Commemoration of the 88^th Birth Anniversary of Regi Siriwardena

The International Centre for Ethnic Studies commemorated the 88^th Birth Anniversary of Regi Siriwardena on 15 May 2010. The event was held at the ICES Auditorium at 5.30pm. The Memorial Lecture on ‘Translations: The Art of Attempting the Impossible’ was delivered by Professor Ranjini Obeysekere (Dept. of Anthropology, Princeton University, retired). Excerpts of Mr Siriwardena’s work were read by Lakmali Jayasinghe and Nimanthi Rajasingham.



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The 10th Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture

The 10th Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture was held on Sunday, 26th July 2009, at BMICH Committee Room ‘A’ at 6:00 pm. The lecture was delivered by Prof. Upendra Baxi, Professor of Law in Development, University of Warwick.

The topic of the lecture was Rethinking Utopian Legality with Neelan Tiruchelvam. Prof. Baxi also conducted a workshop the Subasinghe Conference Room at the Agrarian Research and Training Institute on Saturday, July 25th at 9:30 am. The Topic of the workshop was Transformative Constitutionalism in Contemporary Sri Lankan Conjuncture.

The Island serialised the lecture content July 29 - July 31, 2009.
This is linked below.

Part 1  |  Part 2  |  Part 3 | Comment

Overview of Past Memorial Lectures

In-house Talks:

 1)      “Food Crisis”, by Dr Nimal Sandaratne, ICES In-House Seminar on 25 July 2008. (chair: Dr Anoma Ahbayaratne, Dept of Economics, UoP)

 2)      “Ramblings on the History and Sociology of Sri Lankan Cricket”, by Prof Michael Roberts, 21 August 2008. (chair: Prof G H Peiris retired Prof of Gegraphy UoP)

 3)      "Who Were the Veddahs? Multiple Veddah Identities Revealed in Kandy Period Texts", by Prof Gananath Obeyesekere, 18 September 2008. (chair: Mr Ravana Wijayaratne, CEO Sinhaputhra Finance)

 4)      “World Heritage at Risk”, by Prof Nancy C Wilkie , William H Laird Professor of Classics, Anthropology and the Liberal Arts, Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA, 28 October 2008. (Chair: Prof Sudharshan Seneviratne, Dept of Archeology UoP)

 5)      “Present Challenges of the Police Department” by Mr Pujith Jayasundara, DIG Central Range, 21 Nov 2008. (Chair: Dr Vijaya Samaraweera)

 6)      “Melamine: The Food Scandal in China and Its Implications to Sri Lanka”, by Prof Upali Samarajeewa, Senior Professor of Food Science & Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, 22 December 2008. (Chair: Prof S N Arseculeratne, Emeritus Prof of Microbiology, Faculty of Medcine, UoP)

 7)      “The Making of Ceylon 1837 – 41”, by Prof Patric Peebles, Emeritus Professor, University of Missouri, Kansas City, 22 January 2009 (chair: Prof Thilaka Meththananda, Dept of History UoP)

 8)      “Revealing Kandyan Dance” by Mr Sudesh Manthilake, Lecturer, Department of  Fine Arts, UoP, 19 February 2009. (chair: Dr Liyanage Amarakeerthi, Senior Lecturer, Dept of Sinhala, UoP)

 9)      “Ethnic Elections: Myth or Reality?” by Mr Sebastian Gorenflo, a senior student in Cultural Anthropology, Peace and Conflict Studies and History at the University of Marburg, Germany, 26 March 2009. Mr Gorenflo was on a three-month internship at ICES, Kandy office. (chair: Dr Dhammika Herath, Research Fellow, ICES)

 10)    “The Right to Hire but Not to Fire: Can Sri Lanka Cope with the Global Economic Crisis?”  by Mrs Shyamali Ranaraja, Practitioner in Employment and Labour Laws and Human Resources Management Consultant, 27 May 2009. (chair: Dr Dileni Gunawardene, Senior Lecturer, Dept of Economics, UoP)

 11)    “Does Religion Equate with Morality?” by Dr Douglas King, an Educational Consultant who has a M.Ed. from Cambridge, U.S.A. and a MA in Community Development and has been working in Sri Lanka six years specializing in Early Childhood Education and Teaching English language, 18 June 2009. (Chair: Prof S N Arseculeratne, Emeritus Prof of Microbiology, Faculty of Medcine, UoP)

12)         “Role of Mosques in Conflict and Peace Building in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka”, by Dr S H Hasbullah, senior lecturer Department of Geography UoP, 13 August 2009. (Chair: Dr Dhammika Herath, Research Fellow, ICES).

13)       “Electoral Engineering in Sri Lanka: Consequences for the Minorities”, by Dr Evan Liaras, BA Harvard University, PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology; currently Koc University, Istanbul, 16 February 2010. (Chair: Sumith C Leelaratne, Research Associate, ICES)

14)     “Challenges to Internal Security in South Asia: Political and Institutional Responses”, by Prof Partha S Ghosh, Professor of South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi Editor, India Quarterly (ICWA, New Delhi), 10 May 2010, (Chair: Prof Tudor K Silva)

15)     “Post-Colonial Social Contract: Gender, Race, and Democracy in India”, by Christine Keating, Assistant Professor in the Department of Women’s Studies at the Ohio State University and a member of the popular education collective Escuela Popular Norteña. (Chair: Dr Nalini Hennayake)

16)  “Dowries, Dupattas and Doorsteps: Insiders and Outsiders of the Fort of Galle”, by Nethra Samarawickrema. Ms Samarawickrema is currently  pursuing a Masters degree in Social Anthropology at Dalhousie University after obtaining a B.A in Politics from Ithaca College in 2008. Her interests lie in social change in relation to colonialism and globalization, with a focus on how change is expressed in gendered landscapes and urban spaces. Since November 2009 she has been working as an independent researcher for ICES, conducting fieldwork in the Dutch Fort of Galle. 21 July 2010, (Chair: Prof Gananath Obeyesekere)

17)   “Migration for Employment – Whither Sri Lanka?”, by Shyamali Ranaraja. Ms Ranaraja  is an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.  She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Colombo and a Diploma in International Affairs from the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies, Colombo. 21 September 2010, (Chair: Prof Shantha Hennayake)

18)      The Sinhala Book of Five Hundred and Fifty Jataka Stories  and some comments on translation,by Prof. Ranjini Obeyesekere. Prof. Ranjini Obeyesekere, Ranjini Obeyesekere, presently retired, taught at the University of Peradeniya, Department of English; at the University of California San Diego, Department of Literature; and for the last ten years at Princeton University in the Anthropology Department. 

She is the author of Sinhala Writing and the New Critics (1974), Jewels of the Doctrine, Stories from the Saddharmaratnāvaliya, (1991), Theatre in a time of Terror: Satire in a Permitted Space, (1999), Portraits of Buddhist Women: Stories from the Saddharmaratnāvaliya, (2001).  25 February 2011. (Chair Dr Liyanage Amarakeerthi)

19)       The Representation of ‘Ethnic Other/s’ in Modern Sinhala Literature, by Dr Liyanage Amarakeerthi. Dr Amarakeerthi received his MA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin USA. He has specialised in Comparative Literature. Among his publications are Pahana saha Kedapatha (Essays on Literary Criticisms) and Atawaka Puttu-a novel. He was presented the award for the Best Novel (2008) for Atawaka Puttu and the award for the Best Collection of Short Stories (2000) at the National Literary Festival of Sri Lanka. 28 March 2011.

20)        Counseling in Sri Lanka: Challenges and Opportunities, by Dr Danesh Karunanayake. Dr Karunanayake is a Counseling/Clinical Psychologist and a Senior Lecturer attached to the Department of Philosophy and Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya. He has a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Illinois State University and a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Purdue University. His research interests include the impact  

21)              The Securing of Development: Combating Poverty and Violence in the Era of Fragile States, by Mr Timothy Fuller Hutchinson. Timothy is an American graduate student studying International Development at Clark University (MA, USA). He possesses a background in economics, gender studies, international relations as well as peace and conflict studies. In 2008, Mr. Hutchinson and others worked together to found the Center for Non-violent Solutions Inc, where he presently assumes the role as Director. His MA thesis, “Between Hard and Soft: COIN and Civil-Military Cooperation in War-Torn Afghanistan”, endeavors to evaluate the convergence of security and development in conflict/post-conflict regions around the underdeveloped world. 6 June 2011.

Dialogues on Democracy Series:

1)        “Theory and Practice of Democracy”. Key speakers: Prof Arjuna Parakrama, Department of English, University of Peradeniya and Prof. Sumanasiri Liyanage, Department of Economics, University of Peradeniya. Chaired by Dr. Nishan de Mel, Executive Director, ICES, 20 October 2009. 

2)      “Democracy and Nationalism”.  Key speakers: Prof Shantha K Hennayake, Department of Geography, University of Peradeniya and Dr Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri, Department of History, University of Colombo. Chaired by Dr Amarakeerthi Liyanage, Department of Sinhala, University of Peradeniya.  25 November 2009.