10th International Conference on Sri Lanka Studies
" Sri
Lanka after 500 Years of Western
Colonization and Future Perspectives”
16th - 18th
December 2005
University of
Kelaniya, Sri Lanka |
Panel
Proposal Abstracts
Introduction
10th ICSLS organizers received six proposals a a response for call for
panel proposals. Conveners participated in a special
meeting of the National Organizing Committee and were delegated the
responsibility of organizing the respective panels. Prospective
presenters are advised to directly contact the conveners.
List of Panel Abstract [
Follow the link to read the abstract]
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Panel 1
Iconography
of Ancient Sri Lankan Coins.
Convener:
Brigadier B Munasinghe (E-mail: freudenberg@mega.lk)
Abstract
Ancient Coins was
a medium of exchange [vyavasharikam] and was legal tender admissible
into the treasury [kosapravesyam] according to Kautiya’s Arthasastra.
It also was means of exerting political authority over the region
controlled by the Ruler or King and enforcing the economic policies on
his subjects. The coins had to expressively or implicitly enforce this
authority. It was more or less a show of strength.
Coins in what ever
form or of metal or shape had to be accepted as a means of exchange for
trade and commerce. They had to have symbols or names of ruler etc that
could be easily recognized and readily accepted by the subjects.
The coins of the
Indian sub-continent and Sri Lanka had many symbols that were
common. These coins were used along the land routes and the sea
route. Most coins of the Island had unvarying symbol the Railed
Swastika on one face of the Coin [The Reverse]. The Symbols on the
obverse where mainly human figures [perhaps Indo- Aryan deities] and
symbols depicting the main events in the life of the Buddha. The other
Janapadas or small tribes along the famous land routes the Uttrapatha
and Dhakinapatha too followed more or similar practices. The
panel will undertake a discussion of these symbols in order to
understand the nature of relations among the Island and India
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Panel 2
Impact of
Buddhist Philosophy on the West
Convener:
Professor Daya Edirisinghe, Kelaniya University.(E-mail: ambagaha@yahoo.com)
Abstract
Authoritative
translation of Buddhist texts in to western languages started more than
150 years ago. Major organization involved in translation and
publication of Pali and Sanskrit texts were, 1) Pali Text Society,
London (PTS), 2) Scared Books of the East (SBE), and
3) Harvard Oriental Series (HOS).
Many of the Pali
Literature translation originated from Sri Lanka and its scholar monks.
Some of them were residents of Vidyalankara Pirivena, Peliyagoda,
Kelaniya. Buddhist philosophy and culture had major impact on western
world in the form of philosophy, life style, culture, literature,
psychology, art and science. Panel hopes to examine the impact of
Buddhism of the western intellectual and social life, especially on
that of the last century.
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Panel 3
Portuguese and Sri Lankan
Encounter
Convener: Professor M. U. de Silva, University of Ruhuna (E-mail: kkaru@kln.ac.lk)
Abstract
This panel explores the different social, political, military, cultural
and religious changes that occurred with the arrival of the Portuguese
in Sri Lanka in 1505 (the year is disputed). The brutal ideology of the
inquisition was transferred into Sri Lanka with sanction from different
Papal Bulls. In the economy, it was the era of primitive global
accumulation. Sri Lanka was transformed in many and drastic ways, to
become next to the Philippines, the Asian country with the longest and
deepest colonial impact. The detailed dimensions of this encounter are
still to be recorded, more so from a contemporary post-colonial
perspective. The panel calls for papers on a wide range of issues
dealing with the encounter, especially on aspects not covered in the
hitherto literature. Particularly papers are called on the various
aspects of the country’s “spiritual and temporal conquest” (the exact
phrase used by the Portuguese ideological historian
Quiroz).
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Panel 4
The
New Missionary Position: Current Anthropology of Sri Lanka as an
Ideology for Re-Colonization
Convener: Susantha
Goonatilake, PhD (E-mail: susanthag@hotmail.com)
Abstract
Classical
anthropology was the White Man’s view of the non-European. It was often
one- sided, implicitly justifying colonialism, and was considered a
“hand maiden of imperialism”. When colonial countries achieved
independence, anthropology was under intense attack for this colonial
role. A “critique of anthropology” now arose and the subject attempted
to transform itself; and in some cases, actually did. Meanwhile
Buddhist studies in the West arose in the colonial era through the
joint activities of Asian and Western scholars, Sri Lanka being a
crucial generator of this knowledge.
Sri Lankan
anthropology unlike in other countries did not go through a
decolonization process and slipped easily into a virulent colonial
mode. It has given rise to a semi-fictional school of anthropology
studies. Here, local reality is deeply misread and it’s mostly Buddhist
subjects of study continually derided. The result is a large body of
literature on Sinhalese Buddhists, tangential to truth which has set in
a train of socially solipsistic citations, especially by foreign
anthropologists, strangers to the local culture coming here for a
relatively short time. These studies have also denounced the local
anti-colonial renaissance and thus implicitly hanker after the colonial
period. Echoing colonial missionaries, these writers have also
continuously called for foreign intervention in the country. Unique in
the post-colonial world, this literature has therefore an implicit
re-colonization agenda. It thus goes against anthropological
injunctions of looking at the world through the eyes of the subject
matter. Much of this anthropology is unknown among both the Sri Lankan
public and social scientists, and the writers are not subject to open
examination. Probably this is the only case in post World War II
anthropology, where one has a body of literature that so completely
distorts local reality and is against the population it studies.
The panel explores
aspects of this literature and its distortions. It hopes to trace the
social crucible of networks out of which it arises, its effects and
outcomes for knowledge and the country, especially in view of the shift
of the global axis to Asia.
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Panel 5
The
Role of Vidyalankara and Vidyodaya Pirivenas in the Anti-Colonial
Struggle
Convener: Hema
Goonatilake, Ph.D (E-mail: hgoonatilake@hotmail.com)
Abstract
In the
anti-colonial struggle of the late 19th-century and 20th century
Vidyalankara and Vidyodaya Pirivenas were key centers of the cultural
and national resistance. Their leaders constituted part of the 40
scholar monks that formed a global and local network. Vidyalankara
Pirivena became a centre of excellence for Buddhist learning and of the
National Renaissance Movement. The influence of Vidyalankara
Pirivena and its allies varied from transmitting key Buddhist texts to
the Western world, through the political impact on the Independence
movement to the passing of the Free Education Act.
At a time when Sri
Lanka is today under attempts at re-colonization, it is important to
recall and reassess those at Vidyalankara and their allies who turned
the colonial clock back. Some writers supporting the re-colonizing
agenda have derided Buddhist renaissance, as “the so-called Buddhist
renaissance in the Western and Southern provinces in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries”. An anti-national tradition
whose roots go back to the arrival of the Portuguese has also given
rise to writers with a re-colonizing agenda.
The proposed panel
invites papers on the period of the cultural and national renaissance
in the late 19th and 20th centuries centered on Vidyalankara and
Vidyodaya Pirivena. The presentations could include a) contributions of
Vidyalankara and Vidyodaya to local and international discourse, b)
critical assessments of the current distortions on the era, and c)
hitherto unpublished documentation as well as (d) documentation
existing in Sinhala but not yet accessed in English.
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Panel 6
Defense
Studies in ri Lanka: The Present and Future
Convener: Major
General Upali Karunaratne (E-mail: kkaru@kln.ac.lk)
Abstract
Defense studies
are an integral part of a country. They occupy not only an important
academic role in developed countries but also in developing countries
like India and Malaysia. They would have regular academic
conferences and publications on defense matters.
Participation of
researchers and personnel from the Indian defense establishment
at 8th ICSLS at Jaipur depicted the interest and active
involvement on a scholarly nature on affairs of Sri Lanka.
Such interest I not evident in Sri Lanka despite many formal
establishments and debates mainly in the media. It is proposed that a
panel be convened on defense studies at the forthcoming conference.
Papers are invited not only from a purely military subjects but also
from many other disciplines that bear on defense are invited for this
panel.
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Panel 7
Defense
Studies in ri Lanka: The Present and Future
Convener:
Dr. Neelakshi
Chandrasena Premawardhena (E-mail: neelakshi3@yahoo.com)
Abstract
The colonization of
the then Ceylon over 500 years ago exposed Sri Lankan citizens to a few
European languages from Portuguese, Dutch to English. However,
only English has weathered the change of time and secured the
status of one of the national languages of Sri Lanka. Thus, learning
English as a second language in Sri Lanka from primary school itself
has paved way for the interested Sri Lankans to explore their ability
in learning other foreign languages, too.
This panel will
provide an ideal platform for scholars engaged in research on Foreign
Language Teaching (FLT) in Sri Lanka to exchange their views,
experiences and present their findings. Abstracts received so far for
this panel include the following themes: Intercultural Communication in
FLT, Use of ICT in FLT, Difficulties and contrastive aspects
encountered in teaching French, German, Japanese, Chinese as foreign
languages in Sri Lanka.
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10th
ICSLS Contacts
For inquiries,
Please contact:
Dr. K.
Karunathilake,
Co-ordinator of the 10th ICSLS
Department of Sociology,
University of Kelaniya
Kelaniya-11600
Sri Lanka
E-mail: kkaru@kln.ac.lk
Telephone: 94-11-2914490
Fax: 94-11-2911915
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