International Conference on Sri Lanka Studies (ICSLS)
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Item King in his subject’s cloths: Anti-colonialist characters in post colonial western cinema explored through Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi and Cry Freedom(University of Kelaniya, 2005) Fonseka, P.Colonization has brought about effects that have had lasting impacts on all colonized spaces, may they be geographical, economic or cultural. In this paper my attempt is to explore how post independent cinema of Richard Attenborough tries to portray anticolonialist heroes in terms of western cinematographic tools, which his prospective audiences of the west were familiar with. These apparently contradictory entities, i.e. native protects and its leaders redressed to the taste of the very populace once they struggled against in a desperate attempts to reclaim their independence, are marked by a mockery of independence itself. At a superficial level, this become almost evidence in the selection of the main actor of both films, British Ben Kingsly (as Gandhi) and American Denzil Washington (as Steve Biko) in Gandhi and in Cry Freedam respectively. What these western actors dressed in the native cloths, how ever successful they were in their performance, seem to be authenticating by revisiting colonial space, is in fact a reversed form of colonialism that appropriate the ex-rival into the colonial realm itself. In exploration of such thesis, I will seek theoretical support in critical theory in general and post colonial theory of representation and theory of film in particular.Item Language and Identity after Five Hundred Years of Colonization(University of Kelaniya, 2005) Gunesekera, M.This paper examines the controversial issue of the status of the official, national or link language/s of Sri Lanka. The focus of the study is on perspectives of language and identity among speakers of English in Sri Lanka’s multilingual urban population. The objective of this study is to examine what languages or varieties are associated with identity in Sri Lanka. The data collection was done from 2003 to 2005 in Colombo, Gampaha, Kandy, Jaffna and Galle. This preliminary study is the forerunner to a more detailed analysis of varieties of English in Sri Lanka. Additionally, leading politicians were interviewed to learn their perspectives on language in contemporary Sri Lanka. The findings of the study indicate the confusion regarding ownership of language in Sri Lanka. For example, the terms ‘mother tongue,’ ‘home language,’ and ‘native speaker’ are used to denote different languages. This is possibly the result of legislation from 1956 demanding that citizens declare their mother tongue. Another finding is the ignorance of Sri Lankans regarding the status of English, which has been in use from 1796 to the present. Most users of English in Sri Lanka are uncertain about its status. The most crucial finding of this study is the non-recognition of Sri Lanka’s variety of English by its users. The leading politicians claim that they speak British English, and the majority of respondents from Colombo, shares the same view. Urban respondents from outside Colombo seem to be at ease in claiming Sri Lankan English as their own, which may be a sign of leading to ownership of language. However, the gap between English and identity in Colombo and the rest of urban Sri Lanka is an indication of the problems of language and identity as reflected in the recognition or non-recognition of Sri Lankan English.Item Colonization of Time: Some Problems in Identification of Archaeological Sites in Sri Lanka(University of Kelaniya, 2005) Somadeva, R.Humans use and occupy the space dimension on different scales. In the past, it varied from open-air campsites to complex constructions. Within the varied range of space utilization, some had used natural space without causing any alterations to signify their cognitive dimensions, whilst in most instances there is serious violation of his environment. Due to this behavioural complexity of the use of space, today we are faced with a wide range of problems in archaeology in the identification and interpretation of archaeological sites. Identification and interpretation of archaeological sites embody three major problems. The first problem exemplifies the understanding of the functional aspect of sites. There are sites which reflect different functions during different periods. Some sites are multifunctional and belonging to a single period of time. Determination of function of an archaeological site for identification is a complicated exercise and most of the time it remains incomplete. The second problem signifies the site formation process. A site can be transformed through a number of human activities. Notable among them are ploughing and tilling in agricultural societies. Long-term ploughing and tilling may cause a considerable disturbance to the archaeological content of a given site. Most crucial are the complete disappearance of surface indicators and splitting of single assemblages into formation of a number of widely scattered ‘artefact patches’ through these processes. The third problem is the degree of influence by the archaeologist’s own idiosyncrasy about his definition of what is an archaeological site. This paper discusses the relevance of considering the cultural context of a given society to define its human spatial behaviour of the past and to quantify the degree of intervention through the post occupational interventions to the site content.