Faculty Profile

Rajan Krishnan aka Rajan Kurai Krishnan was awarded with PhD degree in Anthropology by Columbia University, New York in 2009 for his thesis on Tamil Cinema titled “Cultures of Indices: Anthropology of Tamil and Other Cinemas”. He also earned a certificate from Institute of Comparative Literature and Society, Columbia University. Before pursuing his doctoral degree he had participated for two decades in a range of cultural activity in Tamil Nadu including film society movement, theatre and literary criticism. He had also been part of institutionally funded research projects on cinema and masculinity. Apart from academic writing, he regularly publishes, in Tamil, articles on political theory, philosophy, global affairs, climate change and film theory. Since the publication of his research paper in Tamil on Periyar E.V.Ramasamy in 1993, he continues to have a keen research interest in theories of caste. In the period 2009-12, he was a post doctoral research associate in a multi sited project titled “Caste out of Development” in which he studied Christian Dalit situations.

• Dec  2011 “John Abraham: Cinema and the Idea of the Collective”,  Journal of theMoving Image, Vol.10, December 2011.
• June 2009 “From Songs to Speech”, Seminar, Vol.598, June 2009.
• Jan  2008  "Imaginary Geographies: The Makings of 'South' in Contemporary Tamil Cinema". In Tamil Cinema: The Cultural Politics of India's  Other Film Industry, edited by Selvaraj Velayutham. London: Routledge, 2008.
• Jul 2007 Rajini’s Sivaji: Screen and Sovereign, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLII, Nos 27 & 28, Jul.14(2007), pp.2861-3.
• Jan 2007 "The Oddities of Tamilnadu” (Review of Vasanthi's Cut Outs, Caste and Cine Stars), Biblio Vol.XII, Nos1&2, Jan.1(2007), pp.36-37.
• Jul 2006 The Brahmin and the Citizen: Shankar’s Anniyan, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLI, Nos 27 and 28, Jul (2006) (Co-authored with M.S.S.Pandian), pp.3055-3060.
• Jun 2006 More Stars than Ever, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XLI, Nos 24, Jun.17(2006), pp.2414-5.
• 2006  "Touching Untouchability? Dalit Situations and Theoretical Horizons." In Home and the World: South Asia in Transition, edited by Helen Fazio (et.al). New Castle: Cambridge Scholars Press,2006, pp.365-378.
• Oct  2002  Work, Caste and Competing Masculinities: Notes from a Tamil Village, Economic and Political Weekly, Oct 26 (2002) (Co-authored with S. Anandhi and J. Jeyaranjan), pp.4397-4406.
• Tamil  (Select list of publications; with translated titles)

Books

• Jan  2010  Muthaleettiyamum Manuda Azhivum (Capitalism and Human Extinction), Pulam, Chennai.
• Jan  2012  Kathanayakanin Maranam (Death of the Hero), Kayal Kavin Pathippagam, Chennai.

Essays

• Aug 2007  Rajini en'ra chamooka moolathanam, (Rajini as Social Capital) India Today, Special issue on Rajnikanth, Aug 2007, pp.120-1.
• Oct  1997  “Adiththaddu makka'l varalaa'rum, ilakkiyap payitsika'lum” (“Subalternity and Litarary Modernism” ), Vilimbu Nilai Aaivugal,  Nirappirigai, Kumbakonam 1997.
• Jun 1993  Yaanayin uruvamum, vekujana chinimaavin parimaa'nangka'lum (The Uncertain Contours of Popular Cinema), Aaiyvu, Vol.5,1993.
• Apr 1993 Periyaariyam: Thaththuvaththai varaiya'ruththalum vivaathamum – oru aayvukkaana munvaraivuka’l (The Ideas of Periyar: a few Hypotheses towards Discerning his Philosophy), Nirappirigai, Vol.6, 1993.