Category Archives: riots and pogroms

The Work of Anthropologists from Sri Lanka: Reviewing the World Scenario in 1987

Presenting an academic article published in Contributions to  Indian Sociology , n.s, Vol 21, 1-25 also reproduced subsequently in Sri Lanka in 1989 as No, 10 within the SSC Pamphlet Series marshalled by the late Ana Chittambalam, Willa Wickremasinghe , Hari hulugalle and Michael Roberts

Elizabeth Nissan: “The work of Sri Lankan anthropologists: A bibliographic survey”

 Introduction: Although many of the studies included in this essay are concerned with Sri Lanka, this is not a bibliographic essay on the anthropology of that country. It is, instead, a survey of the work of Sri Lankan anthropologists, wherever they may have carried out their research.

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ITIHAS Launched …. and Spreads Its Wings

Go to …. https://itihas.lk/contact/    … Note that the presentation here is a re-cast selection by The Editor of Thuppahi who has also imposed his colourings on the text

Mission:  What we hope to achieve

Itihas aims to equip Sri Lankan youth with the ability to think critically about their past, present, and future. It specifically aims to debunk mythological understandings of history that afford to particular ethno-religious groups a sense of superiority or authenticity over others. Rather than acting as a gatekeeper of knowledge, Itihas seeks to empower future generations of students, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to learn about, research, and make informed decisions on divisive issues such as conflict, discrimination and violence in a manner that advances a more inclusive Sri Lanka.

Photo by Tashiya De Mel

Itihas – Advancing history education reform in Sri Lanka

 

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Introducing Tambiah’s 1992 Book: “Buddhism Betrayed?”

Item in Tamil Nation ……………………………………… https://tamilnation.org/books/eelam/buddhismbetrayed

Given Buddhism’s presumed non-violent philosophy, how can committed Buddhist monks and laypersons in Sri Lanka today actively take part in the fierce political violence of the Sinhalese against the Tamils?

Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah’s Buddhism Betrayed? seeks to answer this question by looking closely at the past century of Sri Lankan history and tracing the development of Buddhism’s participation in such ethnic conflict and collective violence. Tambiah analyses the ways in which this participation has, over time come to alter the very meaning of Buddhism itself as a lived reality.

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Stark Images of Ethnic Retribution & Violence in Colombo, late July 1983

Photos selected by Michael Roberts & Rendered Accessible by David Sansoni of Sydney

  Commencing with a ‘shot’ of passers-by and ordinary citizens assaulting and ridiculing a Tamil person at Galle Road in Colpetty

 

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Filed under accountability, atrocities, citizen journalism, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, disparagement, ethnicity, historical interpretation, life stories, photography, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, racism, refugees, riots and pogroms, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, tamil refugees, trauma, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry

THAT Monday 25th July 1983 in Colombo: Organized Violence within the Pogrom

Sugath Kulatunga .…. in item entitled “Black July Monday 25th” …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

In my last post on the 4th of March, I mentioned that the time I served under Lalith [Athulathmudali] was the golden era of my public service. But it did not occur to me that I had deliberately suppressed in my mind the ugliest and nastiest week in my life as well as of the nation. That was the week of Black July of the ghastliest communal riots. Let me recall my experience of that week.

 

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The Roberts Mss at Adelaide University Library

Michael Roberts

Recent Email Exchanges with Jane Russell of UK, who has one foot in England and two feet in island Sri Lanka, and a revived focus on  George E De Silva (1870-1950) reminded me of the George E. Mss Memoirs in typescript which Jane had given me long ago. This led me to a long list which amounts to a treasure trove for those addressing a variety of topics in the history of Sri Lanka. I present the details before. Those wishing to pursue specifics must write to the Head of the Special Collections at the Barr Smith Library Adelaide University, not to me: samantha.farnsworth@adelaide.edu.au

It is my conjecture that the same corpus of material (or parts thereof) will also be part of the Roberts Collection at the National Library Services Board along Torrington Rd (beside the National Archives) in Colombo. They could initially seek specifics from Mr Welimuni Sunil who heads the institution: viz …

Welimuni Sunil … sunilnldsb@gmail.com

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UNMASKING THE EMPIRE in British Ceylon: The Post 1915 Riots Campaign

Unmasking the Empire: The campaign for justice following the 1915 Pogrom and the collaboration of British Christian humanitarians at the beginning of Sri Lanka’s struggle for Independence, …. Prabodith Mihindukulasuriya

Social Scientists’ Association, No. 380/86, Sarana Road, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka, 2023, 312 pp, ISBN: 978-955-0762-47-7,

Printers: Karunaratne & Sons (Pvt) Ltd., 65 C, Thalgahawila Road, Midellamulahena, Horana, Sri Lanka.

EW Perera 

DB Jayatilaka

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Reviewing Chatterjee’s Book on Anti-Muslim Riots in Gujarat in 2002

Nishkula Suntharalingam, presenting a book review in Asian Affairs 2023  …..  https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/raaf20 …. of the book by Moyukh Chatterjee. Composing Violence: The Limits of Exposure and the Making of Minorities. Duke University Press, Durham, 2023. pp. 166. Notes. Bibliog. Index. Ackmts. Hb. $94.95. ISBN 9781478017028. Sb. ………….$24.95. ISBN 9781478019664

Moyukh Chatterjee was an eyewitness to the aftermath of the 2002 riots in the west Indian state of Gujarat; three days of communal violence during which Hindu mobs attacked Muslims, their businesses and homes, leaving over a thousand people dead. This book focuses on how and why, in multi-ethnic, democratic states like India, targeted violence and anti-minority politics persist. In doing so, the author suggests an alternate approach to understanding violence against minorities while raising disquieting questions about the formation of modern states and the ways that ideas of “minorities” and “majorities” are produced and reproduced.

401733 08: Indian state police patrol the streets of Ahmadabad, India after rioting between Muslims and Hindus March 1, 2002 in Ahmadabad, India, two days after a Muslim mob attacked a train, killing 58 people in the Indian state of Gujarat. Indian troops arrived in the riot-torn western state of Gujarat but were unable to quell the Hindu-Muslim violence that has claimed the lives of 251 people. (Photo by Ami Vitale/Getty Images)

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Another Time, Another World: Social Science in Postwar Sri Lanka

Uditha Devapriya & Uthpala Wijesuriya, … with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Background:  In Sri Lanka, social science research witnessed an expansion in the 1950s. Various scholars, including Stanley Tambiah and Gananath Obeyesekere, found their calling in anthropology, and went on to introduce and popularise the subject in local universities. This period also witnessed an increasing interest in Sri Lankan and specifically Sinhala society from Western scholars, including Edmund Leach, James Brow, and Richard Gombrich. While many local scholars active in that period have commented on how social science research evolved at Sri Lankan universities, no proper study of this has been done yet.

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The Humanitarian Social Commitment of Lakshman Wickremesinghe

Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, item taken from Daily News, 24 October 2023, ….. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

 Bishop Lakshman Wickremesinghe died on October 23 forty years ago. He was my uncle, and I had a special affinity with him with regard to both intellect and emotions. When I came back from Oxford, where he had studied a couple of decades before me, he was the family member who was most supportive of my resignation on the issue of the deprivation of Mrs. Bandaranaike’s Civic Rights, for unlike most members of the elite he understood early on what that meant for the future of democracy, a blight that has never left us since it was followed by a premature Presidential election, the ghastly referendum, and then the attacks first on Supreme Court Judges and then on Tamils.

one moment during Black July 1983

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