Government Film Unit Documentary presenting Sir John Koelawela’s Official Visit to the Maldives in 1950
… presented by Anusha Palpita
Government Film Unit Documentary presenting Sir John Koelawela’s Official Visit to the Maldives in 1950
… presented by Anusha Palpita
Filed under australian media, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, photography, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
EMAIL NOTE-cum-QUERY, 20 December 2022:
“A serious researcher in Britain has sought leads on academic work and/or good investigative articles which explore and elucidate Maldivian-Sri Lankan relations over the past 70 years or so? …. I just happen to be writing a chapter on diplomacy with a 20th century historian interested in Bandung etc. This little film struck me as being incredibly bland in terms of politics and power imbalances between SL and this tiny Sultanate. One could have expected the SL side to be a bit more patronizing, perhaps even assuming some sort of overlordship and mentioning the Maldives’ Buddhist past, but they totally avoided doing that.”
These are penetrating observations and worth mulling over, exploring ….”