This graphic video-item was sent to me by a venerable Burgher-Lankan friend in Melbourne. It is NOT for viewing by the fainthearted …… because it is a deliberate circulation of a graphic example of HAMAS ‘justice’.
Category Archives: religious nationalism
Buddhist Shrines as Weapons of Political Intrusion in the Today
Editorial in Daily FT, 8 June 2023, which is entitled “Archaeology Department must act impartially in N & E” … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
The past few months have seen several protests held in the North and East over the acquisition of land to construct new Buddhist shrines. It has been alleged that Buddhist monks aided by army personnel have been engaged in these questionable activities with the tacit approval of the Archaeology Department which have led to tensions among the local population and the military.
At a recent meeting with Archaeology Department officials, President Ranil Wickremesinghe weighed in on the issue and chided Department officials for taking money from Buddhist monks to carry out their work and reminded them that they do not work for a private firm but a Government institution that has to act according to the law.
Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, anti-racism, architects & architecture, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, religiosity, religious nationalism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, tolerance, travelogue
Tooth Relic Of The Buddha: A Relic In Sri Lankan Politics c. 300-2000
Dr. Dharmaratna Herath
A detailed book on the history of the Tooth Relic. This is the extended version of the PhD thesis of the author submitted to School of Oriented and African Studies(SOAS), University of London in 1974.
This was first priced for Rs14,000. But it is now available for Rs 8,500 (extra 10% off if purchased from Vijitha Yapa or Visidunu at CIBF).
Filed under architects & architecture, art & allure bewitching, Buddhism, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, politIcal discourse, religious nationalism, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
Articles on the Easter Sunday Attacks in Sri Lanka, 2019: THOSE in April 2019
VARIED…. IMMEDIATE – APRIL 2019
Nirupama Subramaniam 2019 “Nirupama’s Incisive Appraisal identifies Islamic Jihadist Patterns in Easter Sunday Terror,” 22 April 2019, ….. https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2019/04/22/nirupamas-incisive-appraisal-identifies-islamic-jihadist-patterns-in-palm-sunday-terror/
Filed under accountability, atrocities, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, jihadists, landscape wondrous, life stories, Middle Eastern Politics, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, religious nationalism, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry
Deciphering Buddhism: The Correct Pathway
Ananda Abeysekara’s Academic Article: “On Rewriting Buddhism: Or, How Not to Write a History,” Religion and Society, vol. 13. 1(2022): 39-80.
ABSTRACT: Through a detailed reading of a recent study of medieval Buddhism and politics in Sri Lanka in conjunction with a number of other works, this article explores the troubling legacy of translating the historical questions of subjectivity into the modern language of ‘agency’, ‘autonomy’, ‘innovation’, and ‘creativity’. This legacy cannot easily be separated from the politics of white privilege in post-colonial studies of Buddhism and South Asian religion. The problem with trying to expose creativity, so pervasive in the studies of South Asian religion, is not merely a matter of anachronistic conceptualization of divergent historical forms of religious practice and subjectivity. It is that the very possibility of translating subjectivity into easily digestible aestheticized modes of being (e.g., creativity) is predicated on an uninterrogated assumption about the self-evidence of such concepts independent of temporal forms of power encountered in forms of life. Continue reading
Filed under ancient civilisations, art & allure bewitching, Buddhism, cultural transmission, education, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, religiosity, religious nationalism, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, tolerance, world events & processes
Nationalist Excess as Spark for Warfare
Uditha Devapriya, in The Island, 9 December 2022, where the title runs thus: “Some reflections on nationalism, extremism, and warfare”
“Ethnonationalism was not a chance detour in European history: it corresponds to some enduring propensities of the human spirit that are heightened by the process of modern state creation. It is a crucial source of both solidarity and enmity, and in one form or another, it will remain for many generations to come. One can only profit from facing it directly.” …. Jerry Muller, “Us and Them: The Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism”, Foreign Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations), March 2008 The first Human Security Report, published by the Human Security Centre, released in 2005, and subtitled “War and Peace in the 21st century”, strikes a dissonant chord in a world still reeling from the horrors of the September 11 attacks. Noting a decline in armed warfare since the end of the Cold War, its authors dismiss worries of increasing conflict in a section tellingly titled “Myths and misunderstandings.”
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, economic processes, European history, foreign policy, historical interpretation, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, religious nationalism, security, self-reflexivity, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
Potential for Terrror Attacks within Australia Now Lower
Clive Williams, in The Australian, 30 November 2022, where the title reads thus: “Threat ‘lower’ but face of domestic terror is changing” ….
The announcement by ASIO director-general Mike Burgess that the terrorism threat level in Australia has been lowered from “probable” to “possible” reflects the view of the National Threat Assessment Centre that a terrorist incident here is now less likely.
An older woman praying and giving offerings at the ground zero site of the 2002 Bali bombings in the tourtist district of Kuta, Bali.
Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, martyrdom, Pacific Ocean issues, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, religious nationalism, security, self-reflexivity, suicide bombing, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes
In Appreciation of Professor Riaz Hassan: Two Accolades as Vale
ONE …. Joanne Barker: A Memory about RIAZ HASSAN
From 1992-2006 I worked at Flinders University in various positions, finally leaving in 2006 as the faculty general manager of one of the four faculties. In around 1993-4 when I was still in my early 30s and quite new at the university, I came to know Riaz Hassan as one of the professors. He probably didn’t know my name, but he was always kind and smiled and said hello if we passed on campus.
Filed under accountability, Australian culture, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, Islamic fundamentalism, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, martyrdom, modernity & modernization, nationalism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, psychological urges, religious nationalism, self-reflexivity, social justice, suicide bombing, teaching profession, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes
Analysing the Many Threads of Religiosity in Sri Lanka
Lynn Ockersz, in The Island, 19 August 2022, where the title reads “An incisive exploration of Sri Lanka’s religiosity” … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
This timely publication could be described as a revelation of the fascinating nature of Sri Lanka’s religiosity. It is almost customary to refer to Sri Lanka as a ‘religious country,’ but it is not often that one comes across scholarly discussions on the subject locally. ‘Multi-Religiosity in Contemporary Sri Lanka..’, a collection of research papers put together in book form, fills this void most adequately.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, religious nationalism, Saivism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, tolerance, unusual people, world events & processes
