Category Archives: female empowerment

A Sri Lankan Lady Bishop for Wellington, NZ

This item was sent to TPS with this title: “Wellington celebrates Bishop Ana” ….. Note: “Ana” sould be voiced as “Aaana”

The Wellington Cathedral of St Paul thronged with well-wishers on Saturday 13 April as 600+ people turned out to celebrate the Rt Rev Anashuya Fletcher’s ordination and installation as Assistant Bishop of Wellington.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, life stories, patriotism, performance, religiosity, self-reflexivity, unusual people

Journalistic Articles from my Pen: A Bibliography, 1996-2009

Michael Roberts

Articles that appear in academic journals are subject to a refereeing process before they, so to speak, scale the heights and enter the academic world. But there are numerous forums at the cutting edge which serve up essays on hot topics. These are not necessarily run-of-the-mill mundane pieces. They can be spin-offs presented by writers in the academic field.  As I look to the future when my mortal steps in this world will no longer generate any sound, I present here a listing of some of these ‘pop-articles’ produced in the period 1996-2009.  Many of them relate to the Eelam wars and the Tamil Tiger commitment to sacrificial devotion” (a term I deploy in lieu ofsuicide missions”).

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, atrocities, communal relations, cultural transmission, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, jihadists, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people

Galle: So Bewitching …. with Aid from the Work of Norah Roberts

R. Simmington, whose article bears another title

Sri Lanka has a special place in my heart because I lived here for a few
years in the early 1980’s and returned in 1986, armed with a camera.
Although the photographic phase of my life was short and sweet, I still have
all my negatives, which I can now convert into digital images. I hope this
piece, together with the photographs that accompany it,*** bring back some
happy memories for the members of this group. I realise that there will be
many who know this story, but there will be some that don’t, in any event, I
think it is worth sharing.

Amangalla exterior & front verandah

Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under architects & architecture, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, Muslims in Lanka, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

Noor Inayat Khan: An Indian Princess & British WW II Spy

Vikas Vaid

On Sep 13, 1944, a princess from India lay dead at Dachau concentration camp. She had been tortured by the Nazis and then shot in the head. Her name was Noor Inayat Khan.

Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, ethnicity, female empowerment, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, martyrdom, patriotism, unusual people, world events & processes, World War II

An Essential Service …. By Women …. For Women

Editorial in DAILY NEWS,  26 March 2024, where the title reads  “A Commendable Step”

No one can go against Mother Nature. Women have been created with a womb in order to perpetuate the human race. Women can prevent child birth if they wish but they cannot prevent menstruation. Menstruation can only be delayed for a short time for medical reasons and some other essential reasons with Consultants’ guidance and prescribed medications.

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, democratic measures, female empowerment, gender norms, life stories, politIcal discourse

Colombo Ladies serving Hindu Ladies College in Jaffna

Goolbai Gunasekara in The ISLAND Newspaper, 17 March 2024 … entitled “My time at Hindu Ladies College”

Following in her mother, Clara Gunaskara nee Motwani’s footsteps, principal and teacher Goolbai Gunasekara revolutionised the sphere of English education in Sri Lanka …. & this account is her trip down memory lane.

Mrs. Visaladhy Sivagurunathan, a philanthropic Hindu lady, had gifted the property of Hindu Ladies’ College to the school in 1943. [My] Mother […. of the Motwani  lineage] …. was the school’s fifth Principal. Under her, the first Past Pupils’ Association was formed, with Mrs. Jeevaratnam Rasiah as its first President. Miss Thambu (Mother’s long suffering Tamil tutor) was its Secretary. Just recently, I was invited to speak to the Colombo branch of the HLC alumni.

I met a former HLC teacher there — Mrs Navaratna, formerly Leela Ponniah — along with many old friends. The reverence in which Mother was held was very heartwarming, and it was a moving experience to hear the stories they related of instances in which Mother had touched — and sometimes directed — their lives.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Aboriginality, anti-racism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, education, education policy, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, language policies, life stories, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, teaching profession, travelogue, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits

Sirimavo Bandaranaike on The World Stage in Pictorial Power

Item in Daily Mirror, 14 March 2024 ………………………… https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Second-edition-of-SIRIMAVO-Steering-the-Destiny-of-a-Nation-published/108-278787

The Bandaranaike Museum Committee has taken step to publish the second limited edition of the Pictorial Biography; ‘SIRIMAVO – Steering the Destiny of a Nation’ in collaboration with the Sarasavi Bookshop and it is now available for sale, the Bandaranaike Museum Committee said.

It said the book was published due to various request from the public here and abroad.

 

Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, ethnicity, female empowerment, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes

Lecture on Buddhist Temple Paintings durng the Colonial Period

Prof. Chandanie Wanigatunge will be delivering a National Trust Lecture on Temple Paintings during Colonial Period” ….. at 6.00 pm, Thursday, 29th February 2024 ………. The Auditorium of the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka, No. 6, Independence Avenue, Colombo 7….. accessible on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@ntsl9627

Degaldoruwa Temple

 

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, Buddhism, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, Hinduism, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, Kandyan kingdom, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, religiosity, travelogue, world affairs

Appreciation: Professor Yasmine Gooneratne

Devika Brendon, in The Sunday Times, 18 February 2024

And gladly would she learn, and gladly teach’

 My mother, Yasmine Gooneratne, passed away on Thursday night this week. She was 88 years old.

Continue reading

5 Comments

Filed under art & allure bewitching, cultural transmission, education, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, patriotism, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, theatre world, tolerance, unusual people, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes

Minette De Silva in Pictures

Sired by George E. De Silva and Agnes Nell on 1 February 1918, Minette De Silva has claims to be one of Sri Lanka’s greatest achievers on the world stage. As the pictures of her with Picasso and others at a conference, the Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne, in 1947 reveal, young Minette outshone all the others in presentability and age. She then proceeded to imprint her innovative mark within her beloved island — as some of the photographs and the recent recognition of her extraordinary talent by competent personnel  attests. . Michael Roberts

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people