Conclusion

Abstract

The conclusion argues for a reconsideration of the place hold by kinship in postcolonial trajectories of social mobility. The reading of present middle-class modernities through the lens of kinship recalling and experiences provides a necessary balance to the ongoing focus on new middle classes as mainly enmeshed in political activism and economic strategies of mobility. The book suggests how, among Nambudiris, the historical move from nationalist engagement towards contemporary liberalization has been accompanied by the questioning of any kinship project based on unproblematic ideas of joint family, caste purity, and intergenerational hierarchies. Alternative ways of conceiving kinship have emerged, based on the idea of collective suffering and sacrifice, as well as on the necessity of territorial, caste, and religious mingling. It suggests how middle-class identities are framed today not only by a nostalgic attachment to an idealized past, but also by a historically-grounded reconsideration of the importance of kinship ruptures in actively participating to global history.