The hard copy of THOMIA by Richard Simon in two volumes — all 868 + lxv pages of this searching history — is now in print. Presented here are the initial pages.
Category Archives: language policies
Gananath’s Manifold Reach: Many Voices in Vale
IT is a testament to Gananath’s openness and skills that personnel from so many walks of life have stepped up to record his influence on their thinking and lives. May he dwell comfortably in his after-life. ….. Michael Roberts
A Female Voice in Facebook, March 2025
I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Prof Gananath Obeyesekere. Much will be written about Prof Obeyesekere’s contribution to academia in the coming days. He was a giant in the field and one of the most well-known and respected Sri Lankan intellectuals.
Filed under anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, caste issues, charitable outreach, communal relations, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, world affairs, zealotry
Reflections on Gananath’s Wide-Ranging Corpus of Work
Professor M.W. Amarasiri de Silva, about 3/4 years back in … … where the full title of the essay reads thus: “Sinhalese Society Through The Prism Of Religion: An Appreciation Of Gananath Obeyesekere’s Work On Sinhalese Buddhism”
This article celebrates the remarkable scholarly contributions of Gananath Obeyesekere, specifically in the field of popular Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Obeyesekere, now aged 93, embarked on his anthropological career at the University of Ceylon (now University of Peradeniya), where he earned his undergraduate degree in English. Subsequently, he served as a lecturer and professor in the Department of Sociology from the 1960s to 1972, before moving on to the United States. He was Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University from 1980 to 2000.
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, patriotism, performance, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, teaching profession, transport and communications, unusual people, vengeance, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry
Launching the Book THOMIA … in Colombo
IN PICTURES
the author speaking 
….. and signing books
… with Suresh Navaratnam in this picture
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, education policy, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people, world events & processes
Nationalisms in Sri Lanka: A Bibliography Cast in 2014..
bull-mascot-team-logo-design-longhorn-133746227 Presented here at ……………………………………………………….. https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/nationalism-the-past-and-the-present-the-case-of-sri-lanka/…. & thus in need of updating.; while being dedicated to a Peradeniya University buddy -alas deceased– with whom I shared notes and thoughts during undergraduate days and thereafter in the 1970s & 1980s in Chicago: namely, Ananda Wickremeratne …
Amunugama, Sarath 1979 ‘Ideology and class interest in one of Piyadasa Sirisena’s novels: the new image of the “Sinhala Buddhist” nationalist’ in M Roberts (ed.) Collective identities, nationalisms and protest in modern Sri Lanka, Colombo:: Marga Institute, pp 314-36
Anderson, Benedict 1983 Imagined communities. Reflections on the origin and spread of Nationalism. London: Verso
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, demography, devolution, discrimination, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, education policy, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, hatan kavi, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, island economy, Kandyan kingdom, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, patriotism, power politics, racism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, transport and communications, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
An Epitaph for Gananath Obeyesekere
Chandra R. De Silva, … with highlighting emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi
I write to add a few words to the outpouring of appreciations of Gananath Obeyesekere, a scholar whose research in anthropology, religion, myth, and cultural practices has won him accolades across the world. I will not comment on the advances in knowledge and the discussions he provoked by his many scholarly works of which among the best known are Land Tenure in Village Ceylon, The Cult of the Goddess Pattini, Buddhism Transformed (co-author), The Work of Culture, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific, and The Doomed King. There has been much written on this world renowned scholar, and there will undoubtedly be more comments by experts in the years to come.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, Buddhism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, island economy, land policies, language policies, Left politics, life stories, modernity & modernization, nationalism, patriotism, performance, pilgrimages, plural society, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, teaching profession, vengeance, working class conditions, world events & processes
Simon’s THOMIA sways Sri Lanka
Rohan Pethiyagoda, reviewing the new book THOMIA written by Richard Simon, in The Island, 16 March 2025
As schools go, St Thomas’s College Mt Lavinia has, since its inception in 1851, had a disproportionate influence on the affairs of Sri Lanka. In ways both good and bad, it created the modern incarnation of this country. After all, four of our first five prime ministers were Thomians (‘Thomian’, by the way, is a Latin diminutive of Thomas, like Tom in English).
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, education policy, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people
A Searching Dissection of Ranil Wickremasinghe’s Political Career & Its Times
Avishka Mario Senewiratne, reviewing the book by Rajiva Wijesinghe that assesses Ranil Wickremasinghe’s recent political career
Last December, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha released a new book titled Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Emasculation of the United National Party. As the title suggests, the book tackles a contentious and provocative topic and may not be an easy read for everyone. Nevertheless, it presents a highly engaging and insightful narrative that warrants close attention.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, economic processes, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, nationalism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, taking the piss, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions
Richard Simon’s THOMIA …. On The Launching Pod Now
THOMIA …. with the world and the moon in its sights and landing sites
RICHARD’s NOTE, 20 February 2024
Two important Thomia-related things happened yesterday. First, I had a call from Softwave to confirm that the first completed copies of the book would be delivered today, 20 February, as promised. Second, I made a call of my own, to confirm with the proprietors of the Barefoot Gallery Cafe that I shall be holding the official launch of Thomia there on the fourth of March.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, S. Thomas College, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people, world events & processes
An Inspiring Sri Lankan Anthropologist: Gananath Obeysekere
Laleen Jayamanne & Nammika Raby, in The Island, February 2025
“People were nourished by stories….” (Kathandarawalinne minissu jeewathwune) Gananath
“Man does not live by bread alone” Matthew 4:4
Dimuthu Saman Wettasinghe’s film Gananath Obeyesekere: In Search of Buddhist Conscienceopens with a bravura tracking shot moving past trees, water, a splash of saffron robes. These sunlit images are enfolded in a non-religious, rather melancholy male choral chant, but soon the singular voice of Professor Gananath Obeyesekere cuts through with a kind of Dionysian intensity. He tells us a story about Gauthama Buddha, as the camera encircles, at speed, what turns out to be the Kandy Lake. His tale is about a devastating war waged by the king of Kosla against the Sakya kingdom but of the Buddha’s unshakable belief that if folk get together and discuss matters in good faith (call it diplomacy), all wars could be averted. This carefully and deeply researched, imaginative, ‘Educational Film’ of 142 minutes, with its exhilaratingly dense overture and its subtle montage, is a loving tribute to an exemplary Lankan scholar/teacher and his life work (of some 70 years) as an internationally renowned Anthropologist.
The film shows Gananath’s empathetic ability to pay careful ethnographic attention to a variety of gendered states of mental distress and trauma and their traditional ritualised ecstatic expressions, especially with regard to women, well before some feminist scholars in the West began to be interested in the topic of ‘Women and Madness’ from a Freudian psychoanalytic perspective. Psychoanalytic theory became methodologically important for Feminist Film Theory, which I used in my doctoral thesis on ‘Female Representation in the Lankan cinema’.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, Buddhism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, language policies, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, patriotism, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, psychological urges, religiosity, religious nationalism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, teaching profession, the imaginary and the real, theatre world, travelogue, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry
