Following up on Till the Mountains Disappear, Dr. Srilal Fernando (Melbourne) and Avishka Mario Seneviratne have authored a new book Fruits of Virtue: An Early History of St. Joseph’s College.
Category Archives: literary achievements
St. Joseph’s College in Colombo: Its Early History
Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
Vale: Preofessor Merlin Peiris, A Classicist Par Excellence
Punsara Amarasinghe, in The Guardian, 18 December 2022, where the ttile runs thus: “Prof. Merlin Peiris: The last of the Mohicans leaves the stage”
The greatest quality that would aggrandize Merlin’s name above the current mediocre scholars in Sri Lanka is his intellectual tolerance towards dissent.
The demise of Prof Merlin Peiris embodies the end of an epoch representing the humanities academia in Sri Lanka as he was obviously the last of those great doyens who lived when the country’s humanities education was prospering in those halcyon days at the edge of the British rule. Prof. Merlin was one of the first students of the maiden batch of Peradeniya University when it was shifted from Colombo in 1950 and began his flair for classics even before he entered the university under the wings of Noel Phoebus at St. Peter’s College in Bambalapitya.
The Hermon Lineage in the Plantation World of Ceylon & Lanka
Richard Hermon to Errol Fernando, early December 2022, responding to “The Power of Privilege: Illegitimate Progeny in the Plantations of Ceylon and Beyond” **
Dear Errol
As a Eurasian myself on both sides, since both my grandfathers were Brits and both my grandmothers were Sinhalese: one Kandyan from Welimada, and one Low-Country from Baddegama to whom both my grandfathers were married.
Filed under anti-racism, British colonialism, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, demography, discrimination, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, plantations, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Disappearing Burgher Surnames in Island Lanka
“Disappearing Burgher Surnames in Island Lanka” …. Author and location unknown at present … and not to be confused with Careem’s article on “Disappearing Burgher & Malay Surnames in Island Lanka”…at… https://thuppahis.com/2017/01/30/disappearing-burgher-and-malay-surnames-i
Pix of Burgher Tennis Club in the Fort of Galle in 1928 inserted here courtesy of David Colin-Thome … for names: visit https://thuppahis.com/2017/06/29/burgher-tennis-club-in-galle-circa-1928/
Some of the most colourful surnames that once stood as a beacon to help distinguish the ethnic backgrounds of locals have now gone into abeyance. The ethnographers are of the opinion that the frequent intermarriages with members of the prominent ethnic groups and the death of male line descendants have gradually airbrushed the identities of many minorities. However, it is unmistakably clear that many of the Lankan patronymics and surnames have European roots. The Ceylon Burgher Community is the finest exponent of this European Onomatology in Sri Lanka, as the members of the community carry some of the World’s rarest surnames, several of which at present verge on extinction. The ancestors of the Dutch Burghers were not necessarily Dutch by ethnic origin as the Dutch East India Company installed hundreds of mercenaries from all parts of Europe who later reached the shores of Lanka to strengthen the Dutch garrisons on the Island.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, education, ethnicity, European history, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Maithri Panagoda: A Legal Luminary in Australia
Sunil Thenabadu, in ELanka, December 2022 …. where the title is both lengthy and different
Maithri Panagoda is one of Australia’s prominent litigation lawyers. Educated in both Sydney and Sri Lanka, Maithri has over 40 years skill in lawsuit and dispute resolution. The Law Society of NSW accredits him as an accredited specialist in personal injury law. 
Remembering Julia Margaret Cameron
A Julia Margaret Cameron Bibliography
At different moments Thuppahi has presented photographs from that remarkable 19th century cameraperson Julia Margaret Cameron (maiden name “Pattle”) who was intimately linked to British Ceylon because her father [error … her husband] was one of the authors of the Colebrooke-Cameron Reports[i] of 1833 and because she chose to settle down in the island and passed away therein in 1879 (and is in fact buried within its churchyards).[ii]
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, nature's wonders, performance, photography, photography & its history, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Working on the Book PEOPLE INBETWEEN
Michael Roberts
The ‘discovery’ of the Lorenz Cabinet in the Royal Asiatic Society in the 1980s led me to combine with Percy Colin-Thome[1] and Ismeth Raheem in working up this material into a plan envisaging a set of books (four volumes).[2] The first in this projected series was drafted by me and came out in 1989 courtesy of Sarvodaya Publishing Services (within the limitations of book production in that period).[3] This book, People Inbetween, has been out of print for quite a while.
Filed under anti-racism, architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, commoditification, cultural transmission, demography, disparagement, economic processes, education, Empire loyalism, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, performance, photography, plantations, plural society, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, racism, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Conserving Sri Lanka’s Cultural Heritage From Today’s Ravages
ICOMOS NOTICE
Published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2022, the book titled “Sustaining Support for Intangible Cultural Heritage” addresses the vulnerability and fragility of sustaining intangible heritage during prolonged shocks, such as the Covid – 19 Pandemic. In addition, the book offers insights into how heritage facilitators and practitioners deal with and safeguard intangible heritage locally and showcases the implications of ecological changes concerning livelihoods to the practice of heritage and education on sustainability.
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, art & allure bewitching, cultural transmission, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, Indian traditions, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, photography, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Leslie de Saram and Aubrey Martensz: Straddling Ceylon & the British Empire
Hugh Karunanayake, in The Ceylankan, Journal of the Ceylon Society of Australia, No 100, vol 25/4, November 2022, where the title reads “Two Acclaimed Lawyers who migrated from Ceylon During the Days of the ‘White Australia’ Immigration Policies” … with the highlighting here being an imposition by The Editor, Thuppahi
The names Leslie de Saram and Aubrey Martensz are not likely to evoke sentiment of any kind from contemporary Sri Lankans. They were two outstanding lawyers who not only dominated legal practice and legal education, but also were very influential members of the profession and of Colombo’s social scene. Both de Saram and Martensz were at various times partners of the well-known legal firm FJ and G De Saram, founded by Leslie de Saram’s grandfather, FJ de Saram Senior, in 1841.
FJ De Saram (Snr) was the grandson of Maha Mudaliyar Christtofel de Saram the son of Johan Henriques de Saram who was only 14 years old when taken to England by Governor Maitland, handpicked from among the leading “native” families as suitable for higher studies. That headstart created a dynasty of lawyers.
Leslie De Saram
JA Martensz
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, Empire loyalism, ethnicity, growth pole, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, Royal College, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Celebrating 25 Years of Multi-Ethnic Conviviality: Old School Sri Lankans in Australia
Adam Raffel, whose title reads “The Ceylon Society of Australia 25th Anniversary Celebrations”
Adam Raffel, whose chosen title reads “The Ceylon Society of Australia 25th Aniversary Celebrations”
The Ceylon Society of Australia (CSA) held its 25th Anniversary celebrations on 28 August 2022 at the Pennant Hills Community Centre. The hall was decorated with balloons and banners celebrating 25 years of the CSA. All this was the tireless handiwork of Pauline Gunewardene, the President of the CSA, with the able assistance of all members of the CSA Committee.
Filed under art & allure bewitching, Australian culture, cultural transmission, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
