Caged Independence
The cherished Maya Angelou wrote once in her famous poem ‘Caged Bird’: [T]he caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard…
Independence Day
Independent Woman
This collage examines women’s status in society, before and after colonisation. Pre-colonisation, women had a certain status (albeit never equal to a man) in society. Today, there is still a need to…
Against All Odds: Sri Lankan Women at the 70th Year of Independence
The email from Groundviews asking me to contribute to this series came on the same day that President Sirisena decided that a law prohibiting women from being involved in manufacturing, selling or…
70 Years of Independence | Dr Chandraguptha Thenuwara
What does it mean to be Sri Lankan? 70 years after independence, our identity is defined mostly along majoritarian lines, which can be traced back to the divisions created under British rule.…
The Catalogue
In 70 short years, we’ve amassed a catalogue that is overwhelming. Limit it to just physical horror – the massacres, the burnings, the shellings – the ones whose logic placed them outside…
70 Years of Independence | Muthalagu Pradeepan
What does it mean to be Sri Lankan? 70 years after independence, our identity is defined mostly along majoritarian lines, which can be traced back to the divisions created under British rule.…
70 Years of Independence | Vicky Shahjahan
What does it mean to be Sri Lankan? 70 years after independence, our identity is defined mostly along majoritarian lines, which can be traced back to the divisions created under British rule.…
CARTOON: Uneasy Spectators
The celebrations the public sees on Independence Day attempt to project the idea of national unity. Yet this is misleading. The divisions we continue to see in Sri Lanka are often caused…
70 Years of Independence | Yamini Ravindran
What does it mean to be Sri Lankan? 70 years after independence, our identity is defined mostly along majoritarian lines, which can be traced back to the divisions created under British rule.…
Miles to go before we sleep: Reflections on Sri Lanka’s 70th anniversary of Independence
Seven decades have passed since the ‘Pearl of the Indian Ocean’ broke free from the bondage of colonial rule. For a country that was subject to one of the longest periods of…
70 Years of Independence | Sarah Ashaya Soysa
What does it mean to be Sri Lankan? 70 years after independence, our identity is defined mostly along majoritarian lines, which can be traced back to the divisions created under British rule.…
We are one, but not the same
I have never been more honoured to be a Sri Lankan woman than I am today. You might find that ironic. In the last 365 days alone, we’ve seen too much evidence…
70 Years of Independence | Cassandra Faye Van-Heer
What does it mean to be Sri Lankan? 70 years after independence, our identity is defined mostly along majoritarian lines, which can be traced back to the divisions created under British rule.…
Thatti
I worked with Building Bridges on a four-month series of art and creative skills workshops at St. John’s College, Mattakkuliya. It is a co-educational school whose students come from diverse backgrounds in…
A Double Bind: Reflecting On Women’s Lived Realities on Independence Day
As Sri Lanka marks 70 years since Independence, yet again gearing up for an overt display of pageantry that stands as an annual reminder of our own militarised past and present, we…
