Jayantha Perera, whose chosen title is “ekagei kaema (polyandry) – a way of life in the Kandyan highlands” … in The Island, 11 August 2024
Hingula is a small bazaar 60 miles from Colombo on the Colombo-Kandy Road. A narrow, tarred road starts from there, and a signboard says, ‘To Aluth Nuwara Devalayala.’ The logo of the Archaeological Department on the signboard indicates the devalaya (temple) is a state-protected archaeological site.
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Nihal Perera, whose chapter 16 is entitled “From colonial outpost to indigenous kleptocratic city”
ABSTRACT : This chapter maps out the trajectory of the production, reproduction, and transformation of Colombo through colonial, post-colonial, neoliberal, and kleptocratic periods. Created as part of a European-imperial system of cities, Colombo’s identity is tied to larger systems of cities. Using the threshold between the city and outside to look from inside, the chapter approaches the story of Colombo more from indigenous and local people’s vantage points and perspectives, acknowledging and adapting significant local interpretations. The discussion focuses the neoliberal and kleptocratic periods. The neoliberals transformed the city’s form to attract foreign investment, shifting the purpose of planning to finding sites for investors, and enabling growth. Replacing investment for development with growth for investment, the kleptocrats intensified the movement of money and intercepted the circuits at the state level, via the government. They allow individual projects to shape the city. Colombo’s subjects have incrementally transformed it, by living and familiarising it. The layers of society and space created by these processes contest, cooperate, and entangle with each other in the form of cascades, generating new elements.
Figure 16.1 Colombo as part of the Portuguese Indian-ocean space .... Source: Perera (1998), drawn by Ashra Wickramathilaka.
Filed under architects & architecture, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, commoditification, demography, economic processes, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, population, sri lankan society, transport and communications, working class conditions, world events & processes
An Appreciation within Richmond Viththi in Facebook, 11 July 2024
Professor Jayasekara joined Richmond College in 1944. He was a Prefect of the school and won the most prestigeous award at Richmond, the Darrell Medal in 1954. He obtained an Honours Degree in Arts from the University of Peradeniya in 1959. He was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to Canada where he obtained his Masters degree in History from the University of Manitoba. In 1970, he was awarded the PhD by the SOAS, University of London.Filed under accountability, British colonialism, Buddhism, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, land policies, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, religious nationalism, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, teaching profession, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes
Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, in Polity.lk, 7 July 2024 … where the title reads “Uncertainty or Turmoil? Sri Lanka’s Pre-Presidential Election Politics”
The coming few months have the potential to produce major political changes in Sri Lanka. The presidential election is constitutionally due to be held on a date decided by the Election Commission between 17 September and 16 October. It will certainly mark a crucial moment that will decide who governs the country and in what direction, amidst a continuing economic and social crisis of massive proportions.
Photo by Sena Vidanagama
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Uditha Devapriya … in The Island, 28 June 2024, where the title reads: “A Tribute to Kumari Jayawardena” … while the presentation here includes highlights imposed by The Editor
Last month the Collective for Historical Dialogue & Memory (CHDM) organised a screening of Conversations with Kumari, a documentary on Kumari Jayawardena. Last week Jayawardena turned 93. Yesterday I reflected on her and the generation she represented. That generation is leaving us, but it remains as influential as ever.
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Á Booklet by Stanley J. Sparkes and Anna Shnukal entitled The Sri Lankan Settlers of Thursday Island …. presented by …………….. httpsy ://www.elanka.com.au/the-sri-lankan-settlers-of-thursday-island-by-stanley-j-sparkes-and-anna-shnukal/
... I regret that the pictorial illustrations with this text proved obdurate and refused replication; while the whole process of reproduction was difficult”–Thupahiyaa
Introduction
The dismantling of the White Australia Policy in the early 1970s, allied with periodic civil strife in their homeland, brought significant numbers of Sri Lankan immigrants to Australia. Few Australians, however, are aware that, a century before, hundreds of mostly male ‘Cingalese’ (as Sri Lankans were then called),2 mainly from the southern coastal districts of Galle and Matara in the British colony of Ceylon, came as labourers to the British colony of Queensland.3 The first of these arrived independently in the 1870s to join the Torres Strait pearling fleets, but larger numbers were brought to Queensland a decade later as indentured (contract) seamen on Thursday Island and, shortly thereafter, as farm workers for the cane fields around Mackay and Bundaberg, where many of their descendants still live. The arrival of the first batch of 25 indentured Sri Lankan seamen on Thursday Island in 1882 coincided with the importation of ‘Malays’ and Japanese. Yet, unlike the latter, comparatively little has been published on their origins, lives and destinies, nor their contributions to the business, social and cultural life of Thursday Island. Some of those first arrivals demonstrated a remarkable entrepreneurial flair, taking up employment as ‘watermen’ (boatmen), ferrying passengers and cargo from ship to shore and subsequently taking out licences as small businessmen: boarding-house keepers, billiard-room proprietors, shopkeepers, pawnbrokers, boat-owners, gem and curio hawkers and commercial fishermen.
VISIT THIS SITE FOR MAP etc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday_Island
Filed under Australian culture, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, commoditification, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, discrimination, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, Pacific Ocean issues, population, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, travelogue, Uncategorized, unusual people, working class conditions, world events & processes
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.
Filed under Aboriginality, accountability, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, Buddhism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, colonisation schemes, commoditification, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, demography, discrimination, disparagement, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, education, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, hatan kavi, heritage, historical interpretation, immigration, Indian Ocean politics, Indian traditions, irrigation, Islamic fundamentalism, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, performance, pilgrimages, plantations, plural society, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, racism, religiosity, religious nationalism, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, vengeance, violence of language, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry
Thuppahi has consitently supported the charitable outreach that has been pursued by Ranjan Sivagnanasundaram and his VANNI HOPE projects and has no hesitation in backing this line of charitable aid.
“Enhancing Access to Digital Education for Disadvantaged Students/Children in the Rural Area of Sri Lanka”
Introduction: The role of technology in teaching and learning is rapidly becoming a crucial and widely discussed topic in the modern education system. Most education experts agree that, when used effectively, information and communication technology have the potential to enhance teaching and learning while shaping job opportunities. Computer illiteracy is now seen as a new form of illiteracy, sparking a strong desire to provide schools in remote villages with the necessary computer facilities and trained personnel to develop technologically skilled students. It is undeniable that computers can assist in the instructional process and support students’ learning.
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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
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
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, British imperialism, Buddhism, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, democratic measures, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, education, education policy, ethnicity, European history, female empowerment, foreign policy, gender norms, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, island economy, land policies, landscape wondrous, language policies, law of armed conflict, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, LTTE, medical marvels, military strategy, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, parliamentary elections, patriotism, photography & its history, pilgrimages, plantations, plural society, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, population, Portuguese imperialism, power politics, power sharing, prabhakaran, Presidential elections, press freedom & censorship, racist thinking, Rajapaksa regime, refugees, religiosity, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, teaching profession, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, working class conditions, world events & processes, World War II and Ceylon, zealotry
thuppahi
