Category Archives: commoditification

April 6, 2024 · 3:43 am

Pictorials: Roman Szechowycz in the Dry Zone in the 1950s

Michael Roberts

Dr Roman Szechowycz and  his brother served the newly independent island of Ceylon in its hydraulic agriculture projects in the Dry Zone in the period 1950 to 1961 …. mostly from a base at Inginiyagala in the Eastern Province where the Gal Oya Tank was constructed. We are fortunate to have some photographic ‘asides’ of a “personnel nature” — so to speak — associated with this work  The detailed descriptions presented elsewhere in TPS: viz.; …..

Experiences: Working on the Gal Oya Project in Ceylon, 1950-61

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March 1, 2024 · 12:29 am

The Roberts Mss at Adelaide University Library

Michael Roberts

Recent Email Exchanges with Jane Russell of UK, who has one foot in England and two feet in island Sri Lanka, and a revived focus on  George E De Silva (1870-1950) reminded me of the George E. Mss Memoirs in typescript which Jane had given me long ago. This led me to a long list which amounts to a treasure trove for those addressing a variety of topics in the history of Sri Lanka. I present the details before. Those wishing to pursue specifics must write to the Head of the Special Collections at the Barr Smith Library Adelaide University, not to me: samantha.farnsworth@adelaide.edu.au

It is my conjecture that the same corpus of material (or parts thereof) will also be part of the Roberts Collection at the National Library Services Board along Torrington Rd (beside the National Archives) in Colombo. They could initially seek specifics from Mr Welimuni Sunil who heads the institution: viz …

Welimuni Sunil … sunilnldsb@gmail.com

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February 23, 2024 · 7:50 pm

The “Butterfly Bridge” in Galle

Michael Roberts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dulip Karunaratne of St. Aloysius (as a boarder) sent this to me. As a resident of Galle Fort and a frequent visitor to the playing fields in front of the Fort, this bridge over a canal leading to the Municipal Park was a familiar sight. Perhaps so familiar as to be taken for granted.

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January 18, 2024 · 9:25 pm

The Culinary Cuisine & Crossoads Culture of Marseille

Tristan Rutherford & Rebecca Marshall in AramcoWorld in  March/April 2018 ………………………………………….. https://www.aramcoworld.com/Articles/March-2018/Marseille-s-Migrant-Cuisine

Five hundred years later the Mediterranean became Rome’s nexus of trade and empire, and Marseille became one of its maritime centers. Now, mucem exhibits olive-oil amphorae from Anatolia, soapmaking paraphernalia from Syria, and sailing charts that show how to navigate from Algiers without running aground on the island of Mallorca.

Culinary historian Emmanuel Perrodin says the city’s cultures, traditions and foods influenced by centuries of trade and migration throughout the Mediterranean make Marseille unique.

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January 8, 2024 · 10:17 am

Edwardian Villas and Maharajas’ Palaces: A Question on the Kalu Ganga  

Mick Moore of Susssex University ** … with highlighting imposed within this essay by The Editor, Thuppahi

Richmond Castle is a large and elegant villa beautifully located in a wooded estate on a hill above the Kalu Ganga not far from Kalutara town. It was built at enormous expense between 1900 and 1910, by Padikara Mudali Nanayakkara Rajawasala Appuhamilage Don Arthur de Silva Wijesinghe Siriwardena, aka Arthur Silva, Mudaliyar. Were it located in the UK, it would be a major tourist attraction. It is however little visited or even known. One reason is that it has languished – and crumbled – for decades in the hands of the Public Trustee, who has neither the resources nor the incentive to promote or even maintain it. Arthur Silva left the property to the care of the Public Trustee in the expectation that a Trust would be established to manage it and the small boys orphanage attached. That has never happened.  

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December 13, 2023 · 12:58 pm

Another Time, Another World: Social Science in Postwar Sri Lanka

Uditha Devapriya & Uthpala Wijesuriya, … with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Background:  In Sri Lanka, social science research witnessed an expansion in the 1950s. Various scholars, including Stanley Tambiah and Gananath Obeyesekere, found their calling in anthropology, and went on to introduce and popularise the subject in local universities. This period also witnessed an increasing interest in Sri Lankan and specifically Sinhala society from Western scholars, including Edmund Leach, James Brow, and Richard Gombrich. While many local scholars active in that period have commented on how social science research evolved at Sri Lankan universities, no proper study of this has been done yet.

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December 11, 2023 · 8:26 pm

Wellawatte In The Olden Days: Life In The ‘Sandy Garden’ Of The Fifties, Sixties And Seventies,

Asif Hussain,  2 May 2018 **  

Wellawatte in the southernmost limit of Colombo, is such a hive of activity today that it is hard to believe it was a sparsely populated place a little over a century ago. Its Sinhala meaning, ‘sandy garden’, itself suggests a rather deserted area.

It was then dominated by a few Burgher families of European origin. In fact, much of the land on the seaside is said to have been a vast coconut estate owned by a Burgher gentleman named Charlemont Jonathan Gauder, after whom and whose relatives many of the roads such as Charlemont, Frederica, Collingwood, Alexandra, and Frances are named. Today, however, it is referred to as ‘Little Jaffna’ after its large Tamil population.

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November 30, 2023 · 7:58 pm

The Indian Tamils in British Ceylon & Sri Lanka: Pursuing Their Equality TODAY

International Conference focusing on  the topic “MOVING TOWARDS EQUALITY AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH.”….  200 years of People of Indian Origin Tamils (IOT) in Sri Lanka” …. BCIS Auditorium (The Olympus), BMICH, Colombo,  11th December 2023

Welcome & Opening Address: Dr. Mario Gomez
Executive Director
International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo …

 Inaugural Address:  Dr. Yasodara Kathirgamathamby
Conference Chair, Department of Legal Studies
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
The Open University of Sri Lanka

Special Address: Prof. Gamini Keerawella, 
Executive Director, Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies, Colombo

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November 18, 2023 · 6:11 pm

Revelations within Colonial Photographs of Ceylon: “Veins of Influence”

Veins of Influence: Colonial Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in Early Photographs and Collections, by Shalini Amerasinghe Ganendra

 [This book is a pioneering monograph that brings a rich array of early and previously unpublished images of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) into the global discourse of photography, pairing a striking lens of visual appreciation with distinctly humanizing perspectives.

 

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October 12, 2023 · 1:57 pm

Mass NUDE Assembly at River in Aid of Cancer Project

Tayla Coucaud in The Australian, 11 October 2023

A New York-based artist has put out a call to thousands of Queenslanders to strip down and possibly enter the Brisbane city river for a series of nude images. American photographer Spencer Tunick will be collab­orating with Brisbane Powerhouse to stage a series of nude photographs along Brisbane River later in November.

Sydneysiders naked at Bondi each in 2022

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