Papers by Kalinga T U D O R Silva
Conference Paper presented at 'Staying Poor: …, 2003
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences 46 (1), 2023
This editorial points to the need for developing a positive research culture for advancing social... more This editorial points to the need for developing a positive research culture for advancing social science research in Sri Lanka. This is not to say that a positive attitude towards research is absent among social scientists and the scientific community in general in Sri Lanka. On the contrary, there is an emerging recognition that social science inputs are necessary for tackling the various challenging problems facing the country today. However, what is lacking is a firm faith in building a local social science knowledge base for exploring various approaches for understanding critical issues facing the country, constant debates about relevant issues and a critical engagement with the social, economic, and political environment in which we find ourselves. This is what I call a “proactive research culture” where we constantly turn to new research for generating new knowledge and finding answers to serious problems affecting the current and future generations.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Caste a Global Review
More than a decade after the end of the 26-year old LTTE-led civil war in Sri Lanka, a particular... more More than a decade after the end of the 26-year old LTTE-led civil war in Sri Lanka, a particular section of the Jaffna society continues to stay as Internally Displaced People (IDP). This paper tries to unravel why some low caste groups have failed to end their displacement and move out of the camps while everybody else has moved on to become a settled population regardless of the limitations they experience in the postwar era. Using both quantitative and qualitative data from the affected communities the paper argues that ethnic-biases and 'caste-blindness' of state policies, as well as Sinhala and Tamil politicians largely informed by rival nationalist perspectives are among the underlying causes of the prolonged IDP problem in the Jaffna Peninsula. In search of an appropriate solution to the intractable IDP problem, the author calls for an increased participation of these subaltern caste groups in political decision making and policy dialogues, release of land in high security zones for the affected IDPs wherever possible, and provision of adequate incentives for remaining people to move to alternative locations arranged by the state in consultation with IDPs themselves and members of neighbouring communities where they cannot be relocated at their original sites.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences, 2022
The current crisis in Sri Lanka is multi-faceted with economic, political, and social aspects imp... more The current crisis in Sri Lanka is multi-faceted with economic, political, and social aspects impinging on one another. The economic and political crises are the ones that are more visible as reflected in queues, scarcities, and mass mobilisations against the ruling establishments, issues that demand urgent attention and action. Underlying these seemingly fire-fighting emergencies are the need for understanding the root causes of the multi-stranded maladies, the need for preventive action based on sound policies and socially sensitive and wellinformed crisis intervention strategies that are driven by objectively assessed actual needs of affected people and the resources available to tackle them rather than political motivations driven by short-term gains of one kind or another for the decision makers at the top and the need to accommodate those in the inner ring as against the competent personnel who may be more capable of addressing the actual needs on the ground by virtue of their skills and training.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences, 2021
Editorial
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences, 2021
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
In the light of ongoing debates about secular state and religious right in India, Sri Lanka and M... more In the light of ongoing debates about secular state and religious right in India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, this article examines the intellectual contribution of Dr B. R. Ambedkar towards sustaining democracy in South Asia. His critical contributions included non-violent mobilisation of Dalits and adivasis around their human rights, identity, citizenship and religious faith. Most importantly, he argued that democratic values of equality, liberty and fraternity are not only of European origin but also have roots in South Asia, particularly within the Buddhist tradition. The article reflects on Ambedkar's politics, social philosophy and contribution to the formation of 'religious left' and the process of progressive democratic change via Navayana Buddhism.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Humanities and Social sciences, 2020
Drawing from sociological perspectives relating to stigmatization and panic associated with newly... more Drawing from sociological perspectives relating to stigmatization and panic associated with newly emerged diseases, this paper examines the collective response to and social fallout of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka. It argues that the pandemic has served to reinforce social prejudices and cleavages already established in society with the social media playing an important role in promoting stigma and the related process of blaming the other as a source of all evils including a moral panic related to drugs, organized crime and contagion of deadly diseases including COVID-19. The paper calls for a more enlightened approach to deal with the pandemic ensuring the rights, dignity and needs of affected people.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Identity, Infection and Fear: A Preliminary Analysis of COVID 19 Drivers and Responses in Sri Lanka, 2020
Identity, Infection and Fear: A Preliminary Analysis of COVID-19 Drivers and Responses in Sri Lan... more Identity, Infection and Fear: A Preliminary Analysis of COVID-19 Drivers and Responses in Sri Lanka
Kalinga Tudor Silva
This publication provides a preliminary analysis of the interactions among identity, infection and fear in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka situating it within globalisation flows in the South and Southeast Asian Region. Focusing on the potential and reported impact of Tablighi Jamaat gatherings in Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Sulawesi from February to March 2020 in the regional spread of KOVID-19 from March 1 to April 15, 2020, the publication examines in detail selected epidemic drivers and responses in Sri Lanka. Treating Sri Lanka as an important hub as well as a sort of a backwater in the global pandemic, the paper also explores how perceived identities of who is infecting whom impact on interethnic and interreligious relations and perceptions of insecurity and threat within the context of globalisation and competition among different communities.
As a result, side by side with the life threatening pandemic, an equally dangerous pandemic of hate and mutual suspicion has erupted based on firmly rooted preconceived but untested assumptions about who is infecting whom. Both mass media and social media manifested and heavily contributed to the pandemic of hate with the state as well as civil society miserably failing to contain the escalation of the latter malady in particular. While COVID-19 is expected to reach the end of the epidemic cycle in time to come, the pandemic of hate is likely to have a more lasting impact on interpersonal, inter group and transnational relations for many years to come. Preparing the setting for a more detailed empirically grounded social research on the pandemic in the island nation of Sri Lanka, the paper foregrounds the need for a critical appraisal of empirical data, public opinion and cultural diversity in responding to the pandemic at various levels.
The author is a former Executive Director of ICES as well as a Professor Emeritus (Sociology) at University of Peradeniya.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Sri Lanka Journal of Sociology, 2020
Eastern Province is ethnically and religiously diverse having Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils as we... more Eastern Province is ethnically and religiously diverse having Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils as well as smaller, but distinct communities such as Portuguese
Burghers and Veddas who live in close proximity to one another. The inter-ethnic relations were disturbed time to time by the war, ethnic riots, tsunami, the state-aided
colonization programmes as well as attacks by the LTTE on civilians; nevertheless, a pattern of peaceful coexistence has prevailed in the long run. After the end of the war, the government started a programme for rebuilding the East (Nagenahira Navodaya). The Eastern Provincial Council was established under the leadership of a newly elected Chief Minister, who incidentally, was an ex-LTTE cadre. The process of ethnic reconciliation, however, has been hampered by a variety of unresolved issues such as rival claims to scarce land, ill-conceived
and partisan state policies, politics of land grabbing, development programmes lacking conflict-sensitivity and, above all, religiously-inspired sectarian tensions
within and between religions. Efforts to demarcate, rehabilitate and expand the Deegavapi sacred site, identifying it as an exclusive Sinhala Buddhist heritage
and its possible implications for the land rights, demonstrate how land rights are intricately tied up with heightened ethnic and religious identities and sentiments. This paper examines the circumstances under which the politics of preservation and restoration of the Deegavapi sacred site has infringed on the land rights of the Muslims.
Keywords: sacred sites, humanitarian assistance, politics, land grabbing, Eastern Sri Lanka
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Caste: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion, 2020
More than a decade after the end of the 26-year old LTTE-led civil war in Sri Lanka, a particular... more More than a decade after the end of the 26-year old LTTE-led civil war in Sri Lanka, a particular section of the Jaffna society continues to stay as Internally Displaced People (IDP). This paper tries to unravel why some low caste groups have failed to end their displacement and move out of the camps while everybody else has moved on to become a settled population regardless of the limitations they experience in the postwar era. Using both quantitative and qualitative data from the affected communities the paper argues that ethnic-biases and 'caste-blindness' of state policies, as well as Sinhala and Tamil politicians largely informed by rival nationalist perspectives are among the underlying causes of the prolonged IDP problem in the Jaffna Peninsula. In search of an appropriate solution to the intractable IDP problem, the author calls for an increased participation of these subaltern caste groups in political decision making and policy dialogues, release of land in high security zones for the affected IDPs wherever possible, and provision of adequate incentives for remaining people to move to alternative locations arranged by the state in consultation with IDPs themselves and members of neighbouring communities where they cannot be relocated at their original sites.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Caste: a Global Journal on Social Exclusion, 2020
More than a decade after the end of the 26-year old LTTE-led civil war in Sri Lanka, a particular... more More than a decade after the end of the 26-year old LTTE-led civil war in Sri Lanka, a particular section of the Jaffna society continues to stay as Internally Displaced People (IDP). This paper tries to unravel why some low caste groups have failed to end their displacement and move out of the camps while everybody else has moved on to become a settled population regardless of the limitations they experience in the postwar era. Using both quantitative and qualitative data from the affected communities the paper argues that ethnic-biases and 'caste-blindness' of state policies, as well as Sinhala and Tamil politicians largely informed by rival nationalist perspectives are among the underlying causes of the prolonged IDP problem in the Jaffna Peninsula. In search of an appropriate solution to the intractable IDP problem, the author calls for an increased participation of these subaltern caste groups in political decision making and policy dialogues, release of land in high security zones for the affected IDPs wherever possible, and provision of adequate incentives for remaining people to move to alternative locations arranged by the state in consultation with IDPs themselves and members of neighbouring communities where they cannot be relocated at their original sites.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Religious Diversity in Asia , 2019
This paper examines the syncretism and "competitive sharing" between Buddhism and Islamism in the... more This paper examines the syncretism and "competitive sharing" between Buddhism and Islamism in the Galebandara cult in Sri Lanka
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This paper examines the impact of war on disproptionate loss of male lives and increased outmigra... more This paper examines the impact of war on disproptionate loss of male lives and increased outmigration of males from Northern and Eastern Provinces in Sri Lanka.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This chapter examines the origins and structure of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and how it articulate... more This chapter examines the origins and structure of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and how it articulates its anti-Muslim rhetoric. It is important to note that the rise and relative persistence of the BBS may reflect entrenched prejudices among the Sinhala–Buddhist population in an era of postwar political triumphalism. After theorizing how rumor is used to mobilize political ill will and violent public actions against an " ethnic other " to incite " moral panic, " the chapter reviews BBS literature that allegedly exposes the manner in which Muslims seek to gain a population advantage in Sri Lanka; how Muslims have deployed political strategies to gain power far beyond their proportional representation in the country; and how elected Muslim members of parliament, especially those with cabinet portfolios, have exploited the patronage system to benefit Muslim businesses.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Even though Buddhism probably had some emancipatory potential for the downtrodden from its incept... more Even though Buddhism probably had some emancipatory potential for the downtrodden from its inception in the sixth century BCE, this potential gradually declined in its establishment as an ideology of the ruling dynasties largely upheld by the religious practices of the masses in ancient and medieval Ceylon. The nineteenth century Buddhist revival in Ceylon under the leadership of Anagarika Dharmapala did contain some anti-colonial tendencies, but this new form of Sinhala Buddhism subsequently became an ideology of the Sinhala ruling classes in independent Sri Lanka. Against this background, the Navayana Buddhism invented by Dr Ambedkar built on the emancipatory potential of Buddhism by converting it into a moral foundation for the Dalit struggle against untouchability and inherited social disadvantages. This article explores the ambivalent and contradictory dynamics in the hegemonic and transformative tendencies in Buddhism within the larger South Asian context.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Papers by Kalinga T U D O R Silva
Kalinga Tudor Silva
This publication provides a preliminary analysis of the interactions among identity, infection and fear in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka situating it within globalisation flows in the South and Southeast Asian Region. Focusing on the potential and reported impact of Tablighi Jamaat gatherings in Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Sulawesi from February to March 2020 in the regional spread of KOVID-19 from March 1 to April 15, 2020, the publication examines in detail selected epidemic drivers and responses in Sri Lanka. Treating Sri Lanka as an important hub as well as a sort of a backwater in the global pandemic, the paper also explores how perceived identities of who is infecting whom impact on interethnic and interreligious relations and perceptions of insecurity and threat within the context of globalisation and competition among different communities.
As a result, side by side with the life threatening pandemic, an equally dangerous pandemic of hate and mutual suspicion has erupted based on firmly rooted preconceived but untested assumptions about who is infecting whom. Both mass media and social media manifested and heavily contributed to the pandemic of hate with the state as well as civil society miserably failing to contain the escalation of the latter malady in particular. While COVID-19 is expected to reach the end of the epidemic cycle in time to come, the pandemic of hate is likely to have a more lasting impact on interpersonal, inter group and transnational relations for many years to come. Preparing the setting for a more detailed empirically grounded social research on the pandemic in the island nation of Sri Lanka, the paper foregrounds the need for a critical appraisal of empirical data, public opinion and cultural diversity in responding to the pandemic at various levels.
The author is a former Executive Director of ICES as well as a Professor Emeritus (Sociology) at University of Peradeniya.
Burghers and Veddas who live in close proximity to one another. The inter-ethnic relations were disturbed time to time by the war, ethnic riots, tsunami, the state-aided
colonization programmes as well as attacks by the LTTE on civilians; nevertheless, a pattern of peaceful coexistence has prevailed in the long run. After the end of the war, the government started a programme for rebuilding the East (Nagenahira Navodaya). The Eastern Provincial Council was established under the leadership of a newly elected Chief Minister, who incidentally, was an ex-LTTE cadre. The process of ethnic reconciliation, however, has been hampered by a variety of unresolved issues such as rival claims to scarce land, ill-conceived
and partisan state policies, politics of land grabbing, development programmes lacking conflict-sensitivity and, above all, religiously-inspired sectarian tensions
within and between religions. Efforts to demarcate, rehabilitate and expand the Deegavapi sacred site, identifying it as an exclusive Sinhala Buddhist heritage
and its possible implications for the land rights, demonstrate how land rights are intricately tied up with heightened ethnic and religious identities and sentiments. This paper examines the circumstances under which the politics of preservation and restoration of the Deegavapi sacred site has infringed on the land rights of the Muslims.
Keywords: sacred sites, humanitarian assistance, politics, land grabbing, Eastern Sri Lanka
Kalinga Tudor Silva
This publication provides a preliminary analysis of the interactions among identity, infection and fear in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka situating it within globalisation flows in the South and Southeast Asian Region. Focusing on the potential and reported impact of Tablighi Jamaat gatherings in Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Sulawesi from February to March 2020 in the regional spread of KOVID-19 from March 1 to April 15, 2020, the publication examines in detail selected epidemic drivers and responses in Sri Lanka. Treating Sri Lanka as an important hub as well as a sort of a backwater in the global pandemic, the paper also explores how perceived identities of who is infecting whom impact on interethnic and interreligious relations and perceptions of insecurity and threat within the context of globalisation and competition among different communities.
As a result, side by side with the life threatening pandemic, an equally dangerous pandemic of hate and mutual suspicion has erupted based on firmly rooted preconceived but untested assumptions about who is infecting whom. Both mass media and social media manifested and heavily contributed to the pandemic of hate with the state as well as civil society miserably failing to contain the escalation of the latter malady in particular. While COVID-19 is expected to reach the end of the epidemic cycle in time to come, the pandemic of hate is likely to have a more lasting impact on interpersonal, inter group and transnational relations for many years to come. Preparing the setting for a more detailed empirically grounded social research on the pandemic in the island nation of Sri Lanka, the paper foregrounds the need for a critical appraisal of empirical data, public opinion and cultural diversity in responding to the pandemic at various levels.
The author is a former Executive Director of ICES as well as a Professor Emeritus (Sociology) at University of Peradeniya.
Burghers and Veddas who live in close proximity to one another. The inter-ethnic relations were disturbed time to time by the war, ethnic riots, tsunami, the state-aided
colonization programmes as well as attacks by the LTTE on civilians; nevertheless, a pattern of peaceful coexistence has prevailed in the long run. After the end of the war, the government started a programme for rebuilding the East (Nagenahira Navodaya). The Eastern Provincial Council was established under the leadership of a newly elected Chief Minister, who incidentally, was an ex-LTTE cadre. The process of ethnic reconciliation, however, has been hampered by a variety of unresolved issues such as rival claims to scarce land, ill-conceived
and partisan state policies, politics of land grabbing, development programmes lacking conflict-sensitivity and, above all, religiously-inspired sectarian tensions
within and between religions. Efforts to demarcate, rehabilitate and expand the Deegavapi sacred site, identifying it as an exclusive Sinhala Buddhist heritage
and its possible implications for the land rights, demonstrate how land rights are intricately tied up with heightened ethnic and religious identities and sentiments. This paper examines the circumstances under which the politics of preservation and restoration of the Deegavapi sacred site has infringed on the land rights of the Muslims.
Keywords: sacred sites, humanitarian assistance, politics, land grabbing, Eastern Sri Lanka
The Easter Sunday attacks and May 13 ‘counter-attacks’ were triggered by both security and reconciliation failures and trying to fix national security without tracking and addressing reconciliation failures will be a recipe for disaster. The study highlighted the need for reconciliation among different communities in Sri Lanka not only for making peace among increasingly polarized communities, but also for restoring economic interdependence and suitable backward and forward linkages within the economy needed for rapid economic growth. There are no easy fixes for ethnoreligious anxieties and hatreds and a home-grown strategy should carefully review what is currently in place and how it can be strengthened and activated through a concerted effort by the state, civil society and the private sector.
Their specific contribution in trust building, promotion of social harmony and addressing drivers of conflict was particularly relevant due to the focus of this enquiry. An outstanding achievement in this regard was successful mobilization of interfaith action for restoring the burial rights of Muslims who died of COVID-19, overturning a government imposed mandatory cremation of all COVID-19 dead. Similarly, a digital citizenship program developed by the National Evangelical Christian Alliance for Sri Lanka sought to counter the pandemic of hate by educating young people about responsible use of digital media, identification of fake news and use of digital media for cultivating a sense of citizenship and related human values and environmental concerns. These interventions point to the positive role religion can play in addressing adversity caused by the pandemic and related social crisis.
Finally, the study points to policy changes at the national level needed to promote social harmony, development, and long-term sustainability in Sri Lanka. Nurturing of appropriate human values including unity and diversity, human rights, dignity of all individuals and social justice calls for fostering of suitable partnerships between state, civil society, and faith actors at different levels.
The Easter Sunday attacks and May 13 „counter-attacks‟ were triggered by both security and reconciliation failures and trying to fix national security without tracking and addressing reconciliation failures will be a recipe for disaster. The study highlighted the need for reconciliation among different communities in Sri Lanka not only for making peace among increasingly polarized communities, but also for restoring economic interdependence and suitable backward and forward linkages within the economy needed for rapid economic growth. There are no easy fixes for ethno religious anxieties and hatreds and a home-grown strategy should carefully review what is currently in place and how it can be strengthened and activated through a concerted effort by the state, civil society and the private sector.