« ‘Un dieu ne peut pas mourir.’ Divergences des récits sur la défaite des Tigres de libération de l’Eelam Tamoul » par Giacomo Mantovan et Lola Guyot (Critique internationale )

Giacomo Mantovan et Lola Guyot ont corédigé un article portant sur « ‘Un dieu ne peut pas mourir.’ Divergences des récits sur la défaite des Tigres de libération de l’Eelam Tamoul ». Cet article a été publié dans la revue Critique internationale.

Source : Mantovan G. et L. Guyot, in Critique internationale, 101, n°4, 2023-12-01, p. 77-98

Résumé : Après avoir mené une longue guerre contre le gouvernement sri lankais (1983-2009), suscitant de grands espoirs de victoire chez les combattants et les activistes de la diaspora tamoule, le mouvement armé des Tigres de libération de l’Eelam tamoul (LTTE) a été totalement anéanti en 2009. Bien que partageant le même objectif, les activistes de la diaspora et les anciens combattants en exil produisent des récits de cet événement très différents. Les premiers passent sous silence la destruction du mouvement armé et la mort de son dirigeant, et minimisent la défaite en déclarant que la victoire est toujours à portée de main. Les seconds racontent sans détours l’anéantissement de leur organisation, ainsi que l’effondrement qui s’est ensuivi de leur culture, de leur imaginaire et de leur manière d’être au monde. En cherchant à comprendre les raisons de ces différences, nous nous interrogeons sur les liens entre la production mémorielle et les trajectoires de mobilisation (démobilisation et remobilisation) des militants. Les efforts des vaincus pour donner sens à des années de lutte, à l’expérience de la défaite et à celle de l’impuissance politique sont ainsi analysés à l’aune des dynamiques de capitulation ou de résurrection de la lutte dans lesquelles s’inscrivent les différents acteurs.

 

 

” ‘A God cannot die’: Divergent narratives about the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam” ‘by Giacomo Mantovan and Lola Guyot (Critique Internationale)

Giacomo Mantovan and Lola Guyot co-authored an article entitled ‘“A God Cannot Die”: Divergent Accounts of the Defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’. The article was published in the journal Critique internationale.

Summary

After waging a long war against the Sri Lankan government (1983-2009), raising high hopes of victory among combatants and activists in the Tamil diaspora, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were totally annihilated in 2009. Although they share the same objective, diaspora activists and ex-combatants in exile have developed very different narratives about this event. The former, on the one hand, gloss over the destruction of the armed movement and the death of its leader and play down the defeat by declaring that victory is within reach. The latter, on the other hand, give a detailed account of the annihilation of their organisation, as well as the ensuing collapse of their culture, their imagination, and their way of being in the world. In seeking to understand the reasons for these differences, this article examines the links between memory production and the mobilisation trajectories (demobilisation and remobilisation) of activists. The efforts of defeated actors to make sense of years of struggle, the experience of defeat, and political impotence are studied in light of their various political trajectories, between capitulation and attempts to resurrect the struggle.

source: Mantovan G. & L. Guyot, in Critique internationale, 101, n°4, 2023-12-01, p. 77-98

“Anushan” short film by Vibirson Gnanatheepan (TV5 Monde+)

Vibirson Gnanatheepan’s short film could be watch online for free in TV5 Monde +’s website

Detail

The only son of Tamil parents, 13-year-old Anushan much prefers rap to his native culture. When his uncle arrives from Sri Lanka, he finds himself sharing his room and his daily life with him for a few days.

Realization: Vibirson Gnanatheepan

Subtitles: Romanian, German, Spanish, Arabic, English, French

Casting: Kirujan Logeswaran, Guru Sivam, KP Logathas

Country of production: France

Origin: France

Awards: Selected for Bogoshorts (Colombia, 2023), Festival Off-Courts de Trouville (France, 2023)

“Sri Lanka’s Bumpy Road to a Political Reset” by Alan Keenan (International Crisis Group)

Alan Keenan’s new report on Sri Lanka for the International Crisis Group is available.

Victory for National People’s Power at the ballot box in 2024 opened a rare window of opportunity to forge a more inclusive, transparent political system in Sri Lanka. But the report argues the window has already begun to narrow.

Almost eighteen months into its term in office, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) government has kept Sri Lanka’s economic recovery on track and made notable efforts to fight corruption. But it faces growing questions about its ability and commitment to achieve its bold promises of “system change”.

Dissanayake’s election in September 2024 and the NPP’s subsequent parliamentary majority created a rare opening to address the country’s most important and intractable governance problems. Failure to achieve a substantial portion of their ambitious agenda threatens to open the way to a return to ethnic tensions and political authoritarianism.

To regain momentum for reform, Dissanayake’s government will need, as a priority, to reinforce its anti-impunity campaign with investigations of wartime atrocities (beginning with mass graves); adopt a more inclusive, less defensive style of governance; strengthen independent oversight of the state, including by allowing its own officials to be prosecuted when faced with credible allegations of wrong-doing; end abuses of counter-terrorism policing; and do more to protect the most economically vulnerable.

We offer ideas for how they can try to accomplish this in the report.

Cycle de projections – Filmer depuis la marge : regards du cinéma tamoul indépendant 

Après une journée d’étude enthousiasmante, nous poursuivons par un cycle de projections nommé « Filmer depuis la marge : regards du cinéma tamoul indépendant », pour mettre à l’honneur le cinéma tamoul indépendant, connu pour son attention aux marges. L’essentiel des projections est gratuit, ouvert à tou.te.s (sur inscription obligatoire), pour rendre visible et accessible, cet autre cinéma indien qui décentre le regard sur des récits invisibilisés.
 
Les films programmés, rares voire inédits en France, seront tous suivis de discussions avec les cinéastes. Vous trouverez ici le programme du cycle. 

Projections du samedi 11 avril,  à l’auditorium 250 du Centre des Colloques (Campus Condorcet) gratuites sur inscription obligatoire par ce lien : projections
 
Cette journée sera ponctuée d’un petit moment de convivialité en fin d’après-midi avant les projections autour du cinéma tamoul diasporique. 

Projection spéciale du samedi 18 avril, aux tarifs doux du cinéma Alice Guy. Achat/réservation par ce lien : billetterie

Découvrez la 15e édition du Festival des Films de l’Asie du Sud de Montréal, mai 2026

Le Centre d’études et de recherches sur l’Inde, l’Asie du Sud et sa diaspora a le plaisir de vous partager la 15e édition du Festival des Films de l’Asie du Sud de Montréal (FFASM), à laquelle le des membres du CERIAS participent en tant que jury. L’évènement se tiendra en format hybride au mois de mai prochain.

Festival dédié au cinéma indépendant d’Asie du Sud et de ses diasporas, le FFASM met en lumière des films qui abordent la culture, l’identité, la migration, la justice sociale, le genre, l’environnement et les dynamiques communautaires.

Au programme cette année :

  • Plus de 75 films issus de 11 pays
  • Des projections en présentiel à Montréal
  • Une programmation en ligne gratuite (sur inscription)
  • Des films disponibles avec sous-titres en français et en anglais

Au cinéma : 1 – 10 mai 2026 (Cinéma J.A. DeSève, Université Concordia)

En ligne : 4 – 24 mai 2026 (Inscriptions : Register – SAFFMontreal)

Nous espérons vous y voir nombreux, à Montréal ou en ligne !

Pour découvrir la programme complète : SAFFM 2026 – SAFFMontreal

FSF 2021 | Discussion on “Sri Lankan insularity” with Eric Meyer and Sasanka Perera

How does the insular condition of Sri Lanka affect the different historical, political and social realities of the country? Delve into an online discussion around this topic with Pr. Eric Meyer and Pr. Sasanka Perera that took place on July 5th, 2021.

Eric Meyer is a French historian specializing in Sri Lanka and the Indian subcontinent, previously director of the South Asia department and then vice-president of INALCO as well as director of the Center for Indian and South Asian Studies (EHESS). His research initially focused on the relationship between colonial capitalism and rural society in Sri Lanka and extended to the history of inter-communal tensions between Sinhalese and Tamils. He is particularly interested in the uses of history in the construction of national identities. He is the author, among others, of “Sri Lanka between particularism and globalization” and “The uses of history and linguistics in the identity debate in Sri Lanka”.

Sasanka Perera is Professor of Sociology at South Asian University, New Delhi, previously Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. He was the Editor in Chief of the journal, Society and Culture in South Asia co-published by Sage and South Asian University for 9 years. Having been trained as a cultural anthropologist, he also served the Department of Sociology at the University of Colombo for a period of 20 years. An interest in photography, poetry, blogging, art, music and journalism has kept him in touch with both his own creative drives as well as the changing world of thought and expression. His publications in English include, “Warzone Tourism in Sri Lanka: Tales from Darker Places in Paradise”; “Violence and The Burden of Memory: Remembrance and Erasure in Sinhala Consciousness” and “Against the Nation: Thinking Like South Asians”. More information here: https://www.frenchspringfestival.com/…

📅 June18-July 18 2021 📍 Full program: https://www.frenchspringfestival.com/

Visual arts • Music • Fashion • Ideas • Slam poetry ► #FSF2021

“Coolie Poesis: Plantation Sounds and Labor Heritage on Sri Lanka’s Tea Estates” by Mythri Jegathesan (UC Davis College of Letters and Science)

Mythri Jegathesan at the UC Davis Global Tea Initiative for Tea Culture and Science 2nd Annual Colloquium: “The Sensory Aspects of Tea” on January 19, 2017. This talk explores the relationship between tea plantation labor and production and coolie identity formation and heritage in Sri Lanka. Also how the human voice—through the poetry, and song written and performed by Tamil plantation residents—reinforce coolie narratives of labor, connectivity, and desires for social recognition in a multicultural, postwar Sri Lanka. This reinforcement creates a coolie poesis—an emergence of a complex labor heritage to be duly acknowledged in Sri Lanka’s colonial and postcolonial history and present.

source: UC Davis College of Letters and Science

“Buddhism and law”, in Asian Journal of Law and Society, vol. 3, no. 1 (mai 2016) (Les Carnets du CASE)

ALS

Content

  • Setting an Agenda for the Socio-Legal Study of Contemporary Buddhism by Benjamin Schonthal & Tom Ginsburg
  • Keeping Monks in Their Place? by Thomas Larsson (sur la Thaïlande)
  • The Impossibility of a Buddhist State by Benjamin Schonthal (sur le Sri Lanka)
  • Varieties of Religious Freedom in Japanese Buddhist Responses to the 1899 Religions Bill by Jolyon Baraka Thomas
  • Blood Curse and Belonging in Thailand: Law, Buddhism, and Legal Consciousness by David M. Engel
  • Promiscuity, Polygyny, and the Power of Revenge: The Past and Future of Burmese Buddhist Law in Myanmar by Melissa Crouch
    http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=als

Source: Sophie Hénon (12 avril 2016). Asian Journal of Law and Society, vol. 3, no. 1 (mai 2016). Les carnets du CASE. Consulté le 31 mars 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/m7tf

“Remembering the Present : Mindfulness in Buddhist Asia” by Julia L. Cassaniti (Les Carnets du CASE)

Julia L. Cassaniti, Remembering the Present : Mindfulness in Buddhist Asia, Cornell University Press, 2018

What is mindfulness, and how does it vary as a concept across different cultures? How does mindfulness find expression in practice in the Buddhist cultures of Southeast Asia? What role does mindfulness play in everyday life? J. L. Cassaniti answers these fundamental questions and more through an engaged ethnographic investigation of what it means to “remember the present” in a region strongly influenced by Buddhist thought.

Focusing on Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar, Remembering the Present examines the meanings, practices, and purposes of mindfulness. Using the experiences of people in Buddhist monasteries, hospitals, markets, and homes in the region, Cassaniti shows how an attention to memory informs how people live today and how mindfulness is intimately tied to local constructions of time, affect, power, emotion, and selfhood. By looking at how these people incorporate Theravada Buddhism into their daily lives, Cassaniti provides a signal contribution to the psychological anthropology of religious experience.

Remembering the Present heeds the call made by researchers in the psychological sciences and the Buddhist side of mindfulness studies for better understandings of what mindfulness is and can be. Cassaniti addresses fundamental questions about selfhood, identity, and how a deeper appreciation of the many contexts and complexities intrinsic in sati (mindfulness in the Pali language) can help people lead richer, fuller, and healthier lives. Remembering the Present shows how mindfulness needs to be understood within the cultural and historical influences from which it has emerged.

Ecouter l’entretien avec Julia Cassaniti sur son livre : http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?gcoi=80140107114010

source: OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Sophie Hénon (14 juin 2018). Remembering the Present : Mindfulness in Buddhist Asia. Les carnets du CASE. Consulté le 31 mars 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/m8ie

“Religious extremism poses threat to ASEAN’s growth” by Sophie Hénon (Les Carnets du CASE)

« Religious extremism poses threat to ASEAN’s growth » by Gwen Robinson and Simon Roughneen, 14/12/2017, Nikkei Asian Review

Aided by social media, hardliners gain mainstream support

The Dec. 2 event marked a year since an estimated half-million people clamored in the rain for the arrest of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the then-governor of Jakarta. Since then, Purnama, a Protestant of Chinese descent nicknamed Ahok, lost the gubernatorial election and was sentenced to two years in jail on the same blasphemy charges that brought massive crowds onto Jakarta’s streets late last year.

The episode raised concerns around the world that Indonesia’s relatively tolerant variant of Islam — and its secular democracy — was under attack. And it was a startling display of the strength of Islamist groups in Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population. Among the organizers were the Islamic Defenders Front, known as FPI, and the Islamic Ummah Forum.

Those groups do not claim affiliation with the al-Qaida-linked militants who killed 202 people in Bali in 2002, nor the estimated 1,150 Indonesians who traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight for the so-called Islamic State. But the government has been sufficiently alarmed to ban the local wing of Hizbut Tahrir, another Islamist movement involved in the anti-Ahok protests — and which hopes to establish a caliphate.

Across Asia, the rise of hard-line religious movements is fueling a macho form of nationalism and creating dangerous new fault lines in communities. Beyond Indonesia with its numerous Islamist groups are Myanmar’s zealous Buddhist organizations, which have stoked anti-Muslim sentiment to deadly effect. Bangladesh has seen the rise of Islamic fundamentalists including Hefazat-e-Islam, while Sri Lanka has Bodu Bala Sena, a radical Sinhalese Buddhist group.

Such groups number in the dozens across Asia — fundamentalist Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus who are adding new fuel on what are sometimes ancient ethnic conflicts. Some boast memberships that run into the hundreds of thousands, powered by zealous social media campaigns, community support programs and effective fundraising operations. The donations, often tiny amounts collected from poor followers, become a source of support for hard-line leaders.

Analysts warn that such ethno-religious chauvinism represents the biggest threat to the economic growth the region has enjoyed in recent years — and to the dream of greater cohesion over trade and economic issues. “Rapid economic growth over the past three decades has raised standards of living across much of Asia, but left marginal areas, like Mindanao in the Philippines and Rakhine State in Myanmar, untouched and therefore comparatively worse off,” said Michael Vatikiotis, Asia director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. “It is perhaps no coincidence that these areas are afflicted by violent conflict.”

Lire la suite sur : https://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/20171214/On-the-Cover/Religious-extremism-poses-threat-to-ASEAN-s-growth

source: Sophie Hénon (29 janvier 2018). Religious extremism poses threat to ASEAN’s growth. Les carnets du CASE. Consulté le 31 mars 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/m8gb

“Treasures from the the 17th and 18th VOC archive” by Sophie Hénon (Les Carnets du CASE)

Treasures from the the 17th and 18th VOC archive, Sejarah Nusantara, Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia

The paper archives created by the Dutch East India Company (VOC, 1602-1799) and dealing with its commercial operations in Asian waters are preserved in the national archives of Indonesia, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, South Africa and India. In particular, the archives in Jakarta contain thousands of documents originating from Asian persons, including many local rulers from around the Indonesian archipelago. The most voluminous collections spanning 2,000 metres are in the Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia (ANRI). On 9 March 2004, the archives of the VOC were included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

The 2.000 metres of archives in ANRI can be roughly divided into two sections:
1) The archives created in and formerly kept at Batavia Castle, the former headquarters of the VOC in Asia. This is the archive of the Supreme Government (the Governor-General and the ordinary Councillors of Dutch Asia).
2) The archives of local private and public institutions in Batavia.

For this digitalization and public access project, a selection had to be made. The Daily Journals of Batavia Castle which can be found in the archives of the Supreme Government were digitalized and published first. This series reflects the principle concerns of the Supreme Government.  Prominent here were internal Company affairs in matters as diverse as the general management of trade, personnel and financial affairs, shipping and logistics. The Supreme Government also dealt with all political and diplomatic affairs, the administration of justice and correspondence with other VOC factories in Asia as well as the VOC Chambers and their Governing Board, theso-called Gentlemen Seventeen (Heren XVII) or Directors of the VOC  in the Dutch Republic. The Daily Journals were created to maintain an ongoing overview of such activities.

During the course of the eighteenth century, the Resolution Books of the Supreme Government became more and more important and voluminous while the registration of correspondence in the Daily Journals gradually declined. In particular, the handling of all matters to do with the regional establishments of the Company were included in the General Resolution Books. In 1743, such matters were recorded in a separate yearbook, giving birth to a separate series: the General (Foreign) Affairs Books (Net-Generale Besogneboeken).

Another, hitherto unresearched and historically unique series are the Appendices to the General Resolution Books. These total together some 742 volumes numbering some 550,000 folio pages. This series contain a variety of documents which may gradually become accessible via a special database. The first document descriptions for this database were started in 2013 by ANRI’s Content Team (see organisation).

Liste des archives consultables moyennant une inscription sur le site:

  • General Resolutions of Batavia Castle 1613-1810
  • Realia 1610-1808
  • Appendices to General Resolutions 1686-1811
  • The Placards of Batavia Castle 1602-1808
  • Daily Journals of Batavia Castle 1624-1806
  • Marginalia to the Daily Journals 1659-1807
  • Diplomatic Letters 1625-1812
  • Corpus Diplomaticum 1595-1799

Plus d’informations sur : https://sejarah-nusantara.anri.go.id/archive/

source: Sophie Hénon (30 octobre 2017). Treasures from the the 17th and 18th VOC archive. Les carnets du CASE. Consulté le 31 mars 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/m8fb

“The Tale of Prince Vessantara at the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford)” by Sophie Hénon (Les Carnets du CASE)

« The Tale of Prince Vessantara », until 09 September 2018, Ashmolean Museum (University of Oxford)

The Buddha is believed to have had many lives before being born as Siddhartha Gautama. Stories of his past lives are known as jatakas (‘birth stories’). They play an important role in teaching Buddhist values.

The Vessantara Jataka is the last and most popular of the jataka tales. Here the Buddha was born as Prince Vessantara of the Sivi Kingdom, a very generous man who gave away everything, including his wife and children, to help others. His actions demonstrate the virtue of generosity, which in Buddhism is one of the ‘perfections’ required to achieve enlightenment.

The tale is often illustrated in Southeast Asian and Sri Lankan art. Buddhists can gain merit by making and commissioning these images. This display, drawn from the Ashmolean’s own collection, highlights a selection of Burmese and Sri Lankan drawings, paintings and woodcarvings of the story dating to the 19th century.

Curator : Dr Farouk Yahya

Voir : https://www.ashmolean.org/event/the-tale-of-prince-vessantara

Source: OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Sophie Hénon (23 avril 2018). The Tale of Prince Vessantara at the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford). Les carnets du CASE. Consulté le 31 mars 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/m8ho

“Indonesia and the Malay World, vol. 44, no. 130” by Sophie Hénon (Les Carnets du CASE)

untitled

Indonesia and the Malay World, vol. 44, no. 130

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cimw20/44/130

Sommaire

  • The Pangeran and the saints: The historical inflection of a mid 19th-century Ḥaḍramī mausoleum in East Java, Indonesia by Ismail Fajrie Alatas
  • Bhuket material culture and Kayan stratification in Sarawak, Malaysia: Mats and baskets as instruments of social differentiation by Shanthi Thambiah
  • Theatrical change paralleling socio-political developments in Indonesia’s Natuna archipelago in the South China Sea: The case for Malay mendu theatre performance by Karen Kartomi Thomas
  • On the morphosyntax and pragmatics of –in in Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian by I Wayan Arka and Nurenzia Yannuar
  • Undhang-Undhang Bantěn: A 17th to 18th-century legal compilation from the qadi court of the Sultanate of Bantĕn by Ayang Utriza Yakin
  • ‘A Malay knight speaks the white man’s tongue’: Muhammad Haji Salleh on translating the self and one’s own literary tradition by Harry Aveling

Research Note

  • Jawa, Melayu, Malay or otherwise? The shifting nomenclature of the Sri Lankan Malays by Ronit Ricci

Cette revue est disponible à la BULAC et à la bibliothèque de l’EFEO.

source: Sophie Hénon (10 novembre 2016). Indonesia and the Malay World, vol. 44, no. 130. Les carnets du CASE. Consulté le 31 mars 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/m80w

“Digitising Malay writing in Sri Lanka – Endangered Archives Program” by Sophie Hénon (Les Carnets du CASE)

EAP609 : Digitising Malay writing in Sri Lanka – Endangered Archives Program (British Library)

Dr Ronit Ricci, The Australian University
Archival partner: National Archives of Sri Lanka
 
Project Overview
 

This project aims to create a digital archive of Malay writing (including manuscripts, printed books, letters, other documents) held in private collections in Sri Lanka. Written for the most part in Arabic script (but also in the Roman, Tamil and Sinhala scripts) by descendants of exiles, convicts, and soldiers from the Indonesian archipelago and the Malay Peninsula between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, these rare and fragile documents attest to social and cultural aspects of the community’s life, allow for an expansion of our definitions of the ‘Malay World,’ and provide insight into local forms of Islam. There is urgent need to document and preserve such collections, endangered not only by tropical weather and the ravages of time, but also by their owners’ lack of knowledge in archival preservation and a contemporary ignorance regarding the manuscripts’ content and significance …

The project will result in the creation of a digital archive freely available to all. Copies will be accessible via the National Archives of Sri Lanka, the British Library and the library at the Australian National University.

Project Outcome

The project encompasses a range of materials written in the Malay language, in Sri Lanka, from around the mid 19th century to the late 20th century. It includes manuscipts, printed books, prayer booklets, wedding invitations, personal letters, family records, poems and songs. These diverse materials testify to the variety of ways in which Malay was, and is, used in Sri Lanka. The majority of older materials are Islamic in nature, including theological manuals, poems in praise of the Prophet, and tales and histories written in the hikayat genre. These are written in gundul (Malay-Arabic script) and/or romanised Malay. The collection also includes modern examples of Malay written in the Tamil and Sinhala script, as well as older materials in Arabic and Arabu-Tamil owned by Malay families, testifying to the lingusitic and orthographic diversity of the community’s writing practices.

For more informations : http://eap.bl.uk/database/overview_project.a4d?projID=EAP609;r=41

To consult texts : http://eap.bl.uk/database/results.a4d?projID=EAP609;r=41

Source: Sophie Hénon (28 février 2017). Digitising Malay writing in Sri Lanka – Endangered Archives Program. Les carnets du CASE. Consulté le 31 mars 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/m861