The mask of modernity: An autotheoretical reading of feminist contradictions in contemporary Kerala

This paper examines the contradictions of modern feminism in contemporary Kerala through an autotheoretical lens. While scholarship on Kerala’s gender modernity has examined women’s literacy and activism, little attention has been paid to the affective and psychological costs of empowerment. This study addresses that gap by reading media narratives and lived experiences together as critical evidence. Using Umer O. Thasneem’s article, “From Pathumma to Professor,” Dr. Noorjahan’s “Ph.D Kalyanam” and the author’s own experience of academic achievement accompanied by psychological burnout, the study extends Orsetta Giolo’s concept of adaptive patriarchy to interrogate how empowerment in Kerala operates within patriarchal frameworks. Drawing on Lauren Fournier and Sara Ahmed’s articulation of autotheory, this paper argues that feminism in Kerala has become a mode of endurance, where women are expected to achieve, without structural change. It calls for reimagining empowerment that values refusal, rest and collective transformation over compliance.