English as a proselytizing tool in Keralite schools: A period-over-period analysis of Anglophilic elitism in O. Chandhu Menon’s «Indulekha» (1889) and Arundhati Roy’s «The God of Small Things» (1997)

Autores/as

  • Jairo Adrián Hernández Universidad de La Laguna (España)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24197/cel.16.2025.1-23

Palabras clave:

colonial education, English acquisition, Kerala, missionary Schools

Resumen

El siguiente manuscrito analiza algunos de los factores que apuntan al desempeño educativo de Kerala, que resalta del resto de la India, especialmente en lo relativo a la enseñanza del inglés.  Se examinan dos modelos educativos diferenciados: el enfoque gubernamental, o colonial, a través de Minute on Education (1835) y la pedagogía misionera, recogida en las obras del Reverendo Samuel Mateer. Llevando a cabo un análisis diacrónico, se exploran las implicaciones culturales de estos dos modelos, destacando su impacto en la sociedad indígena. Para ilustrar estos efectos, que se prolongarán durante siglos, se compararán las obras Idulekha (1889) y El Dios de las Pequeñas Cosas (1997), haciendo hincapié en el legado colonial y la aculturación educativa.

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Biografía del autor/a

  • Jairo Adrián Hernández, Universidad de La Laguna (España)

    Dr. Jairo Adrián-Hernández holds a degree in English Studies, a master's in literary research, and another in English teaching. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of La Laguna with a dissertation on missionary literature in southern India. His research focuses on Indian cultures, queer studies, and Anglo-Canarian travel literature. He has published articles and book chapters on these topics. Among his latest publications are “An educational switch from the ‘superstition’ of astrology to the hyperscientification of astronomy: a decolonial reading of British education in colonial Kerala”, in Horizons of Thought: Essays on Social Sciences and Humanities (Dykinson, 2024), and “Bleeding goddesses and female dysmorphia in Shashi Deshpande’s The Dark Holds No Terrors and Narayan’s Kocharethi: Menstruation as an ethnological paradigm in (post)colonial India”, in Bodies in Dialogue: Weaving Echoes of Diversity and Identity (Dykinson, 2024). He has completed two research stays at the Centre of South Asian Studies and the School of Oriental and African Studies. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of English and German Philology at the University of La Laguna.

Referencias

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Publicado

04-07-2025

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English as a proselytizing tool in Keralite schools: A period-over-period analysis of Anglophilic elitism in O. Chandhu Menon’s «Indulekha» (1889) and Arundhati Roy’s «The God of Small Things» (1997). (2025). Castilla. Estudios De Literatura, 16, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.24197/cel.16.2025.1-23