The Branding of Islamic Migrants to Ceylon Over the Centuries

WHEN Shamara Wettimuny’s article  in the History Workshop Journal entitled “The Colonial History of Islamophobic Slurs in Sri Lanka”  …. was placed in FACEBOOK it received the following set of comments: some prejudiced against and some in favour. The ethnic difference in the authors is quite marked and thereby marks the depth of ethnicity in the island context …. TODAY.  

Moving at a tangent, I stress that the research work that generated the book by Roberts, Colin-Thome & Raheem which is entitled People Inbtween (1989 Sarvodaya) becomes profoundly relevant to this set of engagements. Note that my deployment of the THUPPAHI concept for my web-site’s brand name emerged from this body of research. So, do visit this entry as well: https://thuppahis.com/why-thuppahi/

The original article can be access in THUPPAHI at ………………… https://thuppahis.com/2020/09/07/experiencing-denigration-in-sri-lanka-the-muslims-yesterday-and-today/

FACEBOOK COMMENTS …. 13 Comments

1. Rohan Samarajiva says: 4 years ago

Many Karawa families still include Marakkala in their family or Ge names. My understanding was that it meant skipper of a fishing boat. Always wondered how the same term was used for Muslims, or some Muslims. May be worth exploring.

1. SENAKA WEERARATNA says: 4 years ago

Sri Lanka is also a predominantly Buddhist country.

Sinhalese constitute about 75 percent

Buddhists constitute about 70 percent

These are demographical facts.

It is fine to call Sri Lanka multi cultural and multi religious so long as one acknowledges that it is predominantly Sinhala and Buddhist.

Senaka

1. 1. Prageeth says: 4 years ago

Senaka , you are right. There’s this , liberal, invincible cat’s paw that is working so hard in the past century, trying to change the real history of Sri Lsnka,. This is another clear example. Who ever the author is, must have studied in a European university about Sri Lankan history. For me it’s very hilarious. All these people are out there to warp the real history of SL .

1. 1. Rasika says …..  4 years ago ….. Honestly mchnla these days if you decide to speak this truth you are instantly labelled as racist, this culture where the majority being silenced by the minority will never have a good ending for either side .
   2. Munira says ….. 4 years ago …  Excellent read. Good luck w your PhD.
   3. Farhan says: ….. 4 years ago…. Racism is larger than skin color. It is a classification. Racism is epistemic; a pre-packaged classification of people where some classify and the rest are classified. Once you are classified, you have to figure out where you have been classified in the racial horizon of coloniality. – Walter Mignolo… (Decolonial Theorist )
   4. Nather Khan  says: “Please check again root words for thambiya, thambila, hambita etc. May be thambiya from thambi. But thambila may refer to tamil. In Rameswaram area hindus are called thambila, mean tamil by muslims as if they are not Tamil. Hamba in Arabic mean slave. So hambiya may have slave meaning. Anyway you know better as you have doing intensive research. Tq for good work.
2. Fazli Sameer says: ….4 years ago… Excellent read. Thanks for the effort. Best wishes in your academics.
3. Imtiyaz Yusuf says: …. 4 years ago Excellent
4. Tariq says: ….. 4 years ago Excellent

5. Citizen says: …. 2 years ago….  “Sampan” boats remain a cultural icon of the Malaysian peninsular. The port in Sri Lanka where most Malay traders came in their ‘Sampan’s became known as “sampan thota. Given the proclivity in Sinhala to use the “S” and “H” interchangeably (as in “Saal”/”Haal”, etc) this became ‘Hamban thota”. There is another strong argument that the Malay traders were called ‘Hambayo’ because they came to ‘Hamban-thota’ in their “sampan” or “Hampan”/”Hamban”.

1. Dr Seyed Sheriffdeen says: …..1 year ago Great job Shamara. Looking forward to call you Dr.
2. MOHAMED ZIYATH MOHAMED LAFEER says: ……  12 months ago….. Great Job Shamara.

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Shamara Wettimunyis a DPhil candidate in History at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on identity formation and religious violence in colonial Sri Lanka. She is a graduate tutor in global and imperial history at Worcester College, Oxford. She Tweets at @shamara4w.