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Category Archives: cultural transmission
Hardy Women: Yesterday’s Africans in Today’s Lanka
African sisters in Sri Lanka
On the road to Sirambiyadi
In every culture family is an important element of human life. For centuries Ceylon had been a maritime domain for foreign traders, defiant conquerors and zealous missionaries. All these foreigners left behind their ancestors, who with time, integrated into our society. There were many nationalities who lived here in those ancient times – Arabs, Europeans, Indians and Africans. Much focus has been given to the various ethnic clans, but, people of African origin domiciled here were marginalised. Once in a while, these African-Sri Lankans would capture our attention via a youtube song video. One of the last such families of direct African origin live in Puttalam. The name Puttalam, is believed to be derived from the Tamil word “upputhalam” – uppu meaning salt and thalam meaning area of production, thus Puttalam is still famous for salt.
Vorsicht! Looking for a Hitler in Sri Lanka Today
Tisaranee Gunasekara, in Sunday Observer, 12 August 2018, where the title is “On Doctors and Kings. An authoritarian wind is sweeping across Sri Lanka”
The current yearning for the heavy hand of a strong leader is in tune with the Zeitgeist. Across the globe, people, disillusioned with democracy, are opening their ears to the siren song of authoritarianism. As Barrack Obama pointed out in his Mandela Centenary Lecture, “We now stand at a crossroads – a moment in time at which two very different versions of humanity’s future compete for the hearts and minds of citizens around the world.”
In Sri Lanka, the less immoderate, less illiberal government is in a state of semi-paralysis. The extremist and anti-democratic opposition is surging ahead. The myth that democracy is part of ‘The Problem’ (or even ‘The Problem’) rather than the least bad form of governance is ascendant. If democracy is the problem, then the solution, by definition has to be anti-democratic. This is the dangerous place to which Sri Lanka is careening. Continue reading
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, cultural transmission, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Hitler, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
NEVER AGAIN! Groundviews Recalls Black July 1983 … Towards Meaningful Reflection
Borella Junction Mayhem–Pic bt Chandragupta AmarasingheA Forgotten Community: Remembering Black July
Writer S Karunakaran reflects on Black July from the perspective of a marginalised and often forgotten community – the Malaiyagha Tamils – and specifically those who tried to resettle in the North…
Filed under accountability, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, education, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, reconciliation, rehabilitation, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, trauma, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes
Anagarika Dharmapala in Ceylon and the World: Missing Dimensions highlighted by Kemper
Sasanka Perera, in The Island, 8 August 2018, where the title is “Rescuing Dharmapala from the ‘Nation’,” …. with emphasis via highlighting in this version being an imposition by The Editor, Thuppahi
I was intrigued to see the worlds of knowledge of the past that were opened up when reading Steven Kemper’s 2015 book, ‘Rescued from the Nation: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist World’ published by the University of Chicago Press. Growing up Sinhala Buddhist in Sri Lanka, Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) would easily be one of the most important historical characters from the recent past, we had become familiar with early in our lives. This was certainly so for my generation. As we know from that experience, Dharmapala was closely and intimately linked to the country’s Buddhist revivalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Precisely due to this reason, he was the most iconic culture hero of the Sinhala Buddhists in the modern period.
Filed under British colonialism, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian religions, Indian traditions, landscape wondrous, life stories, nationalism, patriotism, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, power sharing, religiosity, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Imran Khan set to embrace Pakistani and Indian Cricketers at his Ministerial Inauguration
Bipin Dani in The Deccan Chronicle, 7 August 2018
Fawad Chaudhry, spokesperson of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said that Imran Khan will invite all members of the 1992 World Cup-winning Pakistani cricket team for his oath-taking ceremony as Pakistan Prime Minister. (Photo: AFP)
Mumbai: Imran Khan will invite all members of the 1992 World Cup-winning Pakistani cricket team for his oath-taking ceremony as Pakistan Prime Minister. This was revealed by his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson, Fawad Chaudhry. “Due to some legal issues, we are yet to finalize the final date of the ceremony and therefore the invitations are not sent yet,” said Chaudhry. Imran Khan also has plans to invite India’s Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Navjot Singh Sidhu for his swearing-in ceremony. Continue reading
