Malayalee Association of Memphis (MAM) is a registered non-profit association (State of Tennessee) with a focus on providing volunteering and charitable opportunities for our members. The association provides a platform for cultural, civic, charitable, educational and literary oriented activities. ‘Malayalees’ represent people who speak the language of ‘Malayalam’. Malayalam is the official language of the State of Kerala in India. Several individuals and families, who either speak the language Malayalam or those who have roots in the State of Kerala, live in the Memphis and surrounding areas. These families, since the 1990s, have come together and established as an effective community educating their kids on native culture and celebrating native festivals. Additionally, the group members help new members moving into the area to settle down. Recently, the group decided to explore opportunities to help the community through volunteering and charity work. There is no membership fee as of now.

The MAM members while rooted in a common culture are a heterogeneous group consisting of people from different religions, being brought up in different geographic areas, with various skillsets and of different age groups.  As is common in many groups, the demographics of the MAM community is constantly in flux.  We are very close to having a significant number of second generation malayalees who have largely grown up in the US.  In the 1990s most of the members were in their twenties or early thirties.  Currently we have a wide dispersion of age with accompanying differences in their activities and focus.  This has also led to MAM exploring a number of new activities to reflect this new reality.

If you subscribe to memphis_mallus@yahoogroups.com and live in or around Memphis, you are already a member of MAM. If you have questions please feel free to contact any of the board members.