A MEMO From Michael Roberts as Editor, Thuppahi, July 2025
The Word Press system keeps me informed about the HITs on TPS items everyday and also assembles figures for each week. Reviewing these details provides one with a glimpse of internet viewers and their interests. As an exercise with this objective I provide figures of HITS on items carrying biographical tales.
HEREWITh, then, are the figures of such hits — HITS on bio-tales –– during the past week.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, communal relations, cricket selections, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, European history, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, performance, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, teaching profession, theatre world, unusual people, world affairs, world events & processes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Date 28 June – 2 August 2025 …………..Coach … Andy Farrell ….. ……………. Tour captain(s) Maro Itoje
Michael Roberts, presenting an article published in 2005 as a pamphlet by the ICES, Colombo with this title “The First Settlers and Their Claim to Ownership of Terrain/State. A Comparative Excursion” … an essay originally presented in Abdul Rahman Embong, Rethinking Ethnicity and Nation Building: Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Fiji in Comparative Perspective, Panbrit UKM, Bangi, Malaysia, (c. 2003) which was then reprinted as a booklet by ICES, Colombo in 2005 – see ISBN 955-580-099-5 I.
Filed under Aboriginality, ancient civilisations, animal world, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, intricate artefacts, island economy, land policies, landscape wondrous, life stories, politIcal discourse, racism, religiosity, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
AVERSION is due to be launched in July 2025 …. and there are some special pre-launch offers
‘Aversion’ is a book about a country renewing and rebuilding itself. The main character is an investigative journalist, initially on assignment in Sri Lanka, where her extended family live. Initially overwhelmed by negative news and the chaos she comes into, she witnesses the country reinventing itself after terror attacks, civil war, natural disaster and economic crisis, and reinvents herself in response, reframing her perspective to appreciate the resilience of the country and even in herself.
A Title Bestowed by the Editor Thuppahi upon an article sent by Capt Kumar Kirinde [courtesy of the Country Director, A-PAD Sri Lanka] which bears this heading: “Challenges and Opportunities in Delft Island. A Field Visit by A-PAD Sri Lanka,” April 11, 2025
Introduction: Delft Island or Neduntheevu is the largest island in the Jaffna Peninsula extending into an area of approximately 50 km2. The name of the island is of Dutch origin – believed to have been inspired by a town in the Netherlands due to similar physical characteristics. 1,408 families (4,159 individuals) inhabit the island across 6 Grama Niladari (GN) divisions and are serviced by one hospital, 8 schools, a police station, Sri Lanka Navy and the Divisional Secretariat (DS) Office. The schools are attended by a total of 574 students, while the main island livelihood is fishing. In addition to fishing, raring livestock and seasonal paddy cultivation are other sources of income generation. Delft comprises of unique tourist attractions and lies disconnected from mainland Jaffna. It can only be reached by sea.
Map of Delft Island, © IUCN Sri Lanka, 2013
https://uclpress.co.uk/book/sri-lanka-at-the-crossroads-of-history/
» Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History, Pub. date: 7 June 2017 Zoltán Biedermann & Alan Strathern (Eds) pages: 354, illustrations 34 …. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781911307822
zZOTAN BEIDERMANN PHOTO – Google Search
The peoples of Sri Lanka have participated in far-flung trading networks, religious formations, and Asian and European empires for millennia. This interdisciplinary volume sets out to draw Sri Lanka into the field of Asian and Global History by showing how the latest wave of scholarship has explored the island as a ‘crossroads’, a place defined by its openness to movement across the Indian Ocean.
Michael Roberts
SOUTH ASIA has been a form of Australian exploration — in the plural form of manifold journeys and investigations — in South Asia for several decades. I was a small cog in this cluster of activities some 20 years back; but, alas, fell away. Some old partners in arms are still part of the Editorial Advisory Board; but its a fresh and bright team that is bringing the Indian subcontinent into the Aussie arena. Sri Lankan scholars and readers need to take note of this work and chip in with their own ‘commentary’ — whether in article form or as avid readers.
Check https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/csas20 …. AND/OR write to shameem.black@anu.edu.au ……….. OR ……………………….. priya.chacko@adelaide.edu.au
Filed under ancient civilisations, australian media, British imperialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, electoral structures, ethnicity, European history, governance, heritage, Hinduism, historical interpretation, Indian General Elections, Indian Ocean politics, Indian religions, Indian traditions, land policies, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, migrant experiences, modernity & modernization, parliamentary elections, patriotism, pilgrimages, plural society, politIcal discourse, Portuguese imperialism, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, Presidential elections, press freedom & censorship, racism, Rajiv Gandhi, religiosity, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, terrorism, transport and communications, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry
The hard copy of THOMIA by Richard Simon in two volumes — all 868 + lxv pages of this searching history — is now in print. Presented here are the initial pages.
Filed under British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, education policy, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, politIcal discourse, religiosity, S. Thomas College, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people, world events & processes
IT is a testament to Gananath’s openness and skills that personnel from so many walks of life have stepped up to record his influence on their thinking and lives. May he dwell comfortably in his after-life. ….. Michael Roberts
A Female Voice in Facebook, March 2025
I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Prof Gananath Obeyesekere. Much will be written about Prof Obeyesekere’s contribution to academia in the coming days. He was a giant in the field and one of the most well-known and respected Sri Lankan intellectuals.
Filed under anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, caste issues, charitable outreach, communal relations, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, world affairs, zealotry
Professor M.W. Amarasiri de Silva, about 3/4 years back in … … where the full title of the essay reads thus: “Sinhalese Society Through The Prism Of Religion: An Appreciation Of Gananath Obeyesekere’s Work On Sinhalese Buddhism”
This article celebrates the remarkable scholarly contributions of Gananath Obeyesekere, specifically in the field of popular Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Obeyesekere, now aged 93, embarked on his anthropological career at the University of Ceylon (now University of Peradeniya), where he earned his undergraduate degree in English. Subsequently, he served as a lecturer and professor in the Department of Sociology from the 1960s to 1972, before moving on to the United States. He was Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University from 1980 to 2000.
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, patriotism, performance, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, teaching profession, transport and communications, unusual people, vengeance, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry
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