Category Archives: female empowerment

December 13, 2023 · 12:58 pm

Another Time, Another World: Social Science in Postwar Sri Lanka

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.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under architects & architecture, British colonialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, commoditification, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, economic processes, education policy, Eelam, electoral structures, ethnicity, female empowerment, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, immigration, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, NGOs, parliamentary elections, patriotism, photography & its history, plantations, plural society, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, press freedom & censorship, Rajapaksa regime, religiosity, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, tourism, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry

December 9, 2023 · 12:08 am

Hilda Muriel Kularatne, Theosophist & Educationist in Ceylon

Rehan Kularatne, presenting an original essay which has received its title and had highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

My grandmother Hilda Muriel Westbrook was born in Dulwich on 28 November 1895. She was the daughter of Walter Francis Westbrook, later Chief Registrar of the Colonial Office, and Jessie Duncan, a Scottish poet and scholar, the sister of noted (and absolutely dreadful) Celtic Revival painter John Duncan RSA. Jessie Duncan Westbrook was to publish a number of verse renditions of Persian, Sufi and Hindu poetry in the 1910s. She and my great-grandfather, being Theosophists, were both extremely interested in ‘Eastern’ religions.

Hilda was educated at the progressive James Allen’s Girls’ School (JAGS) in Dulwich. Having excelled in modern languages (French and German) as well as in team sports like hockey (in addition to having Gustav Holst as her music master), she went on to Newnham in Cambridge to do a degree in Modern Languages in 1914, just after WWI broke out. (Though she completed the degree in 1917, she had to wait 30 years to be actually awarded her MA, as Cambridge was the last university in England to accept female graduates.)

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, British colonialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, democratic measures, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, teaching profession, travelogue, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes

November 30, 2023 · 7:58 pm

The Indian Tamils in British Ceylon & Sri Lanka: Pursuing Their Equality TODAY

International Conference focusing on  the topic “MOVING TOWARDS EQUALITY AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH.”….  200 years of People of Indian Origin Tamils (IOT) in Sri Lanka” …. BCIS Auditorium (The Olympus), BMICH, Colombo,  11th December 2023

Welcome & Opening Address: Dr. Mario Gomez
Executive Director
International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo …

 Inaugural Address:  Dr. Yasodara Kathirgamathamby
Conference Chair, Department of Legal Studies
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
The Open University of Sri Lanka

Special Address: Prof. Gamini Keerawella, 
Executive Director, Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies, Colombo

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, female empowerment, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, liberation tigers of tamil eelam, plantations, plural society, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, unusual people, world events & processes

November 18, 2023 · 6:11 pm

Revelations within Colonial Photographs of Ceylon: “Veins of Influence”

Veins of Influence: Colonial Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in Early Photographs and Collections, by Shalini Amerasinghe Ganendra

 [This book is a pioneering monograph that brings a rich array of early and previously unpublished images of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) into the global discourse of photography, pairing a striking lens of visual appreciation with distinctly humanizing perspectives.

 

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, Buddhism, commoditification, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, ethnicity, female empowerment, governance, heritage, Hinduism, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, photography, photography & its history, plantations, Portuguese imperialism, power politics, religiosity, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, tourism, transport and communications, unusual people, wild life, working class conditions

November 7, 2023 · 8:28 pm

Ruvendrini Menikdiwela in Key UNHCR Role

News Item: “Secretary-General appoints Ms. Ruvendrini Menikdiwela of Sri Lanka as Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Ruvendrini Menikdiwela of Sri Lanka as Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  Ms. Menikdiwela will succeed Gillian Triggs of Australia, to whom both the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Refugees are grateful for her dedicated service to the refugee cause.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, governance, heritage, human rights, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, social justice, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes

September 28, 2023 · 12:49 pm

Chamari Atapaththu: Outstanding Sri Lankan Cricketer

Chamari Athapaththu …. stood Out once again for Sri Lanka in England this summer …. armed with a Kingsgrove Sports Cricket Bat                                                                                     

In the light of her outstanding record, Take a close look at her cricket bat: it bears the name of “Kingsports.”This is whee the ALOYSIAN connection fits into the narrative. Kingsporss is the com[any owned by HARRY SOLOMONS who is a great supporter of Sri Lankan cricket and sponsors Chamari among other cricketers.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, cricket for amity, cricket selections, female empowerment, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, photography, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes

September 14, 2023 · 8:03 pm

“Jamaican Farewell” in Sinhala ….. Not Sad to Say ….

A Welcome Rendering by a Sri Lankan Lass 

 …………….. who has now earned the sobriquet

………………………..”Mrs Harrybella Fonseka”

Leave a comment

Filed under art & allure bewitching, cultural transmission, female empowerment, heritage, life stories, performance, sri lankan society, unusual people

September 7, 2023 · 5:17 pm

Sri Lankan Women’s Cricket Team trounce England in England

Michael Roberts

The Sri Lanka Women’s Eleven’s win at Chelmsford in England highlights the wonderful improvement in the side and gleaming prospects in the near future. The side may be benefitting from the heat wave in Europe as well as England’s decision to rest one or two experienced campaigners; but the facility and margin of victory was commanding.  Andrew Miller’s account in ESPNcricinfo says it all.

Besides the triumph was not out of the blue. The team won the second encounter  comfortably after dismissing England for 104 runs — then reaching 110 for the loss of two wickets with 40 balls remaining.

Chamari Athapaththu was player of the match after a formidable all-round display  •  PA Photos/Getty Images

So, I encourage Sri Lankan cricket buffs to follow the series and add their thoughts on the events that follow……………………… Michael R

**********

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, cricket for amity, cricket selections, female empowerment, life stories, patriotism, performance, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, world events & processes

August 9, 2023 · 8:53 pm

Enjoying Peradeniya Campus Life in the Late 1960s

Sumangalika Dharmadasa, in  the booklet HANTHANA NIGHT , produced by the University of Peradeniya Alumni Association Western Australia in 2023 … where her title reads “Campus Life of Yore: Through the Eyes of a Fresher”” 

6th October, 1965 is a land mark date in my memory, as it surely must be in the memory banks of all the Freshers who entered the hallowed portals of the university of Peradeniya all those years ago. The sense of freedom and independence I felt after the cloistered life in school hostels was truly exhilarating.  For the first time in my life, I was free to do just as I wished!  I did not know then that I was destined to remain in that wonderful place for over 50 years.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under architects & architecture, cultural transmission, education, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, patriotism, plural society, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, travelogue

August 4, 2023 · 11:34 pm

Survivor’s Tales: A Kidnapping …. & …. Dunkirk Rescue Boat

From the MIRROR

Surviving Kidnapping: When Stephanie Slater was kidnapped by killer Michael Sams back in 1992, he kept her captive in a lockable wheelie bin. But rather than murder her – as he had done with his previous victim Julie Dart – he demanded a ransom and let her go after it was paid. But why did Sams release her? In a fascinating new revelation about the case, it seems the Mirror’s own health expert Dr Miriam Stoppard played a key part. Stephanie had read Dr Miriam’s advice book on how girls can deal with dangerous situations including how to build a rapport if you find yourself in a vulnerable situation. Sams was later jailed for life for murdering Julie and abducting Stephanie. Dr Miriam says: “I have never expected anything I have written to have such a big effect on somebody’s life.”

Stephanie Slater

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under female empowerment, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, world events & processes