Anthropologist From UK Studying Coastal Communities Deported On Arrival In Kerala

Osella’s recent research examines the contemporary transformation of South Indian Muslims with his field-work in Kozhikode and in a number of Gulf countries.

Filippo Osella (Image: Facebook)

New Delhi: Noted anthropologist and academician from the UK, Filippo Osella, who is currently involved in research on traditional fishing in Kerala, was deported to his country soon after his arrival at the international airport in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, official sources said.

According to a report by news agency PTI, a top Immigration officer at the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in the airport, without divulging further details, said that the academician was ‘refused entry’.  

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A professor of anthropology and South Asian studies at the University of Sussex, Filippo Osella had conducted research on rural Kerala and has published two joint monographs - one on stratification, identity, and social mobility among a community that was formerly untouchables (Social Mobility in Kerala, 2000), and another on masculinities (Men and Masculinity in South India, 2007).

Osella’s recent research examines the contemporary transformation of South Indian Muslims with his field-work in Kozhikode and in a number of Gulf countries.

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It is to be noted that Osella’s new research that is funded by the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme goes on to explore the new ways to make traditional fishing in Kerala safer and sustainable by co-producing knowledge on the marine weather and fish resources with traditional fishermen and the weather forecasters.

Osella had reportedly arrived in the state capital on Thursday to attend a conference on the coastal communities in Kerala.