International Conference on the Humanities (ICH)

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Sound without Fury: The Decline of an Isolated Community of Drum-Makers in Central Sri Lanka
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Alawathukotuwa, M.
Kuragala is identified a‘low caste’ village situated in the UdunuwaraDivisional Secretariat of the Kandy distract. All the residents of this village belong to theRodi caste which is recognized as the lowest caste group according to the Sinhalese caste hierarchy.Currently 16 families are engaged in manufacturing traditional local drums such as Getabera, Daul, Tammattam, low country drum, Udakki, and Bummadi, as well as internationally-used classical and popular drums such as Tabla, Mridangam, Maddala, and various other kinds of instruments at present. Initially these drums were entirely hand-crafted, but soon the villagers were granted electronically powered lathe machines by the government to facilitate the faster carving of drum logs.Apart from this occupation they have become involved in different types of “traveling businesses” such as selling mats, carpets and mattresses since they are unable to make ends meet by selling drums. Three men and one woman have obtained employment in the government sector such as hospital attendants. The objectives of this study are to analyze the changes of these people, their traditional craftsmanship and other social and cultural practices pertaining to this community. Viewing them as a Discourse Community, I shall focus on how they are able to sustain a specific cultural identity, even though the Sinhala Buddhist mainstream have classed them as “Rodiyas” at the same time assimilated into the society of Upcountry Kandyan Buddhists of Kuragala.This study will be framed as a development of John Swales’ pioneering work on discourse communities through incorporating Arjuna Parakrama’s insights on subalternity to better understand the survival, coping and resistance strategies of marginalized caste-based artisan communities that are fighting mechanization and the capitalization of such specialized niche markets.
An overview on the Writing Test Performance of ESL Learners at the University Test for English language-UTEL
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Ravindran, S.
The University Test on English language (UTEL) is an annual English Language test conducted simultaneously in all the universities in Sri Lanka to test the undergraduates’ proficiency levels in the four language skills. The test is conducted both through face to face and online modes. The purpose of the test is to enable the target group to know their proficiency levels in all four skills and to motivate them to improve their levels of English in order to uplift their employability. This paper discusses the performance at the University Test on English Language (UTEL) in writing skills, conducted in 2014 by the universities in Sri Lanka. A common writing test was administered to the target group to gauge the proficiency level in writing skill. The objective of the study is to find the common mistakes found in the performance in writing tests and to present an overviewon the writing test performance of ESL learners’ performances in two writing tasks.Sixty answer scripts from threedifferent universities were utilized asdata for the study. The answer scripts were corrected based on UTEL bench marking scales or descriptors and graded. Quantitative methodology was utilized to analyze the data. Thegeneral mistakes in their performances in writing test were analyzed. The findings show that the participants have made similar mistakes in writing the two tasks irrespective of their universities.The study has an implication of applying the suggestions in making better performance in writing skills at the UTELin order to enable the target group to obtain proficiency in writing skills.
A comparative study of the modern and Buddhist time management systems (with reference to the Buddha’s Daily Routine)
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Pathirana, R.M.
Time Management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. The Buddha is an ideal ensample for leaders who are in the management field. Buddha’s time management is useful for modern aspects of management and for every person in the society to manage their lives. This research paper reveals those facts with reference to Buddha’s daily routine. The Buddha performed his duties systematically in accordance with a prearranged plan. His whole day was divided into five parts which were namely; the forenoon session, the afternoon session, the first watch, the middle watch and the last watch. The Buddha slept only for one hour at night. For two solid hours at noon and at dawn he pervaded the whole world with thoughts of Metta – loving kindness. The Buddha tirelessly worked in this manner till his eightieth year. He displayed that time is very important to the success of people and taught us to save time. We can include it to modern management theories. If a person wants to achieve his goals, he must work on time without being sluggish. Most researchers do not focus attention on Buddhist time management. The main focus of this research is heavily based on selected literary sources that include the Tripitaka: Sanyutthanikāya, Deeghanikāya, Dhammapadapāli etc.).
Theatre or anti-theatre: An analysis of characteristics in absurd theatre and its classification as theatre
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Rajapaksha, U.D.
Absurdism or Absurd theory is a prominent offspring of the Second World War. The genre explores the futile and existentialist nature of human life, the breaking down of all logic and communication in a godless universe. Many European authors were influenced by this experimental movement during the post war era, thus resulting in an absurdist fiction. Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckettbrought this movement into the limelight. All these authorstook great care to distance themselves from all conventional forms of theatre.The characteristics of absurd theatre differ from conventional theatre to such an extent, that the playwrights themselves referred to their works as “anti-theatre”. These works are considered to be anti-thematic, anti-ideologic and anti-realist. Thus, the focus of the research is to explore the anti-theatrical characteristics in Ionesco’s “Cantatrice Chauve” (The Bold Soprano) in comparison to conventional theatre, and the possibility of it being justified as an actualform of theatre. This study seeks to answer three major questions; What defines conventional theatre? What defines absurd theatre? Can absurd theatre be considered as “theatre”?Thus the research intends to identify the characteristics of the conventional theatre and those of the absurd theatre in order to make a comparison. Furthermore, the research will ascertain the possibility of absurd theatre being categorized as real theatre. Hypothetically speaking, absurd theatre, with its anti-theatrical characteristics, cannot be considered as “theatre”.Initially, in a qualitative approach, the researcher will identify the characteristics of both conventional and absurd theatre. The title, theme, characters, events, action, stage settings, stage directions and structure of the two forms will be closely observed and analyzed. Secondly, the research will include a detailed analysis of Eugene Ionesco’s “Bold Soprano” (La Cantatrice Chauve). Absurdist literature has appealed to the researcher’s interest due to its novel and refreshing nature. This new school of thought represents a shift in the European ideologies. Thus the research would be an exploration of the collision between these old and new ideologies.
Social Background of Hindi Short Stories of the Malwanchal province
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Qureshi, S.
The advent of Hindi short stories in the Indian society can be traced back to before 20th century. During the 1980’s many writers contributed creative writings for short stories but they were confused between long and short stories. The tradition of Hindi short stories can be seen from century’s process and have now come to a very powerful stage. During 1980s different type of short story writings came in to society such as Hithoperdesh and Panchathanthra these short stories were carrying quotes and messages with imaginative descriptions. At the end of the 20th century many changes came in to Hindi short story literature and the keen interest of short stories slowly went down and also not many writers kept continue writing short stories, however writers were born in every decade to precede the interest of short stories among our people.In today’s machinery busy life is full of stories and story literature brings the area that explains the feelings, emotions, problems of modern culture and the similarities and differentiations of Indian society and nation.Short story plays a very vital role in explaining problems in our society and the writers try to point out the causes of problems very efficiently. Short stories have its own power to shake the minds of people and force them in to a deep thinking of the consequence of problems in our society. By each and every word these writers ask to lead people’s mind with thoughtful ideas.Among all different types of literature short story plays a vital role in society and it has power to explain people’s tendency with thoughtful ideas and limited words which provide a greater meaning to the society.This particular research will be conducted as a study of the social background of Hindi short stories of Malwanchal province.
The influence of magical realism in the novels of Mohan Raj Madavala
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Lasika, S.R.
A major propensity that could be seen in the field of universal novels during the decades of 1960's and 70's was a mere exploration of alternative remodeling configurations which transgress the remodeling forms of realism. In particular, the objective and psychogenic convolutions of the existing social-political realities that could be comprehended better and a popular form of reconstruction which emerged as an approach of remodeling them in a complex form was magical realism. Magical realism was introduced as a concept by the German Literary critic Frank Rove, and was popularized in world literature particularly through Latin American writers. Western writers developed their creations incorporating the concept of magical realism generating it as an effective intersection between illusion and realism. When investigating into how Sinhala novels were influenced by magical realism, it becomes apparent from interviews with critics that their attention has been drawn to novels compiled by Mohan Raj Madawala who entered the field of writing recently. The impression of most literary critics is that novelists in our country experiment with magical realism in their creations without understanding the exact meaning of the genre. Their view is that they use illusion or magic divorced from realism without any base. However, it becomes clear that this opinion is incorrect while conducting this study on novels namely Magam Soliya, Loveena and Adaraneeya Victoria written by Mohan Raj Madawala. This study examines the features of magical realism in these three novels. In this research, it became evident that certain illusory phenomena subjected to the supposition of Madawala are completely divorced from socio-political realities. It is expected to associate the novels of Mohan Raj Madawala and the other works enabling to identify magical realism as a concept.
The Bewitchment of the Humanities
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Gunasekera, M.
The Keynote Address of the International Conference of the Humanities 2015 deals with the dynamics and pitfalls of research in the vast area of the Humanities. Beginning with its origin in Philosophy, the study of language, in Wittgenstein’s terms, has led to a form of bewitchment of our intelligence. This research paper traces the links of language study with the Social Sciences, Humanities and Cognitive Sciences and concludes with the dilemmas of research in the 21st century.
Present Tense in Jaffna Tamil and Sinhala: A Contrastive Study
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Senthuran, S.
While Tamil and Sinhala are the major linguistic groups in SriLanka society, they belong to the Dravidian and Indo-Aryan language families respectively. Contrastive studies in linguistics, particularly in the areas of morphology and syntax in grammatical studies, are of importance. While morphology consists of both noun and verb morphology, the latter is the focus of this study. Verb morphology expresses the internal structure of the verbs, with tenses playing a main role. Although tenses express the time distinctions in all languages through verb forms, the structures of verbs differ from language to language. Morphologically there are three different tenses in Jaffna Tamil, the present tense, the past tense, and the future tense. The perfect tense and progressive forms are mostly found in Literary Tamil. Jaffna spoken Tamil does not have a one to one correlation with different tenses. The present tense is often used instead of the future tense in spoken Tamil. In spoken Sinhala there are two main tenses, the past and the non-past. The non-past tense includes present and future tenses. There are also perfect, progressive, past and present emphatic forms. The Tamil data represent the researcher’s own dialect, the Jaffna spoken Tamil, and the Sinhala data represent standard Spoken Sinhala. The main objective of this paper is to highlight the similarities and the dissimilarities of the past tense in the spoken form of these two languages. This study employs contrastive and descriptive methodology.
Re-Building American Self-identity through the “Muslim Other”:A Study of Positioning the Muslim as the “Terrorist” in Post 9/11 American Cinema
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Pathberiya, P.A.N.
September 11 2001 was the date that the United States of America was plunged into a state of cataclysm. Given the magnitude of the September 11 attacks, a noticeable emergence of a distinctive cinematic category, centered on this attack and its consequences and affiliations, is discernible in the post September 11 era. In this particular context, a considerable number of post–September eleven American films are observed to bedepicting the Muslim as a “violent other”. This study focuses on three such films from American cinema; The Kingdom (2007) by Peter Berg, Body of Lies (2008) by Ridley Scott and Traitor (2008) by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. The intended outcome of the study, through a meticulous analysis of the above cinematic works, is to discover the socio-political reasons and rationales behind the ideological distortions of the image of the Muslims in the abovementioned cinematic works. While this discourse is mainly substantiated by Edward Said’s theoretical study of Orientalism, it highlights how the previous ethno-religious identity of “the Muslim” is now re-structured through a political identity; the “terrorist other”. In the global political arena, having the United States’ identity of “supremacy and authority” jeopardized after September 11, these cinematic works stand – even though they are fantasies – as a “fictional remedy” or a “ideological foundation” of re-building the globally lost self-identity of America. Thus, the new ideology perceives the Muslim through cultural and religious components, which are a blend with a negative undertone. In contrast to the “vehement Muslim other”, America is depicted as the “savior” nation with the overarching idea that the humanity, peace and order are the “American’s Burden”. Further observations through a theoretical scope reveal how America subtly engages in a task of politically re-mapping and re-defining the world in relation to the “terrorist others”.
Buddhist Philosophical perspective of human food ethics
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Piyasiri, S.
Foodis one of the major needs of humans as well as of other beings. In the Buddhist doctrine, it is described as“sabbhesatthaᾱharaṭhṭhitha”, all the beings depend on food, and “gigajjhᾱparamᾱrogᾱ”, hunger is the biggest illness. The Buddha held the view that the consumption of food is essential to eliminate the pain caused by hunger. Buddhism has a plethora of teachings related to food ethics. The Vinayapitaka consists of most of such teachings, elucidating the rules followed by the Buddha and other Buddhist monks vis-à-vis consumption of food. Ᾱhᾱrasutta of saṃyuttanikayaexplains that human beings nourish themselves both physically and mentally through references to Kabalikahara, (physicality) phassa,(sense impression) manosancetana (volition) and manoviῆῆana (consciousness). Though people often tend to emphasize the importance of food for physical nourishment, according to Buddhist teachings, a healthy life requires food for nourishment of which a quarter is physical, and the remaining three-quarters is mental. Buddhism stands out among other religions with its elaboration on food ethics. This paper discusses the spiritual basis for Buddhist food ethics focusing on how these Buddhist food ethics contribute to spirituality and improvement of the layman’s life which encounters social problems of various natures.
Magic realism in the imagery of the author of Buthsarana
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Karunarathne, G.A.M.
Magic realism which transcends realistic depiction in a text by attributing a dimension of magic can be considered a part of Surrealism and a byproduct of Post Modernism. First introduced by the German art critic Franz Roh in 1925, magic realism is recognized as a progressed concept of Surrealism. The narrative style of realistic fiction corresponds with realism but it is the nature of magic realism to transportthe reader into a miraculous world beyond realism.Despite the fantasy apparent on the surface, a key objective of the fiction is to reveal historical and political reality. Form in magic realism extends to the creation of new bonds between the realistic and the unrealistic, as well as trust and mistrust.Elements of the magical and ordinary are linked, making it impossible to define where reality ends and the magical begins. These elements take lives of their own in a way that is ordinary to the characters in the story.It is recognized that in 20th century magic realism was born in the west and raised by Latin American writers. However critics believe that literary works similar to the fictional style of magic realism is seen in Asian, African and Latin American literature. The research seeks to explore whether the scope of magic realism is relevant to the enhancement of devotion among the Buddhist community. In particular, in the study of rhetoric and style, characteristics of magic realism could be observed.This research aims to explore the use of rhetoric by the author of Buthsarana by studying ‘Dhamana Katha’.Mainlylinguistic effects used to symbolizeevents by the author will be discussed.Literary expressions of Lord Buddha’s extraordinary powers in terms of enforcing discipline on evil spirita (Alawaka) wild animals (Nalagiri) and the psychologically challenged (Angulimala) will be discussed from a magic realism perspective.The author of Buthsarana uses similarities-metaphors as well as symbolism, exaggeration, and rhetoric extensively. For recreation of socio-political phenomena, magic realism fulfilled the need for a new narrative style. However it has to be noted that the proseis limited to the aim of enhancing devotion to Buddhism.
The Sri Lankan women migrant workers in the Middle-East: A study on impact of socio–economic background of their families
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Kankanamge, P.
Sri Lanka had been a self-sufficient society in the past. However, Sri Lankan society has been changing since its colonization by European powers. Some of theareas that had a significant influence on the changes are: Free education system, Open economy system, Modernization Urbanizationand Globalization. On these stages many socio-economic crises were made in the Sri Lankan society and it affected to the family institute. After few decades the socio-economic condition of families got worsen and many people opted to go abroad. Most of them were women who migrated for housemaids jobs in Middle East.The objective of present study is based on the above notion. The research aims to find out what specific socio-economic condition of their families caused married women to migrate to the Middle East. Primary data was collected by the interviews, focus group discussions and observations. Both qualitative and quantitative data was obtained and analysed. The research area is Murutamuraya and Denagama–EastGramaNiladari Divisions in the Hakmana Divisional Secretary Area. The data was collected from the 21 families of women migrant workers in the aboveGramaNiladari Divisions. Factors such as low income, unbearable living expenditure, collapsed family structures (divorce, husband’sdeath,husband’s drunkenness etc.), not having one’s own house or a house with inadequate facilities, maintenance of families are identified as causes leading to the migration of married women. On the basis of these findings, it can be concluded that married women’s negative socio-economic background has a direct impact on their labour migration.
Criticizing and Dissenting via Humorous and Satirical Folktale; A Review of Andare’s Folktale Cycle
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Ihalagama, S.
Folktales are oral narratives that grow out of the lives and imaginations of the people, or folk. They are a form of traditional literature which initiated as an attempt to explain and understand the natural and spiritual world. Though folktales are often anonymous, they have been expanded and shaped by storytellers over time, and are passed down orally from one generation to the next. In the context of Sri Lanka, most Sinhalese folktales can be cited as tale cycles that are woven around a popular legendary character such asAndare, Mahadenamuththa, and KingKekille. However, there is no clear evidence to verify them as real characters that lived in a certain time period. One of the most popular legendary characters is Andare and tales that revolve round him are humorous andsatiricaltales that present many examples of outrageous human folly. Andare isknown as the Court Jester in the times of Sinhala kings, similar to characters in folklore in other Asian countries. He not only acted as a court jester but was also a mentor and a poet. Andare assisted the king to be relieved and relaxed from day to day work, permitting the king to reduce his troubles by listening to the lighter side of life through comic stories. Therefore, this character is important as a comedian not only for his comic stories buthe also helped others to rethink their role in society. The objective of this paper is to identify the importance of humorous and satirical folktales as a traditional medium in sociopolitical criticism and dissention by analysing the folktale cycle ofAndare.
An Analytical Study on the Political Participation of Women Estate Workersin relation to Pilagodawaththa Estate
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Nadeeshani, I.; Kumarasiri, T.A.
South Indian workers were brought to Sri Lanka in the colonial era by the British planters to deploy them in hard labour in the newly cultivated coffee, tea and later rubber estates mostly in the central hills. Although they were granted citizenship of Sri Lanka with independence, their rights were held back by lately elected governments. Some others were sent back to India under the Sirima -Shasthri Pact. Eventually, by 2004, citizenship was granted to all the remaining Indian origin plantation workers. Since then, although they enjoyed the freedom to engage in politics the participation of female plantation workers in politics still remainsminimal. This research paper attempts to identify anddiscuss the reasonsfor female plantation workers’ lack of political activism employing both primary and secondary sources for the study.The study was conducted in the Piligodawattha Estate of the Baddegama Divisional Secretariat area. The data is analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.The objective of the study is to identify prototypes in order to encouraging female plantation workers. The study further recognizes the following; the patterns of exploitation of women in plantations, masculine domination in family, educational level and problems in social relations as the reasons for the lack of participation in politics.
Novel Writing Approach for the Discipline of IR in Sri Lanka: a Sense of Narrative Fashion
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Padmakumara, S.C.
Most academic disciplines in the social science are typically bound to their conventional disciplinary nomenclature and methodological protocols. The discipline of International Relations (IR)is no exception in such trends as it has been progressing with its own disciplinary pedagogies over time. In this context, it is uncertain whetherthe discipline of International Relations hasadequate potential to explain the social world which is subject to constant changes and numerous storylines. More specifically, today’s social world is full of traumatic events, uncertainties, and unprecedented events which are emotional in nature and pervasive. In some ways, it has become a venue for numerous testimonials coming from different groundrealities such as war victims, terrorism and natural disasters. Thus there is growing concern among academics to look for alternative ways which IR can adopt in order to create rich accounts for aforesaid scenarios. Therefore it is pertinent to the discipline of IR to look for a new writing approach that can capture the social world morediscursively by adding a sufficient emotional account with a greater human sense. At the same time, it is also important to reveal the unseen and unheard aspects of such circumstances which are poorly examined by the conventional linear fashion of writing in IR. Hence, this study primarily explores how the discipline of IR generally and IR in Sri Lanka specifically can benefit through the adaptation of such a narrative writing approach into the discipline. In this way, three prominent seminal works by Elizabeth Dauphinee,RustomBharucha and HelenSword have been consulted in order to further demonstrate the utility of the proposed approach to writing in IR.
A study on the folklore embedded in the historical Buddhist temples of Binthenna
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Amarawansa Thero, Padiyathalawe
Binthennais located in the eastern incline of the central mountains of Sri Lanka. Presently it extends towards Wewgampattuwa. Ancestors used the term “Mahawedirata” to refer to Binthenna. The area has been of interest because of the habitation of veddas(trappers). The origins of the term Binthenna has been interpreted in several ways. It is described by some on the basis of folklore while others believe that it refers to the bare land of the region. On the basis of the following opinions Binthenna has a number of interpretations. Mahiyangana, Ridimaliyedda, Padiyathalawa, Mahaoya are the Divisional Secretariats where the field studies of the research were carried out. The above areas have 42 historically significant Buddhist temples. All of them belong to either Badulla or Ampara districts of Uva or Eastern provinces, with 14 in Mahiyangana, eight in Ridimaliyedda, four in Padiyathalawa and 15 in Mahaoya. The research seeks information on areas such as agriculture, food practices, household equipment, family, customs, folk music, Ayurvedic medicine, beliefs, folklore, different methods of“kem”, irrigation. The researcher aims to enhance knowledge on the culture, economy, society, and the political background of ancient Ceylon through this study.
Gender based stress management of top managerial personnel: A study based on selected leading organizations in the Colombo district
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) de Zoysa, H.N.
‘Stress’ is body’s way of responding to any kind of demand. Stress can have positive as well as negative results. Due to fierce competition in today’s business, managers in many organizations have to contend with stress when dealing with customers and employees. Therefore, the concept of Stress Management has become important in today’s world, especially in the commercial industry. Top managerial personnel are bound with organizational goals while leading their subordinates towards the same goal. Time boundaries and targets are the extra burdens born by the top level personnel. Based on gender this burden is different. The way one reacts to stress and it is managed are different based on gender. The objective of this research is to examine the management of stress of the people in the top managerial level posts, based on gender. Fifty managers were randomly taken as the sample of this study. Methods such as interviews, questionnaires were used to collect primary data and magazines, books, journals and websites were used as secondary data. Data analysis was done both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings of this research proved that both men and women are stressed at work, but males manage stress better than females. The main reason identified was that males use varied ways to release stress and as females are bound by responsibilities towards both family and work that they tend to react more emotionally to stress than males. This acts as a vicious cycle placing further stress on females.
A Study of the Cultural Identity of the Wahakotte Catholic Community
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Weerakkody, I.S.
Wahakotte is situated in the Matale district in the Central province. Approximately 95 % of itspopulation are Catholic, with about 650 families belonging to the parish of St. Anthony's church. The three main feasts held by the church are marked by cultural assimilation, with the use of hewisidrums in the processions bearing religious relics of importance such as the ivory Crucifix and the statue of Our Lady. The style of Pasan singing in the Wahakotte region is of significance, because itis strongly influenced by traditional harvesting songs. During Lent, prose Pasan that consist of singing and chantingare performed in an ad libitum, or free tempo style that can be heard when the group of singers visit houses and later at St. Anthony’s church.Pasan verses are also sung to express grief in situations such as death. They are transmitted from generation to generation in an oral tradition, but are now known only by a few families in the Wahakotte area at present. A compilation of Prose Pasan verses can be seen in the book called "Passion of the Christ" based on the Portuguese tradition in Konkani. Traditional Pasan singing in Wahakotte is very unique because the text goes back to the time of the Kandyan Kings with the melodies becoming indigenized over the last two centuries. Differences exist between the Pasan singing style of Wahakotte and those of other regions. These include variation in the melodies and the significant influence of Buddhist Pirith chanting as well as harvesting songs. This research study focuses on ten Pasan verses in order to highlight the uniqueness of the songs of Wahakotte.
The Globalization of Hindi
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Chaturvedi, M.
Hindi is spoken by 800-900 million people at present, making it one of the three most spoken languages in the world. In India alone, where more than 400 dialects and languages are spoken, Hindi is spoken by more than 26 crore of population. With global interaction, communication in trade and business, commerce, science and technology, art and culture, andeducation, the Hindi has spread all over the world. Today, the speakers of Hindi are found worldwide, in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Guyana, Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, New Zealna, the Philippines, Singapore, Italy, France, Russia, Korea and Hungary. Mauritius,Surinam, Fiji, and Trinidad deserve special mention because the language was established through the settlements of Indian labourers during the British Raj, who continue to preserved their language, religion and customs in these countries. Hindi is accepted as a formal language of UNESCO, while there are constant efforts to make Hindi one of the languages of the United Nations Organisation, along with English Spanish, Chinese, Russian, French and Arabic Hindi is taught at various levels in over 70 countries and in 175 universities. This paper examines various aspects of the growth and spread of Hindi including its effect on contemporary culture, cinema, advertising, its role as a language of the internet, and the developments in teaching Hindi.
The Influence of Indian Diaspora on the Politics of the Host Country: the United States
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Sakunthala, H.M.M.
The term ‘diaspora' originally associates with the dispersion of Jews living amongst Gentiles. In the modern context, the definition of the term has expanded to give meaning to people living outside their homelands, but nevertheless, maintaining a relationship with them.Diasporas may either blend well with the host country or attempt to keep their distinctive cultures alive.Among the many diasporas in the world, the Indian diaspora by far has become a powerful community regardless of the host country they live in.The first Indians arrived in the United States in the beginning of the twentieth century. They experienced many racial hardships. At one point, Asians were banned from entering the United States with the Asian Exclusion League and later were prohibited to own lands with the Alien Land Law in 1913. Yet, in the modern times, the Indian diaspora stands as one of the strongest, most influential groups that create an impact in the ‘mutlicultural melting pot’ of America. They have risen from the grassroot level workers such as labourers to an academically, professionally, and economically powerful, well established group of people who are influential ethically and politically. There are more than one and a half million Indians living in the United States today, transforming the politics of their host country as time passes. This research attempts to find out whether the Indian diaspora has actually transformed from an insignificant group to a powerful group in the host country they live in, and how strongly their influence is felt in the host country. The research may pave the way to understanding the Sri Lankan diaspora’s role in the homeland and the host country in the future.