The Year in Photos
Featured image by Raisa Wickrematunge As 2017 draws to a close, Groundviews shares a selection of photos taken over the course of the year, covering a variety of issues, from displacement and…
Year: 2017
Is it too much to ask for emotionally Intelligent mindful leaders in the 21st Century?
Photo courtesy Asian Mirror Dwight D. Eisenhower said “I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let…
Local Government election dynamics in the North and East
Photo courtesy Dhaka Tribune Despite the year end holiday season, the political focus is on the upcoming local government elections scheduled for February 10th next year. With nominations closing by end December,…
Mary’s Consent for Jesus’s birth: A Christmas reflection
Image courtesy Wikipedia Christmas is the story of Mary, a young unwedded mother, giving birth to a refugee child, Jesus, in a sheep shed. The central male character in this story is…
A Christmas Reflection
“O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie… The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight” Bethlehem – Birth place of the Incarnate One…
Reclaiming Social Sciences and Humanities: Notes from South Asia
Image courtesy Hilary Burage Keynote address delivered at the 4th Annual Research Symposium of National Centre for Advanced Studies (NCAS) in Social Sciences and Humanities, Colombo, Sri Lanka on December 20th 2017….
Killing Tuskers and Culling Hopes
Featured image courtesy Mstyslav Chernov/Wikimedia “Where should we go after the last border? Where should birds fly after the last sky?” Mahmoud Darwish (Earth Presses against Us) “I just passed a polling place…
Rokheya, Sultana and the Muslim Women Dreaming of Gender Justice in Sri Lanka
‘Where are the men?’ I asked her. ‘In their proper places, where they ought to be.’ ‘Pray let me know what you mean by “their proper places”.’ ‘O! I see my mistake….
Corruption and Complicity: Perceptions from across Sri Lanka
Discussions around corruption and its prevalence often focus on the highest echelons of power. In Sri Lanka, irregularities around the Central Bank bond issue continue to make the news – with the President most…
Conviviality vs Censorship: On Media Freedom in Sri Lanka
Featured image courtesy Reporters Sans Frontieres Under the Presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa between 2005 and 2015, government brutality and censorship towards the media in Sri Lanka reached new levels. This was to…
#justaphotolka : Highlighting and Pushing Back Against Ongoing Surveillance in Vavuniya
Featured image courtesy NewsFirst On November 24, two youth were questioned in Vavuniya around posts they had made on Facebook. One of the photos was of the Divisional Secretariat of Vavuniya North,…
The Human-Elephant Conflict: Moving Towards Solutions
Featured image courtesy Anton Croos Recently the famous tusker, “Dala Puttuwa” of Galgamuwa was killed by poachers, renewing the public discussion around the ongoing human -elephant conflict in Sri Lanka. Investigators found…
In Their Absence: Families of the Disappeared Share Treasured Keepsakes
Featured image courtesy Selvaraja Rajasegar The following is the translation of a story by Selvaraja Rajasegar, editor of Maatram (click here and here to view the series in Tamil). As of today,…
The Crackdown on Corruption
Featured image courtesy president.gov.lk On November 8 President Maithripala Sirisena called the irregularities around the Central Bank bond issue a “maha vinashaya” (a huge destruction) and said that those behind it must accept…
Vijay Nagaraj: Contributions to public discourse in many guises
Vijay Nagaraj, who passed away in a tragic car accident in August, was someone I interacted with for around six years. We didn’t meet regularly, yet when we did, we carried on…
