Editorial in DAILY NEWS, 26 March 2024, where the title reads “A Commendable Step”
Category Archives: gender norms
An Essential Service …. By Women …. For Women
Islamic Women’s Veils: Some Desultory Thoughts
Michael Roberts
On re-reading an entry in Thuppahi on the Burqa with two striking illustrations that contrasted
X …..a photograph of a Western woman in a see-through net dress walking stark naked in a busy street ….. WITH …
Y …. Illustrations of the various types of veiled Islamic women, ……
Filed under accountability, arab regimes, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, fundamentalism, gender norms, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian religions, Islamic fundamentalism, jihadists, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, tolerance, travelogue
Confronting Transgender Issues in Sri Lanka
Michael Patrick O’Leary, in The Island, 12 March 2023, where the title reads “Time to Think Part One”
Transgender Issues in Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka’s first president, JR Jayewardene, famously boasted that the newly-created executive presidency gave him the power, “to do anything, except make a man a woman, or a woman a man”. Today, there is much conflict in many countries about making a man a woman or a woman a man. The issue recently contributed to the downfall of Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who had seemed unassailable. In Ireland, the government is under attack because the Equalities Minister, Roderic O’Gorman, has been siphoning money off to trans activist groups that had been earmarked for the Traveller and Roma communities, migrant integration and redress for children who had been abused by the state and the church. There are some who believe that if a man says he is woman – “self-identifies” as a woman – then he is, indeed, a woman. Wishing makes it so. Those who dispute this are labeled “transphobic” and are brutally attacked in the trans wars. JK Rowling has been vilified simply for saying a man cannot be a woman.
Filed under accountability, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, democratic measures, education, gender norms, governance, historical interpretation, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, tolerance, unusual people, world events & processes
Female Attire in Sri Lanka and AK Coomaraswamy
Laleen Jayamanne, in The Island, 28 December 2022, reviewing Ayesha Wickramasinghe’s ‘The Dress of Women in Sri Lanka’
Dr. Ayesha Wickramasinghe, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Textile and Apparel Engineering, at the University of Moratuwa, has recently published her doctoral research on sartorial styles, The Dress of Women in Sri Lanka (2021), in a handsomely designed hardcover book. The historical information, which spans the colonial and the postcolonial periods, with glances at the ancient past, is presented as a cultural survey, in an engaging manner, with a large number of photographs embedded, in the text, as illustrations. It has been published by The National Science Foundation and has recently received a national award as well.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, commoditification, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, gender norms, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, photography, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
Fraternal Polyandry in Ceylon in Dutch Times
Jan Kok, Luc Bulten and Bente M. de Leede:
“Persecuted or permitted? Fraternal Polyandry in a Calvinist colony, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,” a work published by Cambridge University Press, 2022 … presented here in Thuppahi in synopsis
Abstract: Several studies assume that Calvinist Christianity severely undermined or even persecuted the practice of polyandry in the Sri Lankan areas under Dutch control. We analyze Dutch colonial policy and Church activities toward polyandry by combining ecclesiastical and legal sources. Moreover, we use the Dutch colonial administration of the Sinhalese population to estimate the prevalence of polyandry. We conclude that polyandry was far from extinct by the end of the Dutch period and we argue that the colonial government was simply not knowledgeable, interested and effective enough to persecute the practice in the rural areas under its control.
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, gender norms, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, Kandyan kingdom, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Forging Revolutionary Paths. In the Sea. Tamil Females ‘breach’ Arugam Bay
“The Rise of Sri Lanka’s Female Surfers,” — An Article by Zinara Rathnayaake with Snaps by Tommy Schultz, ….
Introduction by Glenn T Goodwin: “A new, all-women Surf Club in Sri Lanka is enriching the country’s burgeoning surfing scene while defying cultural expectations.
I had a chance to live in Sri Lanka for three weeks doing humanitarian relief work after the 2004 tsunami. The tragedy of lost lives and communities just made the harsh vibe of a chronic politically torn culture even more tense. Although much of the east coast was obliterated, I did get a chance to surf at Arugam Bay, (one of the favorite spots for Aussie surfers and one of mine too, my memory still reminds me of the sweet waves at Arugam).
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, charitable outreach, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, gender norms, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Charles S. Braine: A Rajah of a Planter in British Ceylon
One of the Braine Progeny presenting an Item in the History of Ceylon Tea website, entitled “Charles Stanley Braine (1874-1944) – The Rajah of Mawatte”…. https://www.historyofceylontea.com/ceylon-publications/feature-
Charles Stanley was born in Ceylon on 25 December 1874. He was the eldest son of Charles Frederick Braine and Adeline Mary Becher, who had married in London earlier that year.
Filed under anti-racism, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, gender norms, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, plantations, plural society, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, tolerance, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Coupling Leopards at Yala: Testosterone at Work
The Love Life of “Lucas,” …. A Leopard
“Lucas” (YM16) is one of the most famous male leopards roaming in the Yala National Park Sri Lanka, where he is famous for creating many popular story lines for wildlife enthusiasts over past few years. In this video we present to you the romance between “Bhagya” (YF58) & “Aster” (YF39) and also another interesting & unusual behaviour from “Lucas”
ALSO NOTE
- https://thuppahis.com/2016/10/24/leopard-family-on-the-road-at-yala-sri-lanka/
- ALSO SEE
- https://thuppahis.com/2014/09/17/marcel-bandaranaike-strikes-wild-life-gold-at-yala/
- https://thuppahis.com/2014/09/18/fabulous-bird-snaps-from-marcel-in-lanka/
- https://thuppahis.com/2016/01/11/the-call-of-the-remote-wild-kumana-in-se-lanka/
- https://thuppahis.com/2016/07/06/legend-and-mystery-in-kumana-national-park/
- https://thuppahis.com/2014/04/26/dushys-forays-at-kumana-and-round-n-about/
Mary Rodgers: Broadway Baby
Daniel Okrent, in The New York Times, 5 August 2022, where the title is “Broadway Baby: The Astonishing Autobiography of Mary Rodgers” by Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green
Mary Rodgers with her father, Richard, in 1959, the year “Once Upon a Mattress” opened on Broadway. Credit: Photofest
Let’s start with a full disclosure: I’m a sucker for Broadway — one of those theater fans who will see five different productions of the same show, who genuflect before cast albums from the ’50s, who inhale theater gossip as if it really mattered.
Skin-Colour in Sri Lanka: The Prevalence of Pitch-Black?
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-Sri-Lankans-darker-than-rest-of-the-South-Asians ….. with a warning from Thuppahi: have an antidote handy to cure the splitting of your sides
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