Browsing by Author "Meegaswatta, T.N.K."

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Immortal Online: A Study of Digital Storytelling on Deceased Subjects
(International Postgraduate Research Conference 2019, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Meegaswatta, T.N.K.; Willarachchi, L.; Chamba, Z.N.; Niles, J.S.
Langellier (2011) has argued that the telling of a story is a performance. Such emphasis on storytelling as performance conceptualizes the “narrative as act, event and discourse-a site for understanding and intervening in the ways culture produces, maintains and transforms relations of identity and difference” (p.3). When the digital sphere is brought into the equation, the possibility of multiple and contesting narratives with varying relations to structures of power and visibility are inevitable. The digital space enables the production and dissemination of individualized alternative narratives from multiple subject positions that may challenge dominant narratives. Further, the personal and the ordinary may metamorphose in digital spaces, challenging and changing the ways in which individuals interact with and respond to lived reality. Drawing on the premise that the digital is an agentive space and the interactions on the digital sphere involve intervention and transformation, this paper critically reads the multiple narratives surrounding the tragic death of a young Sri Lankan woman as represented in multiple digital platforms. The paper attempts to explore the subject positions of storytelling and consumption, ethics of storytelling, structure and interaction of users with the deceased subject’s social media presence, and concepts of virtual body, digital remains, and grieving through drawing on intersecting theoretical readings on discourse (Foucault, in Hall, 1997), liminality (Lister et al, 2009), gaze (Mulvey,1999), storytelling and power (Plummer, 1995; Cohen-Cruz, 2006) in the digital platform. A critical content analysis of meta-narratives and numerous alternative narratives made viable on digital spaces suggests that the liminality of digital spaces allows multiple subject positions and subversive ‘truths’ that blur the boundaries between seeming binaries; in this particular instance, those of life and death and public and private
The Rape, the Reason, the Response: A Critique of the Representation of Rape
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Meegaswatta, T.N.K.
This paper is an attempt to critically analyze the cultural and gendered discourses that underlie the representation of sexual violence against women in Sri Lanka. While genderbased sexual violence takes many forms, this paper specifically focuses on rape, given the growing number of incidents and increased media and public attention towards rape in the recent past. The analysis focuses on the rape and murder of an eighteen-year-old school-girl in Jaffna, in the light of the unprecedented attention the incident received from media as well as the public. As in the rape and fatally wounding of a young woman on a moving bus in Delhi more than two years ago, this brutal crime shocked the entire nation and sparked an unforeseen response from ordinary citizens from all walks of life. Media representations of the incident ranged from informative reports to opinion articles that shed light on the contemporary discourse on rape and the ideologies and dominant narratives that underpin its narrative. An analysis of a number of online articles on the incident (expert opinions, features, interviews, factual accounts)utilizing the theoretical frameworks of discourse and performativity of gender offered by Michel Foucault and Judith Butler respectively, indicates that cultural and gendered scripts of patriarchy has played a significant role in the articulation of Vithya‘s rape through various media outlets. Enmeshed within the patriarchal discourse of rape and mediated through the lens of gender, culture, race, and politics, the representations of the rape and murder of Vithaya Sivaloganathan fail to see rape as structural symptom of gender inequality in patriarchal traditions that celebrate male sexual conquest and entitle men to control women‘s bodies. Instead, the focus is on the racially, culturally and politically mediated apologetics of rape that appeal to an essentialist conceptualization of the male and female, erosion of culture and post-war social mutation. Although the incident pushed the boundaries of existing discourse and effected transformations in terms of response, bound by language and dominant narratives of race and power, sexual violence against women and girls become yet another foot soldier in the national struggle for political rights.
The use of E- knowledge among Special Degree undergraduates in the Humanities and the Social Sciences
(University of Kelaniya, 2013) Meegaswatta, T.N.K.
In a world where knowledge is available at our fingertips, scholarship has undergone significant changes. The impact of technology is leaving its mark on contemporary scholarship in numerous ways; be it the quality, quantity or authenticity of research and knowledge. The rapidly evolving technological environment has numerous implications vis a vis universities, curricula, research, standards and undergraduates’ performance. Against this backdrop, this paper attempts to gage the level of e-knowledge among Special Degree undergraduates in the Faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Kelaniya. Through the data gathered from structured questionnaires and interviews of both undergraduates and lecturers, this paper identifies the reasons and assesses the impact of the use and the lack of use of novel methods of knowledge making which are widely available to student communities throughout the world. Through quantitative and qualitative assessments of data gathered from Special Degree students and lecturers from 4 departments (Linguistics, English, Economics, Sociology) from the Humanities and the Social Sciences, this paper observes that the access and usage of technological tools for research and acquisition of new knowledge largely depend on personal initiative and capacity, given the absence of a uniform system to introduce and orientate students with regard to e-research tools and new technologies which have an immense capacity to enhance undergraduate performance.