Azna Parveen Palakka Palliyali

Azna's research explores the socio-cultural translations of religion in the built environment through the perspective of oceanic trade. She investigates this in the context of the Mappila Muslim community and their settlements along the Malabar Coast of Kerala in India. 

Azna is a SEED funded PhD Scholar at University of Manchester. Previously, she was part of a multidisciplinary team who undertook research on Kayalpattinam (Tamil Nadu, Kerala) to study its spatial formations and sensorial everydayness. This research was funded by the India Foundation for Arts, Bangalore (India) under their Arts Research Programme. She has also taught History and Urban Design at the Department of Architecture, National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NITC, India) and worked in different other roles as an architect, researcher and illustrator. She has been passionately involved in facilitating dialogues with the public about lived histories, urban heritage and sustainable futures through her urban heritage walks in Fort Kochi and Mattanchery, independently and also in collaboration with organisations like the Kochi Muziris Biennale, Kochi Heritage Project and Coearth Foundation.