In a historic landmark decision, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) found that Sri Lanka’s criminalizing of same-sex sexual relations under section 365A of the Penal Code…
The Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) has been under discussion by various groups, commissions and governments for the last six decades. Although recommendations have been made for amendments to the Act,…
For three months Layla Gonaduwa, a self taught, interdisciplinary artist, travelled around Sri Lanka to explore the concept of memory, home and migration. She explored symbiotic and discordant relationships between within communities…
A few months ago, the author had the misfortune of being introduced to a video of a YouTuber and apparently a “psychiatrist” by the name of Ama Dissanayake. Having never heard of…
These quotes from conservationists and architects are very relevant to modern Colombo where it seems like every day another huge glass and concrete structure springs up like a poisonous mushroom, blocking the…
Sri Lanka is a pluralistic society where communities of different cultures and religions exist side by side. However, a 26 year civil war as well as attempts by political leaders to create…
Sri Lankan society is structured on strict gender roles and responsibilities where anything different to heteronormative and binary gender standards is considered abnormal, deviant and deserving of punishment and discrimination. Thanks to…
Sri Lanka’s post-colonial language policy was neither fair not desirable. A largely non-English speaking population was governed by a small class of English-speaking elite. Weary of being excluded from governance and public…
The Sri Lankan government’s Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) program has invested in bridging former fighters’ transition from wartime to peacetime, but many aspects of the DDR program continued to pose problems…
Image Courtesy of A poem reflecting on the meaning of independence day. This country isn’t yours to offer, Upon the conditions set by you. You can deny me the right to be…
Photo Courtesy of BBC News Sri Lanka is led by a man who has, by his admission, two faces. In a more democratic avatar is Gotabaya Rajapaksa the President. Here, the individual…
We watched the film, Funny Boy, directed by Deepa Mehta and adapted from Shyam Selvadurai’s 1994 novel, twice. We were surrounded by the numerous debates and controversies about the film. The first…
While Sri Lankans are famous for defending their property rights when it comes to land ownership and title deeds, intellectual property is not exactly sacrosanct. From Aishwarya Rai “endorsing” beauty parlours to…
Ratnajeevan Hoole, 2020, London: Thesam Publications, i-xxvii, 327 pages. Professor Ratnajeevan H. Hoole’s book on Jaffna Heritage Histories is a fascinating critique of several strands of invented recent histories of Sri Lanka’s…
Despite their contribution to the lucrative tea industry of Sri Lanka, the voices of plantation workers often go unheard and their potential unrecognised. is a series of photographic exhibitions organised by the…
