history and local history, Jnaneswaran said.

Former Higher Secondary Education Director V. Karthikeyan Nair said that there was  need for more academic works in history in Malayalam.

The bylaw of the organisation has provisions for seeking affiliation from not only national historical organisations but also international organisations, Nair said.

P.S. Gopakumar of the History Department of University College said they had formed an ad hoc committee for the History Congress. The office-bearers would be elected at  a formal meeting to be held later, he said.