Category Archives: literary achievements

November 25, 2015 · 12:35 pm

Victor Melder’s Remarkable Sri Lanka Library in Melbourne

Courtesy of the web journal CONFLUENCE at http://www.confluence.mobi/blog/unique-sri-lanka-library/

An unique library on Sri Lanka, perhaps the only one of its kind overseas, exists in Melbourne, Australia. This library was begun by Victor Melder in 1968, when he migrated to Australia. Victor, who had only one book with him then, has today accumulated over 4,600 books, 2000 magazines and journals, 25 years Sunday newspapers and a collection of video and audio tapes all on Sri Lanka.

Victor 003Victor, who grew up in a village in Peradeniya, states he has savoured village life to its fullest and attributes this to be the cause of his unpretentious love for his motherland. This love, admiration and respect for this beautiful island is something he wishes to share with everyone alike in Australia. This is what gave birth to the ‘Victor Melder Sri Lanka Library’, which today is used by many Australia wide, as a primary source of reference on Sri Lanka. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under Australian culture, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, ethnicity, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world affairs

November 17, 2015 · 11:48 pm

Introducing Book on Buddhist Poetry in Portuguese Ceilao

BUDDHIST POETRY AND PORTUGUESE COLONIALISM IN EARLY MODERN SRI LANKA by Stephen C. Berkwitz, Oxford
University Press: Oxford, 2013, xv + 308pp. ISBN-13: 978 019 993578 5, US $99.00 (hardback); ISBN-13: 978 019993578 9, US$45.00 (paperback)

BUDDHIST POETRY-www.amazon.comABSTRACT: Many researchers have explored the impact of British and French Orientalism in the reinterpretations of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Less noticed, however, and infrequently discussed is the impact of Portuguese colonialists and missionaries upon Buddhist communities in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries across Asia. Stephen C. Berkwitz addresses this theme by examining five poetic works by Alagiyavanna Mukaveti (b.1552), a renowned Sinhala poet who participated directly in the convergence of local and trans-local cultures in early modern Sri Lanka. Berkwitz follows the written works of the poet from his position in the court of a Sinhala king, through the cultural upheavals of warfare and the expansion of colonial rule, and finally to his eventual conversion to Catholicism and employment under the Portuguese Crown. In so doing, Berkwitz explores the transformations in religion and literature rendered by what was arguably the earliest sustained encounter between Asian Buddhists and European colonialists in world history. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Buddhism, cultural transmission, economic processes, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, literary achievements, politIcal discourse, sri lankan society, world affairs

November 16, 2015 · 1:36 am

Macintyre’s “Lost Culavamsa” on Stage: for the Serene Joy and Emotion of the not-so-pious

  SEE, HEAR, LISTEN to Ernest Macintyre’s   THE LOST CULAVAMSA

MAC 1 MAC 3 mac 9 Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, unusual people

November 15, 2015 · 11:39 am

The War Situation in a Nutshell, 12th April 2009, as David Blacker destroys Arundhati Roy’s Emotional Fantasies

A Reprint of “How a diaspora is killing its own” from The Times of India, 12 April 2009 …

david blackerAbout David Blacker: I chanced upon Blacker’s essay in The Times of India on 12th April 2009 when I trawled the internet for background data relating to the Marga interventions in the propaganda debate surrounding the last phase of Eelam War IV. In precise English David Blacker has hit the nail on the head: identified the war scenario and its principal causal force. His contention anticipates an argument I have pressed subsequently in numerous essays – all written in blissful ignorance of his position statement. Of mixed ethnicity, with a Sri Lankan Tamil mother (Parameswaran), David served in the Sinha Regiment in the 1990s and was invalided out.

Thus, unlike myself and most of the Sri Lankan intelligentsia as well as two strident voices peddling the Tiger and Tamil cause (MIA and Arundhati Roy), he has battle-theatre experience. This background is critical: one of the debilitating facets of the literature on the war has been the desk-bound background of[1] most commentators and authors. That disadvantage applies to yours truly Michael Roberts as well.[2] It has taken me over four years to reduce this handicap though attentiveness to pictorial evidence and maps supplemented by conversations with military men.[3] Continue reading →

8 Comments

Filed under accountability, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, LTTE, military strategy, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, propaganda, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes

October 19, 2015 · 3:46 pm

About-About: Clarifying the Work on Jeronis Pieris and His Times

Michael Roberts

This account is a clarification of the circumstances inspiring and surrounding the preparation of the book Facets of Ceylon History through the Letters of Jeronis Pieris (1975) in the light of Ian Goonetileke’s review article of 1976 (which I saw for the first time this October). The elucidation does not address Ian’s criticisms of the chapters on British waste lands policy or the role of buffaloes in up country paddy cultivation — for the simple reason that it would require a complex and lengthy exposition . The focus here is on the letters themselves and colonial politics.

1_Alfred House_exterior_Capper-500LR Alfred House during the heyday of the Warusahännädigē de Soysas in the mid-19th century

This book was drafted in 1969/70, but its appearance in print was delayed till 1975 because I took up a Fulbright Fellowship in USA in 1970/71 and we then had production problems with Hansa Publishers. The writing was informed by the British empiricist heritage in historical research that was integral to the Department of History, Peradeniya University where I was teaching in the Sinhala medium from March 1966 after returning from England following my doctoral dissertation. The book is in fact dedicated to Mr. WJF Labrooy who was Head of Department in my time.[1]

While teaching and exam-marking duties were heavy during the late 1960s, the semester-break system provided me with time to pursue my researches in agrarian history. This involved regular visits to the National Archives at Gangodawila where an old University pal Haris de Silva was Deputy Director and an asset in all my endeavours. At this stage these historical labours had been extended by the continuation of my oral history project interviewing and tape-recording Sri Lankan administrators as well as politicians on their life’s work.[2] Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under British colonialism, caste issues, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, sri lankan society, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

September 13, 2015 · 2:48 pm

Hirsi Ali vs Michael Ondaatje

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: “Jihad Comes to Texas,” 5 May 2015, …. http://time.com/3846824/garland-texas-muhammad-jihad/

Just before 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 3, outside the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, two men got out of their vehicle and began firing. They hit one man, a security officer, in the ankle. A Garland police officer returned fire with his handgun and killed the two men. I repeat: This happened in Garland, Texas. It did not happen in Paris. It did not happen in Peshawar. It happened in the heart of Texas, in the town that inspired the cartoon series King of the Hill.

At this early stage, much remains unclear. One of the shooters, Elton Simpson, has been identified as a convert to Islam who lived in Phoenix. The other, Nadir Hamid Soofi, lived in the same apartment complex and attended the same mosque. The obvious inference is that the two gunmen intended to attack the “First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest” that was being held that evening under the auspices of the American Freedom Defense Initiative. It’s possible that the target was not the event but one of the speakers, Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician who has called for a ban of the Qur’an.

GARLAND, TX - MAY 4, 2015 : FBI investigators work a crime scene outside of the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas on Monday, May 04, 2015 after a shooting occurred the day before on May 03, 2015 during the "Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest" in Garland, Texas. (Photo by Ben Torres/Getty Images)

GARLAND, TX – MAY 4, 2015 : FBI investigators work a crime scene outside of the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas on Monday, May 04, 2015 after a shooting occurred the day before on May 03, 2015 during the “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest” in Garland, Texas. (Photo by Ben Torres/Getty Images)

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, cultural transmission, female empowerment, life stories, literary achievements, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes, zealotry

September 13, 2015 · 2:27 pm

Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her “Infidel: My Life” …….. 2006

I. The book Infidel: My Life, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali ….Courtesy of Wikipedia 

Infidel (2006/published in English 2007) is the autobiography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-Dutch activist and politician. Out of consideration for the safety of the female ghostwriter, her identity is not given, as Hirsi Ali has attracted controversy[1]and death threats were made against Ali in the early 2000s.[2] 

INFIDEL coverSynopsis: Hirsi Ali writes about her youth in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya; about her flight to the Netherlands where she applied for political asylum, her university experience in Leiden, her work for the Labour Party, her transfer to the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, her election to Parliament, and the murder of Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the film Submission. The book ends with a discussion of the controversy regarding her application for asylum and status of her citizenship. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, citizen journalism, cultural transmission, discrimination, heritage, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, life stories, literary achievements, plural society, politIcal discourse, power politics, press freedom & censorship, social justice, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes

September 10, 2015 · 3:10 pm

Brainstorming on Constitutional Reform and Citizenship — in Colombo Soon

 sanjanaCurator’s Note: “Corridors of power: Drawing and modelling Sri Lanka’s tryst with democracy

 What is a constitution? What place and relevance, if any, does it have in the popular imagination? Do citizens really care about an abstract document most would never have seen or read, when more pressing existential concerns continue to bedevil their lives and livelihoods, even post-war?

My struggle through curation has always been to explore the inconvenient and marginal through new or alternative ways of observing. Through visual art, theatre, sculpture, music, photography, literature, video and information visualisations, I have creatively leveraged unusual pairings and strange juxtapositions to shift complacency and apathy to critical reflection and engagement.

JJayampathy -- Jayampathy Channa- www.361degrees.ne Channa asanga Asanga

‘Corridors of power’ is my most ambitious curatorial attempt yet. When, years ago, I studied the process through which South Africa negotiated the transition out of apartheid rule – which involved a paradigm shift in their constitutional frameworks – I registered the use of a wide range of media at the time (before the days of social media, smartphones and the Internet as we know it today) to critically support debates amongst civil society that were as rooted in locale as they were widespread over geography. It occurred to me – with all the technological tools and platforms in use by so many today, why are constitutional reform and related debates still so alien to and removed from society in Sri Lanka – a country seven times smaller in size than South Africa, with far less identity groups and just three instead of eleven official languages? Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, democratic measures, devolution, discrimination, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian traditions, island economy, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, meditations, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, patriotism, plural society, politIcal discourse, power sharing, press freedom & censorship, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, tolerance, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes

August 31, 2015 · 7:57 am

The Burghers in Britain hit the Internet ‘Streets’

Gayle Bartholomeuszburghers WWW Burghher fam 1917

SEE http://www.burghersuk.com/index.html ..… And thank you for visiting ‘Burghers In The UK‘, the website which celebrates and plays tribute to the lives, contributions and adventures of Ceylonese Burghers in the United Kingdom. Ceylonese Burghers were once a thriving and vibrant community in Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka in 1972) for over 500 years. They are now scattered around the globe mainly in English Speaking countries and on the brink of extinction.

Burghers who came to the UK since Ceylon achieved Dominion Status in 1948 have, up to now, been an invisible group of people unrecorded by data recording agencies and their lives and contributions undocumented. The Heritage Lottery Fund and ‘Burghers In The UK ‘ are changing this beginning in 2014 initially, by conducting interviews with 20 older Burghers and capturing visual and written information which demonstrates the uniqueness of the Ceylonese Burgher. Materials will be archived at the Harrow Museum. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under British colonialism, cultural transmission, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes, World War II

August 2, 2015 · 1:45 pm

Galle Literary Festival Revived

Sunday Times, 3 August 2015

GLF back with a bang:  Festival Director Amrita Pieris steps up to the podium and with that the press conference announcing the Fairway Galle Literary Festival (FGLF) of 2016 is underway. Her speech is full of good news. Not only will FGLF be returning on January 13, 2016, after a hiatus that has lasted three years, but Shyam Selvadurai is also back as one of a team of international curators, counted among whom are founder Geoffrey Dobbs and well-known author Sebastian Faulks.

Galle Lit FestExciting collaborations: Festival Director Amrita Pieris addressing the news conference as other festival sponsors look on

Two new “mini-festivals” have been added in Kandy (January 9) and Jaffna (January 23), which will span two days each. An exciting collaboration with the Electric Peacock Festival will bring a series of live musical performances for festival-goers, while the announcement of the winner of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature will make headlines around the world. Most exciting though for Amrita is perhaps the chance to celebrate Sri Lankan literature with the newly minted Fairway National Literary Award which will recognize the Best Novel in Sinhala, Tamil and English in conjunction with the Fairway Galle Literary Festival. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under cultural transmission, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, world affairs