Preliminary Considerations for a Speculative Critique of Sinhala Nationalism
Photo from DBS Jeyaraj The name Nalin de Silva helps us to determine a certain ambiguity in – what remains of – the Sri Lankan academic discourse. On the one hand, he…
Author: Vangeesa Sumanasekara
Handagama and the Political: Incomplete Reflections on “Let Her Cry”
Writing about Handagama’s cinema is no easy task. The subsequent debate, predominantly in Sinhala, generated by the first public screening of his latest film “Let Her Cry” – which has the much…
The Incident at Kumbukgate: Reflections on the Attack on Young Artists and Activists
Photo courtesy Nidahasa The chilling news came in the afternoon – our friends, colleagues and comrades who had been holding a small scale meeting in Kumbukgate, Kurunegala, were under attack, surrounded by…
Colombo International Film Festival: Six Days That Would Change Your World
It is possible that one may find my title to be exaggerated: this is not the first time that we are hearing the words ‘international film festival’ in a Sri Lankan context.…
Politics of Quotations: Concluding Rejoinder to Dayan Jayatilleka
Image courtesy RNW In this concluding rejoinder to my friend Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka I shall begin by what appears to me to be the core of our dispute, i.e. Dayan’s highly problematical…
On Christian Essentialism, Structural Correspondences and Philosophical Companionships
Photo by EPA/M.A.PUSHPA KUMARA courtesy LA Times It is quite possible to give detailed responses to all the questions that my learned friend Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka has asked me. Nevertheless, I will only attempt…
Badiou’s Event and the defeat of the Tigers: A Brief Response to Dayan Jayatilleka
Photo by EPA/M.A.PUSHPA KUMARA courtesy LA Times What follows is a brief rejoinder to my friend, Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, whose use of the philosophy of Alain Badiou, in his recently published article “Plato’s Cave…