Andreas Szechowycz … detailing his father’s dedicated work in the Gal Oya Project in the 1950s and in communication with Michael Roberts in ways that mark his deep attachment to the island
Group Photo – Dr. Roman Szechowycz in middle.
L-R: Mr. (not legible), Mr. P. W. Richards, Mr. Coel Menai North Wales UK, Dr. Roman Szechowycz, Dr. A. J. Kostreamaks Bongor, Mr.. Anwari Dilmy Indonesia, Mr. B. A. Abeyvickram Colombo, Mr. R. A. DeRosaryro Colombo
Filed under architects & architecture, centre-periphery relations, colonisation schemes, cultural transmission, demography, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, land policies, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, population, rehabilitation, sri lankan society, transport and communications, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes
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 …
Filed under accountability, British colonialism, Buddhism, caste issues, chauvinism, Colombo and Its Spaces, colonisation schemes, commoditification, communal relations, counter-insurgency, cultural transmission, demography, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, education, Empire loyalism, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, insurrections, irrigation, island economy, Kandyan kingdom, land policies, life stories, literary achievements, LTTE, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, parliamentary elections, patriotism, photography, pilgrimages, plantations, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, riots and pogroms, Royal College, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil migration, terrorism, transport and communications, unusual people, war reportage, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes, World War II and Ceylon
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.
Filed under Africans in Asia, architects & architecture, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, cultural transmission, demography, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, photography, politIcal discourse, sri lankan society, transport and communications, Uncategorized, world events & processes
Bernard Van Cuylenburg ….. presenting an essay penned in 2020 – one which has had highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi … and pictorial additions
This is the story about a family – a personal story which I wish to share with a wider world. This family consisted of four brothers who lived in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. They were the Eagars and one day, following catastrophic events in the land of their birth, they set their sights on far horizons and left their motherland for a little island still known today as the ‘pearl of the Indian ocean’. One of them was my great grandfather, Halley Eagar.
A partial map of Ireland with a miniature crate of potatoes depicting the potato famine of 1845 – 1852
Nishkula Suntharalingam, presenting a book review in Asian Affairs 2023 ….. https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/raaf20 …. of the book by Moyukh Chatterjee. Composing Violence: The Limits of Exposure and the Making of Minorities. Duke University Press, Durham, 2023. pp. 166. Notes. Bibliog. Index. Ackmts. Hb. $94.95. ISBN 9781478017028. Sb. ………….$24.95. ISBN 9781478019664
Moyukh Chatterjee was an eyewitness to the aftermath of the 2002 riots in the west Indian state of Gujarat; three days of communal violence during which Hindu mobs attacked Muslims, their businesses and homes, leaving over a thousand people dead. This book focuses on how and why, in multi-ethnic, democratic states like India, targeted violence and anti-minority politics persist. In doing so, the author suggests an alternate approach to understanding violence against minorities while raising disquieting questions about the formation of modern states and the ways that ideas of “minorities” and “majorities” are produced and reproduced.
401733 08: Indian state police patrol the streets of Ahmadabad, India after rioting between Muslims and Hindus March 1, 2002 in Ahmadabad, India, two days after a Muslim mob attacked a train, killing 58 people in the Indian state of Gujarat. Indian troops arrived in the riot-torn western state of Gujarat but were unable to quell the Hindu-Muslim violence that has claimed the lives of 251 people. (Photo by Ami Vitale/Getty Images)
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, demography, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, Indian religions, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, religious nationalism, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, trauma, vengeance, violence of language, zealotry
Asiff Hussein, in Elanka, 23 December 2023, …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Filed under art & allure bewitching, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, demography, economic processes, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, tolerance
Professor Amarasiri De Silva in Book Review in Daily Mirror, 27 December 2023, of Lokubanda Tillakaratne: Rata Sabhawa of Nuwarakalaviya – Judicature in a Princely Province: An Ethnographical and Historical Reading, 2023, 322 pages, ISBN 9798218157654, …. with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
In antiquity, Sri Lankan Kings wielded authority not only as sovereigns, but also as architects of legal frameworks and systems of justice. Their edicts [were] often articulated verbally or inscribed on enduring rock surfaces, [and] gave rise to fields of law and administration that permeated the kingdom. However, the distant corners of the country, secluded from the immediate influence of royal decrees, presented a different reality.
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, colonisation schemes, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, demography, devolution, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, land policies, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, Sri Lankan scoiety, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy
Thannamurippu, in The Economist, 23 November 2023 where the title runs thus: “Asian Monuments. What’s mine, what’s yours?Disputed monuments are Sri Lanka’s new ethnic flashpoint”
On a wooded hill edged by rice fields in Sri Lanka’s northern Mullaitivu district sit the ruins of an ancient Buddhist monastery. Members of the country’s Sinhalese majority call it “Kurundi Viharaya”. For Tamils, who are mostly Hindus and consider the war-battered north their homeland, it is “Kurunthoor Malai”. Since 2018, when the state archaeological department began excavating the site, Tamil and Sinhalese nationalists have rowed over which community has a greater claim to it.
Kurundi Dagaba
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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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