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








