Jabir K

This Foundation Project, implemented by IFA, aims to study the Arabana Muttu in Malabar and examine how this ritualistic art form shapes ethical habits, collective emotions, and local subjectivities through embodied training, ritual, and performance. The project combines ethnography and filmmaking to document how Arabana Muttu moves between devotional and secular spaces, especially within the Kerala school Kalolsavam circuit. Jabir K is the Coordinator of this project.

Jabir K holds an MA in Psychology from Aligarh Muslim University and works as a research assistant at the Centre for Study and Research (CSR), New Delhi. He has trained in and taught Mappila art forms for more than a decade, and he has directed the documentary Alam Bagh (2024), an experimental audio-visual work that draws on Mappila performance traditions. Given his combined experience as a practitioner, ethnographer, and filmmaker, he is best placed to be the Project Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

The project responds to a clear gap in scholarship on Mappila performative cultures: most studies focus on literary or aesthetic features while overlooking embodied practice and its role in shaping ethical and emotional life. Arabana Muttu has roots in the Rifai ratib ritual practice and today appears in both devotional settings and in secular, competitive spaces such as school Kalolsavams. The research asks how Arabana Muttu evolved in devotional contexts, how it adapts to modern secular and competitive settings, and how regular embodied practices of the art form (training, performance, ritual) produce specific virtues, feelings, and collective identities among performers and audiences.

The study uses a multidisciplinary ethnographic method with a strong visual component. Core methods include participant observation with an Arabana Muttu school team, in-depth interviews and life histories with veterans and masters, archival research in Arabi-Malayalam collections, and audio-visual documentation for a feature documentary. The documentary narrative will be built in three interwoven layers: the lived journey of a Chalavara Higher Secondary School Arabana team across the Kalolsavam circuit; interviews and oral histories with elder practitioners and local historians that trace genealogy and technique; and documentation of contemporary Rifai ratib practices to capture ritual soundscapes and spiritual experience. Field sites include Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, and Thrissur. The team includes a collaborating researcher for the monograph, a script and production associate, and a cinematographer/editor for filming and post-production.

The outcome of this project will be a full-length documentary film in Malayalam, a scholarly monograph in English (co-authored), a curated digital archive of recorded performances and interviews, and a package of edited audio-visual clips, field notes, and contextual materials for public and scholarly use. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA, along with the final reports, will include the documentary film, the monograph manuscript, the digital archive, and the accompanying metadata. 

This project aligns with the framework of IFA’s Arts Research programme by centring practice-led inquiry and recovering a regionally rooted, under-documented tradition. By foregrounding embodied knowledge, the project situates Arabana Muttu within both ritual and secular life worlds and makes materials available for scholars, practitioners, and broader audiences.

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.

The Project is part-supported by BNP Paribas India.