Meeting a VIP London, Summer, 2008
He asked me
how it was that I could be
Sinhalese
was it 50%?
if my mother was Sinhalese
and in that case
whether I was 50% burgher
or whether I had one quarter Belgian
blood in my veins
It was a bit tiresome
to explain
to say I think 1/8th means 12 and a half percent
Belgian
and then another 1/4th is Dutch
and two 25 percents on either side
probably
makes me 50% Sinhalese
(but I cannot be sure, I could be 25% Tamil with my Kandyan blood)
And I couldn’t do the
math in my head
because I was jet lagged
and sleep deprived
and I was tempted to say
last time I got sick
they did a FBC sir,
I think there were the normal
percentages
of plasma
and white cells
but I was a bit low on the red cells
you see I don’t eat red meat sir
and I was always a bit anaemic.
Sir.
4 Comments
Leave a Reply
Subscribe to Content Updates
iPhone app
You raise some interesting questions about ethnicity, Let me ask a few of my own, and answer one of yours.
How is it that Burghers who’ve only got a negligible amount of European blood, and who are 15/16 or 31/32 non-white, and look the same as any other Sri Lankan, still identify as Burghers and not Sinhalese or Tamil? On the other hand, how could Barrack Obama who’s only 50% black and was brought up by Whites is still a Black man? Much like the Burghers in Sri Lanka, some Whites in Australia and North America with distant Aboriginal/Native American ancestors identify themselves as Aboriginal and Native American.
(but I cannot be sure, I could be 25% Tamil with my Kandyan blood)
Being Sinhalese and having Tamil ancestors are not mutually exclusive things. Many Sinhalese descend from Sinhalised Tamils and that’s not something special. It would only be confusing to someone who tries to make sense of the Sinhalese notion of ethnicity from the understanding derived from the European concept of race and nation-state.
It’s the same as an American with English, Irish, Scottish, Italian, German and Polish ancestry still being an American. Sinhalese is an ethnic identity, not a race. Racially, Sinhalese and Tamils are pretty much the same, although the Sinhalese are less prone to inbreeding and have had significant genetic input from other parts of the world.
Vivimarie
Thanks – very interesting and refreshing too.
This uncontentiously leads to the notion that we can solve our problems by letting everyone have his or her basic human rights – Vivimarie can have her right to health care.
Bardo,
You seem to contradict yourself a lot. For example, you claim that Sinhalese have descended from the so called Sinhalized Tamils and that both the people are pretty much the same, however, in your next line you assert that Sinhalese are less prone to inbreeding and have genetic input from other parts of the world. I hope you see what I mean – that only goes to prove that both the people are genetically different. Having said that, I wouldn’t be surprised if you trace your lineage to some Portugese, Cholas, British, and other invaders. I wonder how many Sinhalese could actually trace their family tree unlike us Tamils who are proudly Dravidian.
“Sinhalese is an ethnic identity, not a race.”
I would refute this point. There are racial differences i.e. facial features between the two groups. If you mix up a group of Tamils and Sinhalese, I would most often be able to tell who is who.
A deep river of reason runs beneath this craetive piece:
ethnicities that have differences magnified by selfish politicians can attain reasonable harmony by having a bottomline:
let all have the most basic human needs(-no need to talk about superiority or inferiority of a language or a religion or a caste) attended to:
HEALTH for all
EDUCATION for all
LIVING SPACE for all
……………..
………………….
DIGNITY for all.