Category Archives: economic processes

August 8, 2025 · 6:58 pm

Sri Lankan Migrants Abroad as Productive Oysters for the Island

Item circulated by Sunil Thenabadu, Keith Bennett and  one Dee de  Silva

The Sri Lankan diaspora consists of approximately three million Sri Lankans living abroad, significantly contributing to their host countries and maintaining ties with Sri Lanka.

Demographics and Distribution

The Sri Lankan diaspora includes emigrants and expatriates from Sri Lanka residing in various countries, with significant populations in Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, Australia, and North America. An estimate from 2013 indicated that around three million Sri Lankans live outside their home country, with about one million permanently settled abroad. This diaspora is characterized by a diverse mix of ethnicities, including Tamils, Sinhalese, and Burghers, each contributing uniquely to the cultural landscape of their host nations. 

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August 5, 2025 · 7:21 pm

Global Economics & Sri Lanka over the Recent Centuries

Sunil Bastian: “Sri Lankan state in a changing global context”  … a 2025 article presented  here with highlights  imposed by The Editor,  Thuppahi.**

This short article emphasises the need to analyse the Sri Lankan state by placing it in the global context. This means not confining our minds within the borders of the Sri Lankan state. To emphasise this point I would like to point out that the formation of the Sri Lankan state itself was a product of a global phenomenon – British colonialism (see Bastian Sunil (2025) State formation and Conflicts in Sri Lanka. London: Bloomsbury Academic for an analysis of Sri Lankan state formation).

Under British colonialism the entire geographic space of the island was covered by a single unit of territorial power. To administer the territory, the island was divided into spatial units using the directions of a compass. In this way cartography became an instrument of British colonialism. Other techniques of state formation were establishing an administrative structure, a judicial system, a system to collect taxes, regular census and the coercive power of the state to cover the entire island.

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August 1, 2025 · 8:38 pm

For Lankan Researchers: An Oral History Workshop

 

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This interactive workshop, led by experienced oral historian Gaya Fernando, will introduce participants to the principles, practices, and power of oral history. Tailored for researchers, journalists, documentary producers, and writers, it will explore how personal narratives and community voices can enrich social and political research.

 

The formal session concludes at 12:30 PM, but participants who are interested are welcome to stay on for an informal discussion with Gaya until 3:30 PM.

15th August 2025

 

9.30 AM onwards

 

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July 31, 2025 · 9:57 am

The Ten Most Attractive Islands in This Our World

Item conveyed to TPS by Charles Schokman & Victor Melder & bearing this title “Sri Lanka ranked the Most Beautiful Island in the World”

image_5969bc57ca.jpgColombo, July 29 (Daily Mirror) – Sri Lanka has been crowned the Colombo, July 29 (Daily Mirror) – Sri Lanka has been crowned the most beautiful island in the world, taking the top spot on the list of “The 50 Best Islands in the World” compiled by global travel site Big 7 Travel.

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July 30, 2025 · 1:26 pm

From Kamburupitiya … Malkanthi’s Multi-Faceted Journey

Fazli Sameer in Those Fuzzy Days, July 2025 … presented in fazli@substack.com with a slightly different title and the sub-title: “A trek through days of milk, honey, and roses”

In the small southern village of Kamburupitiya, nestled amidst the mist-covered hills of the southern coastal city of Matara, a determined teenage girl named Malkanthi prepared for a journey that would alter the course of her life. At sixteen, she was the pride of her village school, a bright, kind-hearted girl who had earned a scholarship to pursue her higher studies in Colombo.

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July 30, 2025 · 1:22 am

In Appreciation of James T. Rutnam

Sachi Sri Kantha, whose preferred title is “James T Rutnam (1905-1988): Noted Bibliophile and a Valued Mentor” … with the highlighting in colour being impositions from The Editor Thuppahi

Introduction

My destiny to meet and interact with James T Rutnam came in the aftermath of the August 1977 anti-Tamil riots. Previously, I had written a little about the anti-Tamil riots that engulfed the island then, and my initial attempts to make a grade as a writer in English. [Please check this link. https://sangam.org/s-p-amarasingam-1977-anti-tamil-pogrom/].

I wrote to Mr. S.P. Amarasingam, the editor of the Tribune (Colombo). At that time, I was unaware that James Rutnam was an influential contributor to the Tribune, since its inception in 1954.

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July 28, 2025 · 3:00 pm

Featuring Andrekos Varnava’s Swathe of Political Studies

Andrekos Varnava is a Greek Cypriot and it has been the privilege of Flinders University in Adelaide and Australia-at-large to have him researching and teaching in their various reaches. CYPRUS is in a strategic location in the Eastern Meditteranian and has beenat the centre of many invasions and tussles.

Books by Andrekos Varnava

Exiting War: The British Empire and the 1918-20 Moment
by Andrekos Varnava and Michael J . K . Walsh
Exiting War: The British Empire and the 1918-20 moment, 2022
Exiting war explores a particular 1918-20 ‘moment’ in the British Empire’s history, between the F… more 
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July 28, 2025 · 2:49 pm

Peradeniya University Convocation, July 2025

The Convocation of the University of Peradeniya; 23 and 24 July 2025

The 86 th Convocation of the University of Peradeniya is organised as a majestic ceremony in the presence of dignitaries and parents to witness the graduation of nearly 4450 graduands looking towards the future with optimism and determination. The convocation ceremony this year will be held in four sessions today and tomorrow in the Gymnasium of University of Peradeniya as a joyous and proud occasion while celebrating 83 years of service par excellence to University education in Sri Lanka.

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July 27, 2025 · 7:46 pm

Facing the Algal Threat in Adelaide: Miller-Frost

Louise Miller-Frost’s Circular, July 2025

The coastline and waters are a great asset to Boothby residents, and many of us very much value the time we spend there walking on the beach, swimming in the ocean, fishing off the jetties or small boats, or just sitting contemplating the spectacular views.

And so the Algal Bloom currently affecting much of the SA coastline is of great concern.

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July 27, 2025 · 5:18 pm

St. Anthony’s College in Kandy: Its Heritage

Bernard VanCuylenburg  and  Sisira Weragoda  … whose title reads “From Little Things Big Things Grow – Antonians Who Excelled Beyond Excellence” 

Prologue

As an introduction to the subject of this article I had to choose a title which nails it all in just one line. It is the story of an academic miracle which emanated from a simple school in its infancy, St. Anthony’s College Katugastota, by a group of students who raised the bar of achievement and excellence in the prestigious London Matriculation Examination in 1934, with a 100% pass rate THUS OBTAINING THE BEST RESULTS IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE. It was a path breaking year for the College and a validation of the school’s excellence. Twelve students sat the examination that year of whom six obtained first division passes, and six obtained second division passes. Their names which should be emblazoned in letters of gold in the field of education will be mentioned in this article. Paraphrasing the title of the book by Rubeih Murray James, we should “Carve their names with pride”.

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