This issue of Social Scientist carries presentations made at the International Conference on Kerala Studies, organised by the AKG Centre for Research and Studies, and held at Thiruvananthapuram on August 27-29, 1994. The article by Thomas Isaac and Michael Tharakan gives an overview of the Conference in terms of the range of issues that were discussed and the thematic trends that emerged from these discussions. The other five articles are representative of some of the numerous themes around which seminars and symposia took place—Kerala in the context of the changing global and national scenario, the "Kerala Model", the role of casteism and communalism in the socio-political context of Kerala, the gender question, and so on.