U & U

As Sri Lanka reels from presidential polls, what are the stakes?

Tune in as Rumeth Jayasinghe and Uditha Devapriya discuss the ramifications of the presidential elections in the first episode of , an economics and politics podcast from U & U.

Watch our first episode here: https://rb.gy/q16gs7

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As Sri Lanka reels from presidential polls, what are the stakes?

Tune in to our very first episode of Economic Review.

Streaming on YouTube.

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As Sri Lanka mourns the passing of its foremost prima donna Vajira Chitrasena, we look back at her life and accomplishments.

As Vajira Chitrasena, Sri Lanka's Prima Ballerina Assoluta, celebrates her 92nd birthday, we look back at her life, her career, and her contribution.

Read: https://bitly.ws/3fXQm

Our second podcast series kicks off this week.
Coming soon.

"30 years later, in the face of our worst post-independence economic crisis, there is now an opportunity to leverage our global outreach to reap dividends for the country and its people. The Central Asia Forum is, in that sense, a first step. But it can hardly be the only step. And, regardless of who comes to power four weeks from now, it needs to be taken forward."

In this week's column, we assess Sri Lanka's efforts at recharting and remapping its foreign relations.

Read: https://rb.gy/ozl2v8

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"What, then, are we to make of this particular portrait? To me it represents a response, by locals, to events far removed from their home – succession in the British Crown – and reflects their perceptions of their new king: a point made more relevant, I think, by the fact that the new king had visited their country in 1875."

In this week's column, we visit the Thapodhanaramaya in Karandeniya near Ambalangoda, to peruse a highly intriguing mural.

Read: https://rb.gy/aca0lx

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Edited by U & U's Uditha Devapriya and Uthpala Wijesuriya, "Interventions: Selected Political Writings" has now been reviewed extensively in Sri Lanka.

Dr Rajiva Wijesinha: https://rb.gy/f2d0c8
Sarath de Alwis: https://rb.gy/o0hlt6
Kusum Wijetilleke: https://rb.gy/8tvzkn
Shiran Illanperuma: https://rb.gy/lpxlnb
Natasha Gooneratne: https://rb.gy/v0kdkl
Harindra B. Dassanayake and Dr Rajni Gamage: https://rb.gy/vhbi1h

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"Although it has been claimed that Southern painters stuck independently to their artistic visions or borrowed from the Kandyan tradition, the reality seems to have been more complex. There were intersections between Kandy and the South, but there were also differences and cleavages."

In this week's column, we assess the Southern style of Sri Lankan Buddhist temple art.

Read: https://rb.gy/2gdw8k

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In 2023, I got an unexpected call from Ravindra Randeniya, asking if I would write his biography. He wanted to launch it in 2024, marking 50 years since he began his film career.

“Would you do it?” he asked me gently.

Read: https://rb.gy/12nhqa

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"For the most, British colonial history tends to be seen from the perspective of governors, legislators, religious figures and more specifically missionary interests, and the colonial bourgeoisie. Yet all these groups attached great importance to elite education. Regardless of their political outlook, they aimed for the best schools and the best universities. Since Ceylon did not have a university in place until the 1920s, it was the school one went to that often defined one’s social position."

In this week's column, we propose an alternative reading of British colonial history in Sri Lanka.

Read: https://rb.gy/0sckgv

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Catch our first episode now!
Link: https://rb.gy/t8hsmn
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Catch our first episode tomorrow!
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Tune into our very first episode.
This Monday.

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"Unlike the sterility of Colombo, Kandy and Trinity brooked a more progressive intellectual climate, and Dhanapala counted among his peers, juniors, and seniors those who would later put Sri Lanka on the world map. They included not just Lakshman Kadirgamar or Sarath Amunugama, but also Nihal Rodrigo, Stanley Kirinde, Wimal Dissanayake, and Jayantha Kelegama."

In this week's column, we reflect on Jayantha Dhanapala and his years at Trinity College Kandy.

Read: https://rb.gy/9nuxsg

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And now for something completely different.
Introducing "Notes of a Native."
A podcast from U & U.

Coming soon.

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"On the basis of a common programme adopted in 1968, the SLFP-LSSP-Communist Party coalition that came to power in 1970, under the United Front label, adopted a series of reforms that paved the way for Workers’ Councils and Advisory Bodies at State enterprises. This was necessitated, in part, by two factors: the growth of Public Corporations and a rise in the number of employees at these Corporations."

In this week's column, we look at the origins of Workers' Councils in Sri Lanka.

Read: https://rb.gy/zyv9c0

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"At a time when Sri Lankan history tended to be seen through the prism of kings, rulers, and prime ministers, she preferred to write on the marginalised underclass: workers, peasants, and political radicals. Among the many figures she re-evaluated here was Anagarika Dharmapala: she devoted a considerable portion of her work on the labour movement in Sri Lanka to him. By this point, Dharmapala, like that other parvenu of 20th century Sri Lanka, A. E. Goonesinha, tended to be lionised or demonised by the establishment, depending on the ideological sympathies of the writer. Jayawardena rescued him from these polarities."

In this week's column, we look at the life and work of Kumari Jayawardena, one of Sri Lanka's - and Asia's - most renowned social scientists.

Read: https://rb.gy/obq93p

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"After the conquest of Kandy in 1815, the British began tapping into the region’s commercial potential in a way their predecessors had not. Once again it was the port which facilitated this shift in policy; by 1907 it had become 'one of the principal ports of call of the world', and was described as 'the Clapham Junction of the East.' The British added a railway system to the shipping line. Over the years the Fort area changed: it became a hub for government establishments, banking houses, and European businesses."

In this week's column, we look at how Colombo transformed from the precolonial to the colonial era, particularly in the late 19th century.

Read: https://rb.gy/pdf0l9

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We wish you a happy and prosperous Eid Mubarak!

"This is perhaps the best study authored on the subject. It deserves to be read by students of Sinhala music and Sinhala poetry. More than anything, it delves into how the capitalist ethic, the 'logic' of the marketplace, became as crucial to the evolution of Sinhala music as the cultural revival of the late 19th century. It helps us understand the shifts and changes that were unfolding in the 1960s, the impact these would have on Sinhala music. That it stops at this crucial point only makes us ask what happened next."

In this week's column, we assess Garrett Field's "Modernizing Composition: Sinhala Song, Poetry, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Sri Lanka."

Read: https://rb.gy/7a2kt6

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"It is wrong to pigeonhole Ravindra into one type of role, and it is wrong to overlook his incredible diversity. That diversity is what makes the man tick. The Lionel Wendt Theatre Workshop, and the developments of the 1960s, had a huge say on his evolution. It would be wrong to overlook those developments too."

In this week's column, we evaluate , one of Sri Lanka's leading and pre-eminent actors.

Read: https://rb.gy/48wkbg

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"The grandson of an Anglican pastor, Abhayavardhana obtained a middle-class Western education at S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. By the 1930s when he graduated from the University of Ceylon, he had converted to Marxism, spurning his inheritance and espousing radical politics. The timing was right."

In this week's column, we examine the life, work, and thought of Hector Abhayavardhana, one of the last stalwarts of Sri Lanka's Old Left.

Read: https://shorturl.at/DdMAt

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"Despite these differences and disagreements, the outline of Buddhism has survived to this date, and continues to exert a tremendous influence over Asia, especially Sri Lanka. To admit that, however, is to understate the reality, for Buddhism inspired in the latter not just its marvels of architecture and art, but its very civilisation."

In this week's column, we examine the evolution of Buddhism in India and Sri Lanka.

Read: https://shorturl.at/B4VM1

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