Gulf migration cartoons in Kerala, South India : dreams, discontents, and emotions

Abstract

This study considers cartoons as key visual narratives of Middle East migration from Kerala, a state in South India. The exodus of more than two million Keralites to oil-exporting Arab countries brought significant socio-economic development to the state following the 1970s. To understand how migrant cartoonists represent this transnational event, I examine their works published in newspapers, magazines, blogs, and social media pages in the last two decades. Gulf migration cartoons depict personal challenges experienced by migrants and their families, as well as broader collective struggles associated with migration. The cartoons provide a critical portrayal of migrant experiences and hold significance in Kerala's migration history. However, the inclusion of these visual-textual sources into broader discussions on cultural depictions of migration has been inadequate. They remain an understudied visual source of Kerala’s biggest transnational experience.

The “Introduction” of the thesis offers an overview of the historical context of migration and its cultural influence on Kerala. It situates migration cartoons within the frameworks of diaspora literature and visual culture studies. I examine the sociocultural transformation of Kerala, focusing on the impact of foreign remittances, commodities, and new forms of communication on its populace. This part of the thesis traces the emergence of a dream of social mobility among Keralites. The first chapter, titled "The Gulf Dream and Migrant Identity in Cartoons," examines the impact of post-migration economic mobility on social identity in Kerala. To understand how cartoons represent these changing identity concerns, I analyse cartoons from Usman Irumbuzhi’s series “Paradesi” (“Foreigner”) and from Noushad Akampadam’s series “Ith Than Da Gulf!” (“This is the Real Gulf!”). The chapter explores the role of foreign remittances in enabling newly rich migrants to assert their identity through consumption. In the second chapter “Migration’s Discontents: Communication, Consumerism, and Globalization in Gulfumpadi P.O”, I investigate the role of cartoons in critiquing the dominant economic narrative of migration in Kerala. I examine migrant artist Sageer’s cartoon series to explore how cartoons juxtapose the stereotypical image of the Middle East against the lived reality of migrants. In the third chapter “Emotions and Gulf Cartoons,” I argue that cartoons foreground the affective dimension of migration. This chapter focuses on analysing the emotional and gendered aspects of migration in select cartoons from the series Gulfumapdi P.O.