Category Archives: self-reflexivity

August 6, 2023 · 3:18 pm

Straddling Disciplines & Crossing Boundaries  

Michael Roberts

In presenting an article published in Comparative Studies in Society & History in Thuppahi,[1] I have introduced quite a few readers to the issue of the boundaries that have prevailed between the disciplines of History on the one hand and Anthropology and/or Sociology on the other. In its day the CSSH was a high-quality journal which straddled these boundaries and exercised a regime that demanded great skill from those seeking to cross its threshold and gain acceptance for an article within its pages. Kitsiri Malalgoda was one of those who had satisfied its Editors with his essay “Millennialism in relation to Buddhism” which appeared in CSSH, volume 12 in 1970.

Kapferer’s Study of Exorcism Rites in Sri Lanka … & paceman Hogg seeking to remove batsmen

 

R Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, Australian culture, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, ethnicity, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, unusual people, world events & processes

August 6, 2023 · 12:15 am

In Appreciation of Jayantha Dhanapala

Prasad Kariyawasam: an article entitled “Remembering Jayantha Dhanapala (1938-2023)” …….. presented in a booklet entitled  “Hanthana Night” produced by University of Peradeniya Western Australia Chapter, 2023, pp. 50-52.

“For those who had the good fortune of knowing and working with him, Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapla, was the quintessential diplomat, trustworthy colleague, all rounder par excellence and most importantly, a humanitarian to the core. His early life was shaped by two great educational institutions of international repute during his time – Trinity College Kandy and the University of Peradeniya.

Ambassador Dhanapala at the 40 nation Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in 1984 … with Prasad Kariyawasam standing behind him

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, cultural transmission, education, foreign policy, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, theatre world, unusual people

August 4, 2023 · 11:34 pm

Survivor’s Tales: A Kidnapping …. & …. Dunkirk Rescue Boat

From the MIRROR

Surviving Kidnapping: When Stephanie Slater was kidnapped by killer Michael Sams back in 1992, he kept her captive in a lockable wheelie bin. But rather than murder her – as he had done with his previous victim Julie Dart – he demanded a ransom and let her go after it was paid. But why did Sams release her? In a fascinating new revelation about the case, it seems the Mirror’s own health expert Dr Miriam Stoppard played a key part. Stephanie had read Dr Miriam’s advice book on how girls can deal with dangerous situations including how to build a rapport if you find yourself in a vulnerable situation. Sams was later jailed for life for murdering Julie and abducting Stephanie. Dr Miriam says: “I have never expected anything I have written to have such a big effect on somebody’s life.”

Stephanie Slater

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under female empowerment, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, world events & processes

August 4, 2023 · 12:50 pm

Introducing an Essay on an Ethnic Confrontation at a Cricket Match in 1981

Michael Roberts

This ‘encounter’ took place in 1981 and involved a Burgher Sri Lankan barracker earning the combined ‘resistance’ of an Aussie cricketer and Sinhala bystander (Sinha). As an observer of this set of exchanges, I moved beyond a clarification of the historical understandings embedded in Sinha’s success in ‘defeating’ the aggressive Burgher to address the relationship and differences between ‘typical’ anthropological studies and ‘typical’ historical work.

The essay was published in Comparative Studies in Society and History in 1985. The pdf version has been converted into Word File by my Aloysian schoolmate KK De Silva, a cricketer and soccer goalkeeper in his school-heyday. Because it is a pdf, I have not been able to assemble the Footnotes as “End Notes.” Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, Australian culture, communal relations, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, demography, disparagement, ethnicity, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

July 30, 2023 · 9:12 pm

Canadian Double Standards ….. Both At Home & In Lanka

Professor Chandre Dharmawardena

According to The Island newspaper, 25 of July 2023 [1], the Canadian High Commissioner Eric Walsh in Colombo has barged into the controversy on the Kurundi archeological site. The Canadian HC had met T. Raviharan, a politician who spearheads the protests at the Kurundi site. HC Walsh’s explanation is that “Meeting people in different parts of the country, to better understand their priorities and perspectives, is a normal part of a High Commissioner’s role.”  These words ring hollow if he does NOT meet anyone from the “other side”, or the Archaeological Commissioner and other technical people.

Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under accountability, ancient civilisations, Canadian politics, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, propaganda, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, trauma, travelogue, world affairs

July 28, 2023 · 8:31 pm

Hindu Zealots of the RSS target Sri Lanka

PK Balachandran in Email Note to Roberts, late July 2023, … with highlighting being my imposition

The RSS  has begun exploiting the Tamil issue to spread its Hindutwa ideology. The idea is to win over the Lankan Tamils to its side by discrediting the secular Tamil identity in SL. None of the speakers listed has any knowledge of the Lankan Tamil issue. Tamil Nadu BJP leader K.Annamalai has already visited Sri Lanka and is trying to put up an RSS-BJP unit here. Very dangerous development. The Sri Lankan government should make certain that Sarath Weerasekara and the monks don’t do anything anti-Hindu. It is sad that this ís happening when India-Lankan relations are improving thanks to the correct policies of Modi and Ranil. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, ethnicity, Indian Ocean politics, Indian religions, life stories, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, psychological urges, religiosity, security, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, world affairs

July 26, 2023 · 12:32 am

Reflections: My Engagement with the Pogrom of July 1983 in Sri Lanka

Michael Roberts

The attacks on Tamils living and/or working in the southern and central parts of island Sri Lanka by elements of the Sinhala population were indefensible, horrible and disastrous for the country.  It is not adequate to depict them as “riots.” They constituted a “pogrom” – with all the pejorative colourings attached to that concept.[1]

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, chauvinism, Colombo and Its Spaces, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, historical interpretation, life stories, LTTE, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry

July 25, 2023 · 8:22 pm

Death of a Trotskyist … In Memory of Nathan Sivasambu

Jane Russell … presenting “a fictional short story in warm testimony fo Nathan Sivasambu who was a one-off: a convinced Trotskyist, his greatest gift was in bringing people together to celebrate the era of ‘British Ceylon’ of which he was a true patriot.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was October 23rd, two days before the Centenary of the Revolution. The black and white photo of Leon Davidov Trotsky looked down from his ebony frame on the sitting room cum study wall. This version of Trotsky was unsmiling: stern – very much Creator of the Red Army, Hero of the Revolution. The photo had been taken in the early 1920’s, in St. Petersburg, when it was still called Petrograd.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, meditations, politIcal discourse, Russian history, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, unusual people

July 24, 2023 · 2:27 pm

The Agony and Ecstasy of A Pogrom: Southern Lanka, July 1983

Michael Roberts … reproducing an article that appeared initially in a collection of my essays in 1994 under the title above in EXPLORING CONFRONTATION, Readng, Harwood Academic Publishers, 1994,  pp. 317-27. It was subsequently reproduced in Nethra, vol. 6, 199-213.  …. and then placed on web  in Groundviews (without its footnotes) .… https://ground views.org/2019/03/28/the-case-for-foreign-judges-in-a-judicial-mechanism-in-sri-lanka-countering-falsehoods/. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bystanders after the burning and assaulting: also at Borella Junction area, 24-25th July 1983, picture by Chandragupta Amarasinghe. There is a suggestion here that popular participation in attacks were also initiated and/or facilitated by state functionaries. It is also likely that some of those described as ‘bystanders’ were perpetrators of some of the destruction, burning and killing. I had not discovered whom the photographer was when Exploring Confrontation went to press in 1994. Let me use this occasion to record my greatest respect for the bravery and ingenuity revealed by Chandragupta Amarasinghe in extremely dangerous and trying circumstances. 

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under anti-racism, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, ethnicity, fundamentalism, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, performance, photography, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry

July 19, 2023 · 8:03 pm

Traversing the Port of Colombo: ‘Fridaying’ and All That

David Sansoni **

Despite my pedagogic heritage, I never considered teaching as a career. I was surprised to receive a message (verbal, or a note… don’t remember…nor from whom…) to teach ‘Citizenship’ to an Upper IV class (12 year olds) at S. Thomas’, whence I had just graduated. Term 1, 1972. Jackson Karunaratne Esq did the Sinhala speakers, next door. He was a great help. He gave me a copy of a compilation – a ‘Civics/Social Studies equivalent of Literature’s “Choice Reading”. Just two subjects remain in my memory. A piece about the importance of History, and Gandhi. It was a fun time… a fun term…for me! I can but hope it was for the shishyas.

 

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under accountability, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, performance, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue, unusual people