Ms. Arya Alvernas is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of English, University of Kerala. She holds a master’s degree in English language and literature from the University of Kerala and is a recipient of the University Grants Commission’s Junior Research Fellowship. She has been published in academic journals in India and has also presented papers at various national and international conferences.

Alvernas’ doctoral dissertation studies the gendered politics of sartorial fashioning in nineteenth-century Kerala, with a special focus on the erstwhile kingdom of Travancore. As a Fulbright-Nehru fellow, she is furthering this research by inquiring into transnational flows and ideational paradigms of feminist movements in shaping regional sartorial affinities in Kerala. Her research lies at the intersection of gender studies, and dress-history. She is an avid reader and art aficionado who often comments on contemporary cultural politics, educational policies, and long winding philosophical ruminations.