It appears that there are pressures in motion[1] to return to the old Rajapaksa programme of rendering the National Anthem on Independence Day in Sinhala Only. As Eranda Ginige has contended, this would be a retrograde step. Towards our comprehension of the issues, I present a preliminary and incomplete bibliography of pertinent items — including the work of Kushil Gunasekera and his Foundation of Goodness in fostering the Murali Cup; the endeavours of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene; and Sasanka Perera’s slashing criticism of the parochial responses to Kishani Jaysinghe’s operatic rendering of “Danno Budunge.”
Hardline Chauvinist Opposition
Senaka Weeraratne: “A Rejection of Reconciliation via Namo/Namo: Weeraratna’s Hardline Sinhala Majoritarian Statement,” 29 January 2017, ……………………… …… ….. /thuppahi.wordpress.com/2017/01/29/a-rejection-of-reconciliation-via-namonamo-weeraratnas-hardline-sinhala-mahttps:/joritarian-statement/
Key Essays from the Pen of Michael Roberts …. in order of presentation
- “Some Pillars for Lanka’s Future,” Frontline, 24/12, 6-19 June 2009, pp. 24-27…. Rep. in Asaga Welikala (ed.) Reforming Sri Lankan Presidentialism, Colombo, 2015, CPA, 22, pp 808-15.
- “Intolerance: Hues and Issues,” Nethra Review, 11/2, December 2010, 20-21.
- “Sangakkaras visit St. Patrick’s College, Jaffna,” 12 April 2011, https://thuppahis.com/2011/04/12/sangakkaras-visit-st-patricks-college-jaffna/
- Michael Roberts: “Kumar Sangakkara’s Ecumenical Lankan Nationalism,” 9 July 2011, https://thuppahis.com/2011/07/09/kumar-sangakkara%e2%80%99s-ecumenical-lankan-nationalism/
- “Mahinda Rajapaksa: Cakravarti Imagery and Populist Processes,” 28 January 2012, http:// thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/mahinda-rajapaksa-cakravarti-imagery-and-populist-processes/, …..reprinted in Asanga Welikala (ed.) Republic at Forty, …
- “A Man Inspired, A Man who Inspired: Bishop Lakshman Wickremasinghe,” 18 April 2012, https://thuppahis.com/2012/04/18/a-man-inspired-a-man-who-inspired-bishop-lakshman-wickremasinghe/
- “Murali Harmony Cup serves the Northern Province and deploys Cricket in the Work of Reconciliation,”8 September 2012, https://thuppahis.com/2012/09/08/6956/
- “Kumar and Mahela … Cricket and Reconciliation… Northern Empowerment … via Alison’s Tea Break,” 12 October 2012, https://thuppahis.com/2012/10/11/kumar-and-mahela-cricket-and-reconciliation-northern-empowerment-via-alisons-tea-break/
- “Ideological Cancers within the Sinhala Universe: Roadblocks in the Path of Reconciliation,” Groundviews, 10 May 2014, ……………………….. ………………………… http://groundviews.org/2014/05/10/ideological-cancers-within-the-sinhala-universe-roadblocks-in-the-path-of-reconciliation/
- “Where Majoritarian Part subsumes the Whole: The Ideological Foundation of Sinhala Extremism,” 28 July 2016, https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/where-majoritarian-part-subsumes-the-whole-the-ideological-foundation-of-sinhala-extremism/
- “The National Anthem as Spearhead in Steps towards Reconciliation,” 24 January 2017, https://thuppahis.com/2017/01/24/the-national-anthem-as-spearhead-in-steps-towards-reconciliation/
- “Kumar Sangakkara’s Many Steps towards Reconciliation and Sensible Institutional Governance,” 11 June 2017, https://thuppahis.com/2017/06/11/kumar-sangakkaras-many-steps-towards-reconciliation-and-sensible-institutional-governance/#more-25967
Pertinent Sidelights
Sasanka Perera: “Danno Budunge: “Goodness Gracious Me!” 15 February 2016, https://thuppahis.com/2016/02/15/19676/
Adjunct Essays from the Pen of Michael Roberts …. in order of presentation
“Stimulants and Ingredients in the Awakening of Latter-Day Nationalisms,” in Collective Identities, Nationalisms and Protest in Modern Sri Lanka, Colombo: Marga Publications, 1979, pp. 214-42.
“Problems of Collective Identity in a Multi-Ethnic Society: Sectional Nationalism vs Ceylonese Nationalism, 1900-1940,” in Collective Identities, Nationalisms and Protest in Modern Sri Lanka, Colombo: Marga Publications, 1979, pp. 337-60.
The 1956 Generations: After and Before, G.C. Mendis Memorial Lecture for 1981, Colombo, Evangel Press, 1981a
“Ethnicity in Riposte at a Cricket Match: The Past for the Present”, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 1985, 27: 401-429.
“Nationalism, the Past and the Present: the Case of Sri Lanka,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1993a 16: 133-161.
“Beyond Anderson: Reconstructing and Deconstructing Sinhala Nationalist Discourse”, Modern Asian Studies, 1996a 30: 690-98. [reprinted in Confrontations, 2009].
“Teaching Lessons and Removing Evil: Strands of Moral Puritanism in Sinhala Nationalist Practice,” Felicitation Volume for Professor S. Arasaratnam, edited by Michael Pearson, as South Asia, sp.issue, Sept. 1996, pp. 205-20.
“Sinhala-ness and Sinhala Nationalism,” in G. Gunatilleke et al (eds.): A History of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Recollection, Reinterpretation and Reconciliation, Colombo: 2001 Marga Monograph Series, No 4.
“The burden of history: obstacles to power sharing in Sri Lanka”, Contributions to Indian Sociology, n. s., May 2001, 35: 65-96.
“Ethnicity after Edward Said: Post-Orientalist failures in comprehending the Kandyan period ofLankan history,” Ethnic Studies Report 2001, 19: 69-98. [reprinted in Confrontations, 2009].
“Dakunen sädi kotiyo, uturen golu muhudai,” [The fierce/vile Tamils to the south, the turbulent/unfathomable sea to the north] Pravāda 2001. 6: 17-18.
“Primordialist strands in contemporary Sinhala nationalism in Sri Lanka: urumaya as Ur,” Colombo: Marga Monograph Series on A History of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Recollection, Reinterpretation and Reconciliation, Colombo: Marga Monograph Series, 2002 No 20.
“Saivite Symbolism, Sacrifice and Tamil Tiger Rites”, Social Analysis 2005 49: 67-93.
“Pragmatic Action & Enchanted Worlds: A Black Tiger Rite of Commemoration,” Social Analysis 2006 50: 73-102.
“The Tamil Movement for Eelam,” E-Bulletin of the International Sociological Association 2006 No. 4, July 2006, pp. 12-24 [reprinted in Fire and Storm. Essays in Sri Lankan Politics, 2010, pp. 203-18].
“Understanding Zealotry and Questions for Post-Orientalism, I,” Lines May-August 2006,vol.5, 1 & 2, in http://www.lines-magazine.org.
“Tamil Tigers: Sacrificial Symbolism and ‘Dead Body Politics’,” Anthropology Today, June 2008,24/3: 22-23.
“Intolerance: Hues and Issues,” Nethra Review, 11/2, December 2010, pp. 20-21.
“Mahinda Rajapaksa: Cakravarti Imagery and Populist Processes,” 28 January 2012, http:// thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/mahinda-rajapaksa-cakravarti-imagery-and-populist-processes/,reprinted in Asanga Welikala (ed.) Republic at Forty,
“Ideological Cancers within the Sinhala Universe: Roadblocks in the Path of Reconciliation,” Groundviews, 10 May 2014, http://groundviews.org/2014/05/10/ideological-cancers-within-the-sinhala-universe-roadblocks-in-the-path-of-reconciliation/
ALSO = https://groundviews.org/2016/02/10/singing-of-our-national-anthem-in-the-two-national-languages/
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[1] Located as I am in Adelaide and struggling to sustain two webs ites on my own in the midst of home duties and a vibrant cricket and tennis watching seasons, I am not able to keep track of Sri Lanka’s newsprint sources, So I hope helpful hands will send me web references and news items copied in Word File format for my store of information on this set of issues.