Category Archives: plural society

December 29, 2022 · 11:29 pm

Rukmani Devi aka Daisy Rasammah Daniels: A Stellar Career

Wikipedia on Daisy Rasammah Daniels or Rukmani Devi … at … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rukmani_Devi

 Daisy Rasammah Daniels, known popularly as Rukmani Devi (15 January 1923–28 October 1978: Sinhala: රුක්මණී දේවී) was a Sri Lankan film actress and singer, who was often acclaimed as “The Nightingale of Sri Lanka“.[1]

She made it to the silver screen via the stage and had acted in close to 100 films at the time of her death. Having an equal passion for singing as well as a melodious voice, she was Sri Lanka’s foremost female singer in the gramophone era.[2] After her death, she was awarded the Sarasaviya ‘Rana Thisara’- Life Time Achievement Award at the 1979 Sarasaviya Awards Festival.[3]

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under art & allure bewitching, commoditification, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, plural society, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people

November 25, 2022 · 3:47 pm

The Cricketer Athletes of Ceylon: 1940 and Thereabouts

Michael Roberts

The Janashakthi Book of Sri Lanka Cricket 1832-1996, edited by SS Perera for the Janashakthi organisation of the Schaffter family (Colombo, 1999) has an invaluable photograph within page 206 of the Athletes who represented Ceylon in “what was then an annual contest” (p. 205). This shot has been ‘rekindled’ for digital presentation by David Sansoni of Sydney.

 

 

 

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under art & allure bewitching, centre-periphery relations, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, photography, plural society, politIcal discourse, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, travelogue, world events & processes

November 24, 2022 · 11:45 pm

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.

 

 

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

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

November 12, 2022 · 12:16 pm

Poppy Day in Ceylon and Sri Lanka

Retd Brig. Hiran Halangode

This year the Armed Forces Remembrance Day and Poppy ceremony is due to be held on Sunday the 13th November 2022 at the Viharamahadevi park in Colombo. Since November is the month of Remembrance universally, it is commemorated world over.

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, education, Empire loyalism, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, martyrdom, meditations, military expenditure, patriotism, performance, plural society, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, tolerance, unusual people, world events & processes

September 21, 2022 · 9:52 pm

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.

   

  Charles Stanley Braine: rajah-of-mawatte.html

Continue reading →

3 Comments

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

June 1, 2022 · 8:08 pm

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

…..

Lol , This is just another lunatic who always think about skin color than anything else…no wonder south asia always remain as 3rd world…Answer is ..Sri lankan majority is much much more lighter skinned than south indians…there are many pale and very light skinned people all over the country, as well very dark people like Africans are there…50% sri lankans are light tan and 30% are dark tan and 20% are dark…i mean very dark like south indians…between that 50% light skinned people there are very fair people like europeans too .. so don’t always dnt try to make pain in the ass about skin colour …it’s so funny when indians and Bangladeshis think they are white…they are also tan people lol

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under cultural transmission, ethnicity, gender norms, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, photography, plural society, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

April 3, 2022 · 11:06 am

Remembering Professor Sinnappah Arasaratnam

ONE: A Valedictory Vale from Don Beer of the University of New England, Armidale, NSW, in 1998

  Emeritus Professor S. Arasaratnam died suddenly in Sydney on 4 October, aged 68.

Sinnappah Arasaratnam was born in Navaly, Ceylon, on 20 March 1930. After taking his BA with First Class Honours at the University of Ceylon in 1951, he began the first of two stints lecturing in history at that university, before undertaking doctoral research at the University of London in 1954. Arasa, as he asked to be called, graduated PhD in 1956, returned to the University of Ceylon as a lecturer, and in 1961 took up a lectureship in Indian Studies at the University of Malaya. By 1968 he had risen to the rank of Professor of History there.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, Australian culture, British colonialism, communal relations, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, language policies, life stories, literary achievements, plural society, politIcal discourse, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, teaching profession, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

March 11, 2022 · 11:36 pm

Dissecting Sri Lankan History & Politics through Book Reviews

Sophie Roel in conversation with Razeen Sally on “The best books on Sri Lanka recommended by Razeen Sally”

Many visitors to Sri Lanka have been beguiled by its charms, from its hill towns to its beaches, its ancient temples to its friendly people. And yet, for a quarter of a century until 2009, it was torn apart by a brutal civil war. Here, Sri Lanka-born political economist Razeen Sally, author of Return to Sri Lanka: Travels in a Paradoxical Land, recommends the best books to get a better understanding of Sri Lanka and the complexities that make the country so fascinating to visit and read about.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, life stories, plantations, plural society, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

February 9, 2022 · 10:15 am

Addressing Sri Lanka’s Future in June 2009

Michael Roberts, reprinting here an article that appeared in FRONTLINE vol. 26/12, 19 June 2009 … with this title “Some Pillars for Lanka’s Future”

“One can win the War, but lose the Peace” — A cliche this may be, but it is also a hoary truism that looms over the post-war scenario in Sri Lanka. The triumphant Sri Lankan government now [must] address the human terrain rather than the fields of battle.

 

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, demography, devolution, discrimination, economic processes, education policy, Eelam, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, modernity & modernization, plural society, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, rehabilitation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, vengeance, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

February 6, 2022 · 12:03 pm

Trishelle …. So Multi-Talented

Item in The Island recently,

We all know Trishelle as the female vocalist of Sohan & The X-Periments, so, obviously it came to me as a surprise when it was mentioned that she is a highly qualified Bharatanatyam dancer, as well. What’s more, she has been learning the skills of Bharatanatyam, since her kid days!

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, plural society, religiosity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes