A Note from Dr Charitha Perera
Some of the Chefs and Workers posing for all their worth!Michael Roberts
The Dias Jayasinghes are etched deeply in memory as sons of Galle who were committed to schooling its generations in cricket and in history, while yet aiding all and sundry. At St Aloysius College in the mid-1950s I had the good fortune to have Marcus Dias-Jayasinghe as my coach – a gentleman figure who nurtured all of us. I then encountered DD Jayasinghe as an opponent on cricket-field playing for the Education Department against University of Ceylon teams.
Basil Fernando: A Short Abstract re the book Body, Mind, Soul, Society: An Autobiographical Account
This book (176 pages) is an attempt to contribute towards an understanding of the impact of violence on human persons and the society. It is based on the direct experience of living and working in Sri Lanka and Cambodia. However, references are also made to several more developing countries in Asia with which I have been engaged in working after the experiences in Sri Lanka and Cambodia. The book is written from the perspective of a victim who is also an observer.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian traditions, island economy, JVP, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, psychological urges, racist thinking, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, violence of language, working class conditions, world events & processes
H.L. Seneviratne,** Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia, USA, in Social Affairs: A Journal for the Social Sciences, ISSN 2478-107X (online) …. www.socialaffairsjournal.com
This paper is an account of the Department of Sociology of the University of Ceylon in approximately the first decade of its existence. The most significant development during this period was the transition of the department from one that provided courses for other departments, in particular Economics, to one that awarded its own degrees, making it a full-fledged and autonomous entity. The inability to grant its own degrees was not a plight rooted in any statutory limitation but a limitation of resources, in particular the want of adequate teaching staff. This may partly have been due to the ‘late comer’ status of Sociology in relation to other disciplines, and a related vicious circle of inadequate resources and low enrollments. Being a subordinate partner of Economics was also a part of the legacy of the department’s structural origin in the model of British universities. The oldest Department of Sociology in the UK was at the London School of Economics (LSE) and only goes back to the beginning of the 20th century; and it started as a subsidiary of the Economics Department. This paper makes an attempt to assess the relative contribution of the two major figures that strived in their own ways to secure the progress of the department towards achieving full-fledged status as a department that granted its own degrees.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, education, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, literary achievements, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people, world events & processes
Kokilapathmapriya Nadesalingam (Priya) and Nadesalingam Murugappan (Nades)[1] are two Sri Lankan Tamils seeking asylum in Australia. The couple married in Australia and have two Australian-born children. Until their detention by Australian Border Force in March 2018, the family was resident in the central Queensland town of Biloela, and consequently referred to as the Biloela family by some media.[2][3] The cause of the couple and their children has been supported by some residents of Biloela as well as asylum-seeker advocates.[4]
Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, Australian culture, australian media, charitable outreach, democratic measures, discrimination, disparagement, doctoring evidence, economic processes, education, ethnicity, historical interpretation, human rights, immigration, island economy, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, medical puzzles, meditations, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, refugees, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, trauma, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Last-minute injunctions have stalled the deportation of a Tamil family who have spent years fighting to stay in Australia. The plane carrying the Sri Lankan couple and their Australian-born daughters had already left the tarmac at Melbourne Airport when a judge granted a reprieve over the phone. Here’s what we know about the family’s case:
Dozens of people rushed to Melbourne Airport in a bid to stop the family being deported on Thursday night.. … Supplied: @HometoBilo)Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, Australian culture, australian media, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, communal relations, democratic measures, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, immigration, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, meditations, performance, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, taking the piss, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, tolerance, transport and communications, trauma, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, world events & processes
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, conspiracies, disparagement, economic processes, foreign policy, historical interpretation, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, violence of language, world events & processes
Two Peradeniya colleagues from yesteryear, Professor Kingsley de Silva and Michael Roberts, took sharply different positions on facets of the island history in British colonial and post-1948 times in hardhitting essays in local journals and newspapers in the period 1986 to 1991. The series began with Michael Roberts’s article-length review of KM De Silva: Managing Ethnic Tensions in Multi-Ethnic Societies: Sri Lanka, 1880-1985 (Lanham, University Press of America) ….. and continued with KM De Silva’s hard-hitting review of the book, People Inbetween (Colombo, Sarvodaya, 1989) where Roberts was the principal author in a triumvirate that included Percy-Colin-Thome and Ismeth Raheem.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, British colonialism, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, language policies, life stories, LTTE, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes
Rajiva Wijesinha, reviewing the book People Inbetween in the Sunday Observer of 24 March 1991 **
“In this review of the book by three Sri Lankans – Michael Roberts, Percy Colin-Thome and Ismeth Raheem, Rajiva Wijesinha discusses some interesting aspects that go to make People In Between a ‘fascinating social history’.” — The Observer’s Introduction
Filed under accountability, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, patriotism, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people, world events & processes
thuppahi
