Books on the war

   
Beyond Check-points: Stories of Human Resilience in troubled Sri Lanka by Duleep de Chickera.The Diocese of Colombo, 2023.

Extracts:

Counting shells – How plantation Tamils joined the LTTE controlled areas
“The daily lives of these twice oppressed humans redefined human desperation. They were on their own, among their own and in need of protection from their own. Their presence served the cause of those near and far. They had to be there to churn out cadres with no questions asked; just as they produced the best tea in the world for the lowest possible wages with no questions asked. Decades of suppression had conditioned them to passively obey. They were the idea ingredients for a fascist regimes; the ‘indispensable-dispensable’, dressed in rubber slippers and fed with layers of indoctrination.”

People of conscience
“As several like Fr. Clifford were learning, it was daily doses of restrictions and not carefully clichée statements in impressive assembly halls that stimulated these conscience corners of human resilience. All the UN’s motions and all the parliaments of the world brought little relief when tyranny strode down lonely byways in the darkness of night.”

“If you happened to be the Tamil from beyond the border, you had to be Tiger on this side. This is the plain message I got again and again,” he sobbed. Hell, for the young Tamil fleeing the LTTE, was a place that moved with you.”

Beyond Checkpoints
“The check point culture was much, much more than the visible or the moment. Those who met there carried heavy baggage that had to be unpacked in a matter of moments. For the few who stood there through the day, the ability to observe, question, screen and ensure all was well with courtesy, a thousand times over, was commendable. For the many who passed through, the ability to be patient and understanding when questioned or searched several times a day, was equally commendable. That these interactions occurred without incident through the day and night, spoke volumes about the goodwill and co-operation between those who stood and those who moved.”

“But for now this is our life, looking into peoples’ bags and getting scolded by everyone. What to do, this is our fate.”

 

NR

More Posts

Follow Me:
LinkedIn

Theatre in the diaspora

Counting and cracking

By S.Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack
Directed by Eamon Flack with S.Shakthidharan

The internationally-acclaimed epic returns to Sydney, this time at Carriageworks.

28 June – 21 July 2024

On the banks of the Georges River, Radha and her son Siddhartha release the ashes of Radha’s mother – their final connection to the past, to Sri Lanka and its struggles. Now they are free to embrace their lives in Australia. But a phone call from Colombo brings the past spinning back to life, and we’re plunged into an epic story of love and political strife, of home and exile, of parents and children.

Featuring nineteen performers from six countries, Counting and Cracking follows the journey of a Sri Lankan-Australian family over four generations, from 1956 to 2004.

Winner of 14 major awards including Helpmann Awards for Best Production and Best Direction, Counting and Cracking returns triumphant from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Edinburgh Festivals, for a strictly limited season at Carriageworks.

By S.Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack
Directed by Eamon Flack with S.Shakthidharan

https://belvoir.com.au/productions/counting-and-cracking-2024

Review 2024: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/article/2024/jun/20/counting-and-cracking-how-a-three-hour-sri-lankan-war-epic-became-one-of-the-great-australian-plays?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3Nhlpnnjn7gs_FYUWX3XmM49fJnSKiIl4QkrzEWFUM09T8EoNJTn_fK_c_aem_zuuYhtAv7lv5GHSAfkntBQ

NR

More Posts

Follow Me:
LinkedIn

De Lanerolle and the French Connection

“The Odyssey and Living Legacy of sieur de la Nérolle.” Neptune Publications.
Yasmin Rajapakse, 2019.

 

 

Le livre en français

La Nérolle – Huguenot charentais de l’escadre de Perse à Ceylan (1672) 

Yasmin Rajapakse,
Gérard Narjoux (Traducteur)

Les Indes Savantes

Résumé

L’ambassadeur de France, le Sieur de La Nérolle, gravit la passerelle pour monter à bord du bateau le Triomphe de la Marine royale et n’en redescendit que pour mettre le pied sur le sable fin de Ceylan (Sri Lanka) à Trincomalee, le 21 mars 1672, durant le règne du roi Rajasinghe II (1635-1687). Il y passera le reste de sa vie, et y fera souche. Jusqu’à nos jours, ses descendants restent en contact avec La Nérolle (commune de Segonzac en Charente).
Cet ouvrage retrace l’histoire de ce noble charentais parti avec l’escadre de Perse, formidable flotte envoyée par Louis XIV pour concurrencer les Hollandais et établir un empire commercial dans l’océan Indien.

NR

More Posts

Follow Me:
LinkedIn

Quelques livres récents sur Sri Lanka – mémoires et livres de voyage

Razeen Sally, 2019. Return to Sri Lanka: Travels in a Paradoxical Land. Juggernaut

Sunil Tantirige, 2019. The House of a Thousand Memories. Bay Owl Press

 

Yasmin Azad, 2020. Stay, Daughter. Perera Hussein.

Rory Spowers. 2007. A Year in Green Tea and Tuk-Tuks: My unlikely adventure creating an eco farm in Sri Lanka. HarperElement.

Anne Mustoe. 2001. Two Wheels In The Dust: From Kathmandu to Kandy

John Gimlette. 2015. Elephant Complex. Travels in Sri Lanka. Quercus Publishing

Cherry Briggs, 2013. The Teardrop Island. Summersdale Publishers.

NR

More Posts

Follow Me:
LinkedIn

Article sur les femmes migrantes travailleuses domestiques

Women Migrant Workers and Market Forces: Toward an Inter-disciplinary Representation of Female Labor Migration

In: Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Selection of Papers Presented at the First History of Economics Diversity Caucus Conference

Nadeera Rajapakse

Abstract
The economic literature on labor migration has incorporated insights from various disciplines with regard to content and method, although the representation of migrants has not fully moved away from the neoliberal, market-dominated framework. This paper addresses the issue of women migrant workers using the particular example of Sri Lankan migrant women workers to the Middle East. It aims to highlight the need for more diversity in economic research without which conceptual representation, as well as empirical reach, is limited. After a brief overview of the representation of migrants in economic literature, I develop the concept of vulnerability. I refer to qualitative and quantitative analyses on Sri Lankan migrant women workers to the Middle East from a variety of disciplines in order to differentiate the “vulnerable,” that is, the workers in need of protection, from the “vulnerabilities.” The latter concept refers to the debilitating effects on workers, produced by market forces, which are often perpetuated by underlying assumptions, as well as policies. A broader, inter-disciplinary perspective, which considers the agency of women, can go a long way toward removing some of the limitations and preconceptions ingrained in most economic representation. This in turn could help to improve the protection of the vulnerable and empower them to better face market forces.

NR

More Posts

Follow Me:
LinkedIn