Category Archives: commoditification

Merril Fernando and Dilmah Tea: What A Stirring Story!

Tea mogul Merrill J. Fernando: ‘I owe everything to Australian consumers’.”  …. SEE “Straight Lefs from the Dilmah Tea Missionary” by Benjamin Law, in The Age, 13 June 2020, https://thuppahis.com/2020/06/17/straight-lefts-from-the-dilmah-tea-missionary-merrill-fernando/

ALSO

ALSO   Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

“Ceylon” = A Superior Brand to “Sri Lanka”?

Denzel Perera in Sunday Times, where the title runs thus: “Destination Branding – Sri Lanka or Ceylon?

Sri Lanka was always known as Ceylon and the people of Sri Lanka were known as Ceylonese in the pre-independent era. Sandy beaches, wildlife, hills in the central region, archaeological sites, etc. have given Sri Lanka much more than needed to convert this paradise island into the most sought-after tourist destination. However, there seems to be a fundamental mistake that was done in changing the name of this paradise island from Ceylon to Sri Lanka. Today, our country has Ceylon Tea, Ceylon Cinnamon, Etc. which are unparallel and world-class in their quality. The term Ceylon is generally considered archaic, having been replaced by Sri Lanka, but it is still used in some contexts. At the same time, we are spending a colossal amount of money on establishing brands such as Sri Lankan Airlines, Sri Lankan Cricket, and Sri Lanka as a tourist destination.

 

Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under ancient civilisations, art & allure bewitching, charitable outreach, commoditification, cultural transmission, export issues, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, world events & processes

Only in Sri Lanka!!! Presidential Self-Deprecation

 

1 Comment

Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, asylum-seekers, charitable outreach, commoditification, disparagement, economic processes, heritage, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, taking the piss, trauma, truth as casualty of war

The Exploitative World Economic Order: A Revealing Nutshell from Jeffrey Sachs

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned economics professor, bestselling author, innovative educator, and global leader in sustainable development…. (https://www.jeffsachs.org/).

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, energy resources, export issues, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world affairs, world events & processes

Roadside Scenery: British Ceylon in the Early 20th Century

Several of these old photographs cropped up in the course of my work on Leonard Woolf for presentation in Thuppahi. They give us some understanding of the contexts serving as backdrop to daily life in the daytime. …. since nightitme life is more veiled and obdurate in a world without mobile telephone cameras.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under architects & architecture, British colonialism, commoditification, demography, economic processes, heritage, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, photography, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue

Hambantota: Multi-Purpose Port of the Year for 2021

The Hambantota International Port was named “Multi-Purpose Port /Terminal of The Year 2021 & Port Infrastructure Development of the Year 2021,” at the recently concluded Global Port Forum (GPF) awards earlier this week.The Awards ceremony, held at the Shangri-La, Dubai, brought together organisations and professionals from across the world’s Ports & Terminals industry, to a gala event, where the highest contributors of 2021 were recognised.

HIP won two of the most coveted awards, ‘Multi-Purpose Port / Terminal of The Year 2021’ and ‘Port Infrastructure Development of the Year 2021,’ after a stringent process conducted by the forum to select the most deserving in each of the categories. Global Ports Customers and Senior Port Experts from the Global Ports Council made up the prestigious panel of judges who were involved in the shortlisting and selection process.

Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under accountability, commoditification, economic processes, governance, island economy, landscape wondrous, modernity & modernization, performance, transport and communications, world events & processes

Sri Lanka is Near Extinction

Chandrasena Maliyadde

Sri Lanka was a model economy at the time of gaining independence 75 years back. It was ahead of many of its peers and neighbours on many fronts. Today it has become an import-led, debt-ridden, faltering economy. It is far behind all its neighbours. Intellectuals have sought to explain the reasons behind this pathetic state. Maliyadde, who was in public service for nearly 50 years and spent most of his career in the Ministry of Planning and Plan Implementation, takes a view different to that pressed by the majority. His views are presented in an interview with HIGH TV.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgzGmvpHLpHdbTFqDspxGnvPkwvbV?projector=1

….. Jamila Husain with Maliyadde & Indika Sakalasooriya

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, commoditification, disparagement, economic processes, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

Why Sri Lanka is Sinking – Prithi’s Prognosis

In Response to the THUPPAHI Item bringing Imran Khan’s ‘fate’ into juxtaposition with that of Sri Lanka, viz. https://thuppahis.com/2022/04/11/kota-uda-imran-khan-and-sri-lanka/ …….. Prithi Perera has fashioned an “Address to Sri Lankan Aussies” …. And, thus, to Thuppahi @@

Dear Sri Lankan Aussies, Unfortunately, this post does not reflect any of the issues mentioned in my email of 30 March 2022 that explained the real reasons for the present foreign debt and foreign exchange crises facing Sri Lanka today. As per that post where the statistics from the World Bank were quoted, it was clearly shown how the External Debt grew and the years that had the biggest increases with the External Debt growing in double digit increases from 2009 to 2014 with 2012 showing the highest annual increase in External Debt as compared to 2012. viz; 38.54 %. The growths in External Debt which involves foreign currency was highest during the periods 2009 to 2014, recording a growth from USD Billion 19,504,201 in 2009 to USD Billion 42,262,755, an increase of 117%. The External Borrowings from 2015 to 2019 have shown only single digit annual changes and the growth in External Debt has been from USD Billion 43,925,371 in 2015 to USD Billion 56,095,469, thus an increase of USD Billion 12,170,098 or 27% increase during the five-year period ending 2019, as compared to the 117% increase during the five-year period ending 2014.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, land policies, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, taking the piss, transport and communications, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes

Beckoning: Emma Thompson’s Sri Lankan Pictorials

The photographs adorning Emma Thompson’s travel tale … at …………………………………. https://thuppahis.com/2022/02/21/british-tourists-commence-return-to-sri-lankas-touring-delights/ .….. have been sent to me by Amal Abeywardena of London — circumventing the Sunday Times requirement of a subscription!

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under architects & architecture, Buddhism, commoditification, cultural transmission, elephant tales, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, photography, pilgrimages, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue, world events & processes

The Pearls and Pearl Divers of Ceylon

Tamara Fernando:  Seeing Like the Sea: A Multispecies History of the Ceylon Pearl Fishery 1800–1925″*  Past & Present, Volume 254, Issue 1, February 2022, Pages 127–60, ……………………………………………. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtab002

ABSTRACT of the Article: The pearl fishery of Ceylon was a lucrative source of pearls as well as a theatre of colonial power. But instead of narrating a story of abstracted governmentality, this paper dives below the waves, braiding Tamil poetry with scientific material relating to the oyster and state sources concerning fishery administration. Taken together, these unearth a multi-species history of the human relationship to the seas. In the same way that pearl divers’ labour was a mode of knowing nature, so too, natural processes and marine creatures shaped, in turn, the economic, social and cultural worlds at the fishery. This nacreous, layered approach combines natural history, maritime labour and historical ecology to explore the fragile and interlocking balance below the waves which extended beyond humans to the molluscs, sharks, boring sponges and parasitic tapeworms of the Gulf of Mannar. The archive around the pearl fishery advances the animal and ecological histories of the Indian Ocean and also points towards ways of suturing the gulf between Indian and Sri Lankan scholarship.

Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under British colonialism, commoditification, economic processes, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, marine life, population, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, trauma, travelogue, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes