Playing with feelings: Investigating experiences of women in sport and physical cultures in Kerala, India

This thesis examines women's experiences in sport and physical cultures in Kerala, investigating how they navigate contemporary India’s transforming sporting environments. Using life-histories and photographs of women in athletics, football, and Kalaripayattu, the research argues that sportswomen strategically balance athletic ambition with traditional notions of feminine respectability, familial affinity and moral propriety. Despite Kerala’s reputation for social progress, sportswomen face persistent inequalities that are often minimised or denied by sports organisations. This thesis suggests that sportswomen’s experiences need to be understood beyond binaries of women’s empowerment or exclusion, especially given the assumption that sport is necessarily empowering and positively affirming.