Educational Qualification:
B Com., University of Madras, Chennai, 1987
M A (History), Madurai Kamaraj University, 1989
Ph D (History), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 1995

Areas of Research:

Social History, Cultural History, Intellectual History, Literary Historiography, Social and Cultural Change.

Visiting Faculty, Fellowships and Awards

April-July 2006, Charles Wallace Visiting Fellow, Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge

February-March 2005, UPE Visiting Fellow, University of Hyderabad.

Fall Quarter 1999, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.

December 1997-January 1998, Visiting Fellow, Indo-French Cultural Exchange Programme, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris.

October 1996, Visiting Fellow, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris.

September-October 1996, Research Grant,Charles Wallace India Trust, U.K.

August 1992-January 1994, Junior Research Fellowship,Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi.

1999, Bursary to complete a manuscript on popular literature in Tamil, V.S. Sethuraman Centre for Culture Studies.

Work Experience

Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai (from June 2001)

Department of Indian History, University of Madras, Chennai (from December 2000 - May 2001)

Department of History, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, April 1995- December 2000

Selected Publications

Books (English)

2006 (ed.) A.K. Chettiar, In the Tracks of the Mahatma: The Making of a Documentary, Orient Longman, Hyderabad.

2006 In Those Days There Was No Coffee: Writings in Cultural History (New Perspectives on Indian Pasts, Series Editor: Saurabh Dube), Yoda Press, New Delhi.

2006 (ed.) Chennai, Not Madras: Perspectives on the City, Marg, Mumbai.

2003 (trans.) Sundara Ramaswamy, J.J.: Some Jottings, Katha, New Delhi.

Books (Tamil)

2006 (ed.) Pudumaippithan Mozhipeyarppukal (third volume of the chronological and variorum edition of the complete works of Pudumaippithan), Nagercoil.

2005 (trans.) Thuyarmiku Varikalai Indriravu Nan Ezhutalam (Tamil Translation of Pablo Neruda), Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.

2004 (ed.), Bharatiyin 'Vijaya' Katturaigal, Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.

2004 Mucchanthi Ilakkiyam (Popular Literature in Colonial Tamilnadu), Nagercoil.

2004 Mullai: Oar Arimugam, Mullai Pathippagam, Chennai.

2003 (ed.), A.K.Chettiar, Annal Adichuvattil (The making of the documentary, Mahatma Gandhi), Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.

2002b Novelum Vasippum: Oru Varalattru Parvai (Early Novels and Reading Practices: A Historical View), Nagercoil (second edition 2003).

2002a (ed.) Pudumaippithan Katturaigal (second volume of chronological and variorum edition of the complete works of Pudumaippithan), Nagercoil (second edition 2003).

2000b Andha Kalathil Kappi Illai Muthalana Aaivu Katturaigal (collection of research papers on Tamil cultural history), Nagercoil (second edition 2001).

2000a (ed.) Pudumaippithan Kathaigal (first volume of chronological and variorum edition of the complete works of Pudumaippithan), Nagercoil (third revised edition 2002).

Articles

2007 'Exaggerated Obituaries: The Tamil Book in the Age of Electronic Reproduction', in Nalini Rajan (ed.), Digital Culture Unplugged: Probing the Native Cyborg's Multiple Locations, Routledge, London, New York & New Delhi, 2007.

2006 'Madras Manade: How Chennai remained with Tamilnadu', in A.R.Venkatachalapathy (ed.), Chennai, Not Madras: Perspectives on the City, Marg, Mumbai.

2005d 'Andha Kalathil Kapi Illai: Tamilagathe Kapiyude Samskariga Charithiram', Pachakuthira, August (Malayalam translation of 2002c)

2005c 'Enna Prayocanam: Constructing the Canon in Colonial Tamilnadu'. Indian Economic and Social History Review, 42(4), October-December, special number on Language, Genre and Historical Imagination in South India.

2005b 'Review symposium: Literary Cultures in History', Indian Economic and Social History Review, 42(3)

2005a 'Drinking Coffee: Contending with Modernity in Late Colonial Tamilnadu' in Satish Poduval (ed.), Re-figuring Culture: History, Theory and the Aesthetic in Contemporary India, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.

2004c 'Triumph of Tobacco: The Tamil Experience', in Jean-Luc Chevillard, Eva Wilden (eds.), South-Indian Horizons: Felicitation Volume for Francois Gros, Institut Francais de Pondichery & Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, Pondicherry.

2004b 'In Those Days There was no Coffee: Coffee-Drinking and Middle-Class Culture in Late Colonial Tamilnadu,' in Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Land, Politics and Trade in South Asia, Oxford University Press (reprint of 2002c).

2004a 'Street Smart in Chennai: The City in Popular Imagination', in C.S. Lakshmi (ed.), The Unhurried City: Writings on Madras, Penguin.

2003c 'Caricaturing the Political: A Brief History of the Cartoon in Tamil Journalism', Art India, 8(4), Quarter 4.

2003b 'In Print, On the Net: Tamil Literary Canon(s) in the Colonial and Post Colonial Worlds', in Sumit Gupta, Tapan Basu (eds.), Globalisation, Conflict and Identity, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.

2002c 'In Those Days There was no Coffee: Coffee-Drinking and Middle-Class Culture in Late Colonial Tamilnadu,' Indian Economic and Social History Review, 39(2-3), Dharma Kumar Memorial Volume.

2002b 'Coining Words: Politics and Language in Late Colonial Tamilnadu' in Vasant Kaiwar & Sucheta Mazumdar (eds.), Antinomies of Modernity: Essays on Race, Orient, Nation, Duke University Press

2002a 'Fiction and the Tamil Reading Public', in Meenakshi Mukherjee (ed.), Early Novels in India, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.

Current Research Work

Indo-Danish Interaction in the 18th century with special reference to Print (in collaboration with the National Museum of Denmark)

Studies in the social history of the Dravidian movement.

The making of middle-class culture in colonial Tamilnadu.

Tamilnadu: Academic Perspectives from Without

A multi-volume biography of and documentation on V.O.Chidambaram Pillai (1872-1936).

Editing the collected works of Pudumaippithan (thus far three volumes published; three more are under preparation).

Contact Details

A R Venkatachalapathy, Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies, 79, Second Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar,
Chennai - 600 020, Tamil Nadu, INDIA.
Tel: 0091 - 44 - 24412589 / 24419771, Fax: 0091 - 44 - 24910872, E-mail: chalapathy@mids.ac.in
Web: http://www.mids.ac.in/chalapathy.htm