Michael Roberts
When I highlighted the bright prospects of Ashley Chandrasinghe, a young Victorian opening batsman with Sri Lankan roots, a few weeks back, little did I know that he would ‘secure’ a pair of ducks for Victoria in a Sheffield Shield match vs NSW where another young prospect named Sam Konstas ‘prospered.’
Prospered? …. And how! Flourishing and shining with two centuries as opening batsman for NSW in this very match.
Filed under accountability, cricket selections, life stories, performance
Q and A with William Dalrymple, Historian …. in Q and A in The Weekend Australian Magazine, 21/22 September 2024
William Dalrymple was born in Scotland in 1965, and brought up on the shores of the Firth of Forth. He was educated at Ampleforth and Trinity College, Cambridge where he was first History Exhibitioner then Senior History Scholar.
He is the author of nine books about India and the Islamic world, including City of Djinns , White Mughals, The Last Mughal and Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India.
Filed under Afghanistan, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, Empire loyalism, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, historical novel, Indian religions, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, power politics, religiosity, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
About Bart Klem = My research is focused on questions of political order amidst and after civil war. I am interested in state institutions, de facto sovereignty of rebel movements and public authority. Sri Lanka has been my main country specialization, but I also work on Northern Cyprus and I have done some work on Indonesia (mainly Kalimantan). More details may also be found on my personal website.
Before joining Gothenburg University in 2020, I was lecturer at the University of Melbourne and the University of Zurich.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, colonisation schemes, communal relations, demography, economic processes, Eelam, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, insurrections, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
ONE: Sanath Jayasuriya appointed as Coach — Two Year Appointment
Former captain Sanath Jayasuriya has been appointed Sri Lanka’s head coach after a successful period in charge on an interim basis.
The 55-year-old former all-rounder took over in July following the departure of ex-England coach Chris Silverwood. Under Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka won the third Test against England at The Oval and beat New Zealand in two Tests last month.
He has been appointed on a contract until the end of March 2026 – a period taking in the next T20 World Cup which Sri Lanka will co-host with India in early 2026.
John Meirsheimer, in The American Conservative, 18 May 2009….. article entitled “Saving Israel From Itself” …. with highlighting emphasis imposed by Tthe editor, Thuppahi
The two-state solution is the only way to guarantee the Jewish state’s long-term security—and our own.
Israel and Palestine in Middle East on contour map. Palestinian territories of Gaza and West Bank. Jerusalem and Jordan River on outline map. Theme of Israel, war, conflict.
The United States and Israel fundamentally disagree about the need to establish a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel. President Obama is committed to a two-state solution, while Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu is opposed and has been for many years. To avoid a direct confrontation with Washington, Netanyahu will probably change his rhetoric and talk favorably about two states. But that will not affect Israel’s actions. The never-ending peace process will go on, Israel will continue building settlements, and the Palestinians will remain locked up in a handful of impoverished enclaves in the West Bank and Gaza. Anticipating this outcome, Obama has told Congress to expect a clash with Israel.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, economic processes, ethnicity, historical interpretation, insurrections, landscape wondrous, life stories, Middle Eastern Politics, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, racism, religious nationalism, security, self-reflexivity, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, travelogue, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes, zealotry
Chandre Dharmawardena … an original article …with highlighting imposed by The Editor. TPS
It is interesting to look at the agenda of the workshop held at GANNORUWA in August 1974 [see references below] and ask what questions (and topics) should have been raised at that time, in hindsight, in the context of a number of issues where the Mahaweli project went very badly wrong.
Although there are many issues to consider where the Mahaweli project made mistakes, I will here write on just one issue that led to the deaths of thousands of farmers, beginning from late 1990s, initially mostly in the Mahaweli C project area (I think).
The map is adapted from Balasooriya et al 2020.
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, colonisation schemes, demography, economic processes, governance, HEP, historical interpretation, irrigation, island economy, land policies, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, politIcal discourse, population, sri lankan society, transport and communications, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Nick Brookes, writing at MURALI END where the title runs ”How Kamindu set the world alight”
It’s been quite the year for Kamindu Mendis.
Cast your mind back to January. Kamindu was on the outside looking in – yet to make a mark in any form of international cricket. For years, he’d been ‘the next cab off the rank’, yet that tag is misleading. Kamindu was more like a tuk-tuk driver searching for passengers in the wilderness; waiting for a fare which increasingly looked like it may never arrive.
Bedgar Perera, in The Island, 8 October 2024
In recent days, [a] vehicle display at Galle Face attracted much interest. Most of them were fuel guzzling, power packed automobiles, expensive to run and unaffordable to most unless somebody like the government or a big company picks up the tab. They were lavishly used by political appointees of many sorts at no cost to themselves.
Nick Van Der Hoeven … with the highlights being the work of the Editor, Thuppahi
Before I discuss the incredible life of Hendrik Ambrosius Johnson, I just wanted to state that my interest in my Ceylonese genealogy was not deliberate, nor has it been a long -time passion. Quite the opposite. It was thrust upon me in fairly strange circumstances. Sitting at my work desk close to 20 years ago, then in my early 30’s with a young family, I decided to google ‘Sri Lankan Genealogy’.
Within 20 minutes I had met a second cousin (Kyle Joustra) and within 4 hours he had given me a 152-page Bloodline report outlining a staggering 22 generations dating back to medieval Brugge to a direct descendant born around 1270. Staggering. Not only did a line go back that far, the document contained pretty much all my direct grandparents going back at least 7 generations (or about 250 years). Again staggering. In that document, which I let sit in a filing cabinet for 15 years, there are over 1,800 relatives either direct or great uncles or aunts by blood or marriage.
AGRICULTURE IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF SRI LANKA’ … conference organised by the Ceylon Studies Seminar ……16th – 19th August, 1974 …… at the In Service Training Centre, Gannoruwa
** The times of the mid-morning and afternoon tea-breaks will be announced each day.
** The names of the chairman and the discussant for each session will be indicated in a list which will be circulated later.
** The two papers marked with an asterisk may not be available for discussion.
A symbolic natural phenomenon from the Peradeniya University campus …. anticipaing potential prospects from the intellectual flowerings generated within its portals
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, colonisation schemes, commoditification, economic processes, education policy, energy resources, ethnicity, governance, growth pole, historical interpretation, island economy, land policies, language policies, Left politics, life stories, modernity & modernization, nature's wonders, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, teaching profession, transport and communications, working class conditions, world events & processes
thuppahi
