Colombo Institute conducted two Film Festivals in 2009 focused on youth. The festival showcased one feature film and several documentary films  to groups of young people that opened avenues to discuss a number of issues that are centrally important in the region as well as in the country. The films, which were screened free of charge were also accompanied by discussions that involved the participants as well as resource persons from the Colombo Institute.

Even though the Colombo Institute was initially interested in hosting the Kandy event in a rural interior area where the Institute has worked before, the venue was changed to the Faculty of Arts at the University of Peradeniya at the invitation of the Faculty of Arts. It  focused the over 700 first year students who entered the Faculty this year and was part of their orientation program. The festival began at 9.30 AM at the Arts Theater at University of Peradeniya on August 22^nd 2009. Both events in Kandy and Colombo are funded by Movies that Matter.

For details: Program of Kandy Film Festival

The South Asia Journal for Culture, Volume 2, is now available. While it is only available in Colombo at the moment, we hope to make it available at a limited number of outlets in selected South Asian cities over the next few months. Due to the delay of SAJC Vol 2, the third issue of the South Asia Journal, now in preparation, will be available by the end of this year as well.

Volume two carries essays from a range of interests that include Siraiki identity dynamics to readings of wayside shrines and women’s art in Sri Lanka. The contents of South Asia Journal, Volume 2:

Essays

The Journey towards ‘Siraiki’

Nukhbah T. Langah

What the Tree Said: An Ethnography of a Wayside Shrine in Sri Lanka

Sunil Goonasekera

Women Artists in Sri Lanka: Are they the Carriers of the Women’s Burden?

Anoli Perera

Reviews and Opinions

Cultural exchange and civil society in Asia: A perspective from India

Rustom Bharucha

Review of Meenakshi Thapan  (Ed.,) ‘Transnational Migration and the Politics of dentity.’

Michael Collyer

Photo essay

A journey through intimate space

Jagath Dheerasekara

Call for Papers, Reviews, Photo-essays and Opinion Essays

On behalf of the Editorial Board of the South Asia Journal for Culture, the Colombo Institute for the Advanced Study of Society and Culture would like to invite all interested individuals to submit papers, reviews, photo-essays and opinion essays for consideration for publication in the fourth issue of the South Asia Journal for Culture. While no page limit is set for submissions, standard academic practices in the social sciences and humanities with regard to stylistic conventions such as references and footnotes are important considerations. More specifically, all references should be inserted in the main text within parentheses (eg. Last name of author, date of publication: page number/s) and the complete reference details of all texts should be presented at the end of the paper within a bibliography. All essays should opt for endnotes where necessary and refrain from the use of footnotes. For additional details on general stylistic matters, potential writers can write to the Colombo Institute or refer the Chicago Manual of Style (15th Revised Edition, 2003).

More about the journal….

Our effort is to produce a specialized publication which combines crucial features of a journal and a magazine that is open to serious scholarship and exchange of ideas across the region and beyond, on issues that are of central importance to the region with regard to the broad areas covered by the key terms ‘society’ and ‘culture.’ The idea is to enhance access of South Asian writers to a journal that is regionally published, regionally edited and managed and is responsive to intellectual needs, interests and concerns in the areas covered by its thematic focus. The journal is conceived as a regional forum for disseminating and debating ideas across the geographic and national boundaries of South Asia, and beyond. However, it is not meant to be restricted to and parochialized on the basis of this regional or geographic identity.

In terms of conventional disciplinary parameters, the journal would accommodate contributions from the fields of sociology, social anthropology, history, archeology, art history, cultural studies and other related fields of study. More precisely, within and beyond these areas, its interest would be in culture and its extensions that would focus on cultural theory, art history and different domains of the ‘arts’ such as theatre, visual arts, architecture, film, music, dance, and the politics of these domains.

It is a refereed journal and is published annually. Any individual can write to the journal as long as their contributions are in tune with the interests of the journal, relevant to the region and meet with the journal’s specific publishing criteria. The idea for the journal is supported by the Theertha International Artists Collective in Colombo that also publishes its own journal called ArtLab in both Sinhala and Tamil. Khoj International in Delhi further supports the idea. The institutional responsibility for the journal is vested in the Colombo Institute. The journal is produced in Colombo, while Khoj and Colombo Institute facilitate its distribution in the region and beyond.

Deadline for submissions: September 12, 2010

Editorial Board of the Journal

§ Sasanka Perera, Senior Lecturer (Editor), Department of Sociology, University of Colombo, Colombo.

§ Salima Hashmi, Professor and Dean, School of Visual Arts, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore.

§ Jagath Weerasinghe, Professor, Post Graduate Institute of Archeology, Colombo.

§ T. Shanaathanan, Senior Lecturer, Department of Fine Arts, University of Jaffna, Jaffna.

§ Pooja Sood, Director, Khoj International Artists Association and Curator, Apeejay Media Gallery, Delhi.

§ Roma Chatterji, Reader, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi, Delhi.

§ Tariq Jazeel, Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield.

Contact details of the Journal

Mailing Address: 4/7, Jeswell Place, Mirihana, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka

Email: sasankap@sltnet.lk, colomboinst@gmail.com

The funders for volume 3 and 4 are Arts Collaboratory, a Hivos and DOEN Foundation program for visual artists’ initiatives in Asia, Africa and Latin America and for exchange with visual arts organizations in The Netherlands in cooperation with Mondriaan Foundation.

The latest volume of the Tamil journal Panuwal is now available.

Panuwal Volume 5

Picture and Pedagogy: Modernity and Ambivalence in the Colonial Jaffna Painting - T.Sanathanan (Original Tamil language essay)

Temperance movement in North Sri Lanka: Political Leadership and Social Reality, 1900-1936 - Somesasundai Krishnakumar (Original Tamil language essay)

Brides as Bridges? Tamilness through Movements, Actors, Documents and Anticipations - M.Sidharthan (Translated from the un-published English by K.Thirunavukarasu)

Body Politic(s): Maps and Mother Goddess in Modern India - Sumathy Ramaswamy (Translated from the English by K.Thirunavukarasu) 

Contents:

1. The Poetics of Identity: Bakhtin’s Chronotope and the Tamil Concept of Tinai’ by Rudramurthi Cheran (Translated from English into Sinhala by Sasanka Perera)

2. ‘Problems of Ceylon History’ and the ‘Fear of History’ by Sudharshan Senevirthne (Translated into Sinhala from English by Samudrika Sylva)

3. The Impact of the Expansion of Evangelical Christian Religiosity towards the Transformation of Tamil Hindu Identity in the Ja Ela Area by Anushka Kahandaga (Original Sinhala language essay)

Call for Papers, Reviews, Photo-essays and Opinion Essays

On behalf of the Editorial Board of the South Asia Journal for Culture, the Colombo Institute for the Advanced Study of Society and Culture would like to invite all interested individuals to submit papers, reviews, photo-essays and opinion essays for consideration for publication in the third issue of the South Asia Journal for Culture. While no page limit is set for submissions, standard academic practices in the social sciences and humanities with regard to stylistic conventions such as references and footnotes are important considerations. More specifically, all references should be inserted in the main text within parentheses (eg. Last name of author, date of publication: page number/s) and the complete reference details of all texts should be presented at the end of the paper within a bibliography. All essays should opt for endnotes where necessary and refrain from the use of footnotes. For additional details on general stylistic matters, potential writers can write to the Colombo Institute or refer the Chicago Manual of Style (15th Revised Edition, 2003).

More about the journal….

Our effort is to produce a specialized publication which combines crucial features of a journal and a magazine that is open to serious scholarship and exchange of ideas across the region and beyond, on issues that are of central importance to the region with regard to the broad areas covered by the key terms ‘society’ and ‘culture.’ The idea is to enhance access of South Asian writers to a journal that is regionally published, regionally edited and managed and is responsive to intellectual needs, interests and concerns in the areas covered by its thematic focus. The journal is conceived as a regional forum for disseminating and debating ideas across the geographic and national boundaries of South Asia, and beyond. However, it is not meant to be restricted to and parochialized on the basis of this regional or geographic identity.

In terms of conventional disciplinary parameters, the journal would accommodate contributions from the fields of sociology, social anthropology, history, archeology, art history, cultural studies and other related fields of study. More precisely, within and beyond these areas, its interest would be in culture and its extensions that would focus on cultural theory, art history and different domains of the ‘arts’ such as theatre, visual arts, architecture, film, music, dance, and the politics of these domains.

It is a refereed journal and is published annually. Any individual can write to the journal as long as their contributions are in tune with the interests of the journal, relevant to the region and meet with the journal’s specific publishing criteria. The idea for the journal is supported by the Theertha International Artists Collective in Colombo that also publishes its own journal called ArtLab in both Sinhala and Tamil. Khoj International in Delhi further supports the idea. The institutional responsibility for the journal is vested in the Colombo Institute. The journal is produced in Colombo, while Khoj and Colombo Institute facilitate its distribution in the region and beyond. The initial funds for the publication have come from the Colombo Institute, Theertha International and Hivos to ensure that the first and second issues (2007 and 2008) are published smoothly.

Deadline for submissions: June 30 2009

Editorial Board of the Journal

·        Sasanka Perera, Senior Lecturer (Editor), Department of Sociology, University of Colombo, Colombo.

·        Salima Hashmi, Professor and Dean, School of Visual Arts, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore.

·        Muraleedharan Tharayil, Reader & Head, PG Dept. of English Literature, St. Aloysius College, affiliated to the University of Calicut, Elthuruth, Trichur, Kerala.

·        Jagath Weerasinghe, Professor, Post Graduate Institute of Archeology, Colombo.

·        Sharon Bell, Professor and Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Canberra, Canberra.

·        T. Shanaathanan, Senior Lecturer, Department of Fine Arts, University of Jaffna, Jaffna.

·        Pooja Sood, Director, Khoj International Artists Association and Curator, Apeejay Media Gallery, Delhi.

·        Roma Chatterji, Reader, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi, Delhi.

Contact details of the Journal

Mailing Address: 4/7, Jeswell Place, Mirihana, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka

Email: sasankap@sltnet.lk, colomboinst@gmail.com

The two films are Thunwenno (The Third Generation) based on the experiences of youth in Dehiattakandiya, a Mahaweli settlement in the Eastern Province and Wanaspathi Uruma Laddo (The Inheritors of the Jungle) based on the experiences of youth in Dambana, a village of indigenous people in the Uva Province. The Colombo Institute invited the group present to express ideas not only to initiate a discussion but also as a means of further improving the third film they are set to produce in Aludeniya in the upcoming months. The discussion was facilitated by Ranjith Perera of the Social Scientists’ Association and the Civil Rights Movement and the film directors and producers responded to key ideas presented by members of the audience.

Ideas expressed about Wanaspathi Uruma Laddo included thoughts on how the traditional and transitional cultural facets had been woven into the film, the insights into gender relations among the indigenous groups made possible through the imagery etc. Thunwenno generated a discussion on if the film captured something unique to the particular community that is being portrayed and if the ‘real’ issues of the community were highlighted. A question was also raised regarding the link between the photography workshops conducted with the youth and the films produced. The directors and producers took the opportunity to respond to some of the comments. Clarifications regarding the nature of the link of the films to the photographs taken by the youth, the democratic process through which selection of themes was done for portrayal and some of the issues faced in editing the film to suit the preferences of the particular communities were made by those involved in the productions.

Forum for Culture presented a talk on Medical Ethics, Bio Ethics and Asian Bioethics: Reflections on Culture and Rhetoric in the Response to New Biotechnologies in Contemporary Sri Lanka by Bob Simpson, Department of Anthropology, University of Durham.

The assemblage of knowledge and practices that has come to be known as bioethics is increasingly visible as part and parcel of biomedical technology and research. This assemblage is not only manifest in north America and Europe but is also becoming part of a discourse that surrounds biomedical advances as they impinge on the global south.

The presentation focused on the way in which responses to these advances are being shaped and articulated in local contexts; in particular, it drew on research carried out into the reception of new reproductive and genetic technologies in Sri Lanka which began in 2000. The presentation focused on the construction of an ‘Asian Bioethics’ as part of the local response to new and challenging technologies; it placed in context the rhetorical nature of this response and its links to colonialism, nationalism, and other broader questions of accommodating cultural relativism within global and universalistic statements of virtue.