“The documents we read were not written for us.” Martin Klein1 There is an enduring belief in Sri Lanka that at some undetermined point in history “Kaffir” slaves rebelled, creating such havoc in Colombo that it led to them being severely suppressed and then confined to a ward of the city that then became known […]
My intention is to reflect on writing with passion at a time Sri Lanka is producing writing, at least in the Sinhala language, that is worthy of being introduced to the world. When I say this, I am thinking of creative writing. There is no such promise by and large when it comes to academic […]
Anthropologist Gananath Obeyesekere had told his wife a few days prior to his passing on 25 March 2025, ‘I am going to the land of nothingness’. I doubt he was referring to one of his favourite poems, ‘The Wasteland’ by T.S. Eliot, parts of which he often recited by memory in many conversations. Rather, my […]
Histories of Connections between Southeast Asia and Sarandib by Professor Farzana Haniffa, University of Colombo A Review of Ronit Ricci, Banishment and Belonging. Exile and Diaspora in Sarandib, Lanka and Ceylon, (Tambapanni Academic Publishers: Colombo 2021) first published in 2019 by Cambridge University Press. The book is available in Sri Lanka with SL Books, and […]
Lakdasa Wikkramasinha (1941-1978) has been acknowledged as one of the finest Sri Lankan poets writing in English. The Sri Lankan born Booker Prize winner Michael Ondaatje says Wikkramasinha has written “some of the most permanent and iconic poems of this country”. In a period spanning only thirteen years before his untimely death, Wikkramasinha published six […]
University of Colombo Review (Series III), Vol.6, No.1, 2025 Review of Nadeera Rupesinghe, Lawmaking in Dutch Sri Lanka: Navigating Pluralities in a Colonial Society (Tambapanni Academic Publishers 2024) Gehan Gunatilleke Nadeera Rupesinghe’s Lawmaking in Dutch Sri Lanka: Navigating Pluralities in a Colonial Society is essential reading for legal scholars and lawyers who grapple with Roman […]
The +921HeritageTalks is an annual conference focusing on South Asian narratives, led by Pakistan Chowk Community Centre (PCCC), under the guidance of its Founder, Architect and Spatial Advocate, Marvi Mazhar. The conference is a multidisciplinary platform, allowing researchers, academics, students and professionals from various backgrounds to jointly talk, present and collaborate over issues pertaining to […]
Lawmaking in Dutch Sri Lanka’s cover is adorned by one of Jan Brandes’ (1743–1808) famous watercolours—a large tree, a small house in the background, and two obscure figures, presumably planting the soil of their garden. This supposed idyllic image is one of the focal points of Nadeera Rupesinghe’s rigorous study of law, landownership, and the […]