Notice re A National Trust Lecture by Prof Gamini Ranasinghe: “The prince Balaina (A son of VI Parakramabahu?) and his Clan in China and Taiwan” ………… ….. Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuIpBdlCJmU
Gamini Ranasinghe …
Category Archives: travelogue
How the SSC Penetrated the Long Room at the Lords Cricket Ground
Lam Seneviratne, whose choice of title is “Lords -My Claim to Fame” … quite an appropriate point
I had presented to the MCC at Lords a painting of the Singhalese Sports Club grounds in 1975 to mark the first ODI World Cup event.
Cricket at A Deserted Adelaide Oval
Michael Roberts
On Monday 4th November the South Australian Cricket team led by Alex Carey completed an assertive victory over Victoria in a Sheffield Shield match. — winning by 00 runs. I was among the 50 or so spectators watching this victory unfold.
All of us were at the ground level in the Western Stand. There was only one eatery open and no bars. …… a barren terrain that was out of step with a good victory. For the record I note that SA scored 307 runs and 270 for 8 decl while Victoria assembled 232 and 207 runs — with the last day’s headline running “Pope spins South Australia to a Drought-Breaking Victory” .… even though it was Manenti who secured the Man of the Match award. Continue reading
Remembering Professor Margaret Trawick, American Anthropologist in Tamil Lanka
N. Malathy = Obituary, 7 January 2022 … ”Margaret Trawick Wanted to Retire in the LTTE’s Vanni”
I first heard about Margaret Trawick through the “Tamil Circle” email group during the late 1990’s. This was before internet-based news sites had become common. ‘Tamil Circle” was a way to share news about the homeland. From a university library, I borrowed Margaret’s book cum her PhD thesis, “Notes on Love in a Tamil Family”, which was based on her anthropological work in Tamil Nadu. That was the beginning of my journey to understand my own society. Margaret’s book taught me a lot about the anthropological perspective of societies, a perspective that the science-focused Tamil elite of my generation lacks. It remains a weakness of my society.
Version 1.0.0
Filed under centre-periphery relations, communal relations, Eelam, ethnicity, female empowerment, historical interpretation, insurrections, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, trauma, travelogue, world events & processes, zealotry
British Ceylon Through A Family Lens 1850-1950
Prof Naren Chitty …. an article in THE CEYLANKAN vol 27/4 November 2024
Introduction
British Governors relied on mostly unsalaried Mudaliyars (leaders) from select families who exchanged service for land grants.[1] Educated in public schools Mudaliyars’ Anglophile sons increasingly inhabited a Jane Austenian lifeworld, particularly as they donned European attire in the middle of the nineteenth century. Unfolding around them was a countervailing Buddhist revival associated with Sinhala cultural resurgence. [2]
Chitty Family in 1899 … Standing L-R = Christian, Wilfred, George Snr, Marian, Charles ….. Sitting L-R = Mitzi, Rose, Maude, Laura, James
Filed under art & allure bewitching, Britain's politics, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, Empire loyalism, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Addressing Audrey Maxwell’s Research on Cross-Cultural Marriages in England
Michael Roberts
My elder sister Audrey’s article on cross-cultural marriages & families in England via detailed interaction with several well-educated families in Oxford in the 1990s has been reproduced in TPS in the full … https://thuppahis.com/2024/10/28/not-all-issues-are-black-or-white-some-voices-from-the-offspring-of-cross-cultural-marriages/. It has the potential to inspire comments from British folk of varied backgrounds; and, hopefully, to promote studies in the today which could mark contrasts – or similarities – now some 20-30 years later.
Audrey in an acting role at Peradeniya Uni, mid-1950s …. & at a church in Oxford in the 2010s
Filed under art & allure bewitching, Britain's politics, charitable outreach, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, gender norms, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, performance, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, tolerance, travelogue, Uncategorized, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits
Dr Narendran Rajasingham: A Grounded Sri Lankan Tamil Patriot
Michael Roberts
Naren Rajasingham was a trifle junior to me at Peradeniya University when he pursued a Vet/Science Degree before proceeding to postgraduate qualifications in the same field. It was only when I was fully enmeshed in researching the Eelam Wars and visiting Colombo with some frequency that I got to know him. My memory is imprecise in its notation of time; and I cannot fix precise dates to our exchanges.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, constitutional amendments, economic processes, education, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, IDP camps, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, refugees, rehabilitation, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, tolerance, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
Israeli Tourists and Investments in Arugam Bay Area Under Threat
ITEM in THE GUARDIAN, 29 October 2024 with this headlin
The golden sands of Sri Lanka’s Arugam Bay are usually carefree, a place for tourists to surf the famous break and relax on the beach.
But last week, the slow rhythm of the bay was dealt a shock. The US embassy, followed up by Sri Lankan police and Israel’s national security council, warned of a serious terrorist threat in the area. Israeli travellers were believed to be the intended target of a planned attack and were told to evacuate immediately. Hundreds of police and senior intelligence officials descended on the small coastal town, setting up patrols and road blocks.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, commoditification, communal relations, demography, economic processes, ethnicity, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, Islamic fundamentalism, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, Muslims in Lanka, Palestine, politIcal discourse, racism, racist thinking, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, tourism, travelogue, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry
Not all Issues are Black or White: Some Voices from the Offspring of Cross-Cultural Marriages
Audrey Maxwell [nee Roberts] … a chapter in Rosemary Breger and Rosana Hill (eds). Cross-Cultural Marriage. Identity and Choice, Oxford, Berg, 1998, …. ISBN 1 85973 968 7 paper … with this reproduction being rendered possible by our nephew-in-law Tissa Abeywardena
Although this volume focuses on intermarriage, it seems appropriate to include some voices of children of such marriages – which are becoming more numerous because of the expansion of worldwide contacts within the ‘global village’. This chapter is not an in-depth study of a representative sample, but rather intends to recognize that cross-cultural marriages produce consequences for their progeny. Such children face ambiguous loyalties and difficult choices in their life encounters. Nevertheless, though media coverage tends to highlight their problems rather than their advantages, the offspring who spoke to me indicated clearly that they felt there are many rewarding features deriving from their cultural inheritances. It is encouraging that, though having no claim to representativeness, these accounts at least all end on a positive note.
In 1995 I interviewed eight such ‘children’ (aged between eighteen and thirty four), reached through networking among people connected, in one way or another, with the University of Oxford. The respondents are middle class, well educated and articulate. I encouraged them to talk of their life histories using open-ended, unstructured, tape-recorded interviews. The accent was on their own thoughts and how they see their world.
Filed under anti-racism, Britain's politics, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, meditations, migrant experiences, patriotism, politIcal discourse, religiosity, self-reflexivity, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, travelogue, unusual people, world affairs, world events & processes
Doug Walters: AN ODE from a Sri Lankan Fan
Nimal R. Chandrasena’s Cricketing ODE for Doug Walters … within a book entitled LOOKING FOR DOUG … Doug Walters: An Australian Cricketing Legend
Short Synopsis of the Book
The Book tells the story of a Sri Lankan-born cricket fan (the author) and his journey following the life and achievements of his boyhood hero – Doug Walters, a personal friend. The book is replete with material and opinions gleaned from interviews with Doug and Ian Chappell, the former Australian cricket captain under whom Doug played most of his cricket.
