John D. Rogers - November 1999
Introduction
This essay is intended to provide an introduction to Sri Lankan
studies in the United States. The first section outlines the broad parameters of
the field, and the second places American-based scholarship in the context of
global scholarship on Sri Lanka, especially that being carried out in Sri Lanka
itself. The third section discusses the prospects for American research on Sri
Lanka. The essay is not intended to serve as a comprehensive review of current
scholarship in the United States, but enough references are provided to give
some guidance to scholars or graduate students considering entering the field.
It covers only recent scholarship, although some older works remain important
(e.g., Ryan 1953, Wriggins 1960, Kearney 1971).
American Scholarship on Sri Lanka
The number of American-based scholars and advanced graduate
students who focus on Sri Lanka is quite small. At any one time perhaps 60 to 70
individuals fall into this category, including those scholars for whom the Sri
Lanka aspect of their research is very much secondary to disciplinary or
thematic interests. But enough people are active in the field to constitute a
lively intellectual community. A majority of American-based scholars with
doctorates received their degrees from American institutions, but a few have
overseas graduate degrees, principally from British universities. They are found
in all types of American higher education institutions, from large research
universities to small colleges that focus on teaching undergraduates.
Two American organizations provide forums for scholars
interested specifically in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Studies Group, which is
affiliated with the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), has been active
on-and-off since the late 1960s. It meets at the annual meeting of the AAS and
sometimes sponsors round tables or panels. At the present time it is not very
active, since many of its former functions have been taken over by the American
Institute for Sri Lankan Studies (AISLS), which was formed in 1995. Unlike the
loosely organized Sri Lanka Studies Group, the AISLS maintains a membership
roster of individual and institutional members and charges nominal annual dues.
The AISLS is a member of the Council of Overseas American Research Centers. Thus
far, its two main initiatives have been a post-doctoral fellowship program
(funded by grants from the United States Information Agency) and the
coordination of Sri Lanka-related panels at the Conference on South Asia, which
is held annually in October at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It also
plans to sponsor occasional two or three day workshops on particular themes in
Sri Lankan studies. The AISLS holds its annual general meeting at the Madison
conference.
Two anthologies provide overviews of aspects of the past
interaction between the United States and Sri Lanka. Goonetileke (1976) presents
a selection of accounts by nineteenth and twentieth century American travelers,
while C. R. de Silva (1989) assesses the more recent American impact on Sri
Lanka.
American-based scholarship on Sri Lanka is heavily concentrated
in two disciplines, anthropology and religious studies (including the history of
religions). Other major disciplines, such as political science, economics,
history, sociology, and psychology, are represented by one, two, or three
individuals. This concentration of expertise in two disciplines has both
benefits and drawbacks. It means that despite the overall small number of
scholars interested in Sri Lanka, there is enough strength in anthropology and
religious studies for research on Sri Lanka to have a significant presence in
these broader disciplines. In these two areas there is enough good scholarship
being produced that it is possible to speak of a Sri Lankan sub-field. If the
disciplinary distribution of scholars were more balanced, it is unlikely that
work on Sri Lanka would make an impact on any one discipline. On the other hand,
the concentration of American expertise in two disciplines means that the
overall field of American-based "Sri Lankan studies" provides a rather
unbalanced scholarly picture of Sri Lanka.
When one examines the actual topics treated by American
scholarship on Sri Lanka, the strengths and weaknesses of concentration are
again evident. The majority of American scholarship touches on one or both of
two topics -- Buddhism and identity/ethnicity.
There is a well-established American interest in Sri Lankan
Buddhism, one that extends not only to the discipline of religious studies
(Bartholomeusz 1994; Berkwitz 1999; Blackburn n.d.; Bond 1988; Carter 1993;
Hallisey 1988; Holt 1991, 1996; Smith 1978; Trainor 1997; Walters 1996) but also
to anthropology (Kemper 1991; G. Obeyesekere 1984; Gombrich and G. Obeyesekere
1988; Scott 1994; Tambiah 1992; Seneviratne 1978, 1999) and other disciplines
(Duncan 1990, R. Obeyesekere 1991). This research, much of which has been
influenced by anthropological and sociological understandings of religion,
addresses both historical and contemporary topics. It represents various
approaches, but one important theme has been the ways Buddhists and Buddhism
react and adapt to modernity. Scholars have examined closely how Sri Lankan
Buddhists have sought to use and reshape "traditional Buddhism" to make it
meaningful in modern circumstances. They have carried out fieldwork in both
urban environments and in rural areas, and relied on textual studies for
historical work. "Modern" and "traditional" Buddhism have been conceptualized in
diverse ways, but analysis of the relationship between these two "types" of
Buddhism lies at the heart of much American work. In recent years some scholars,
influenced by critiques of "Orientalism", have begun to challenge more
explicitly the view that there exists one authentic (or traditional) "Buddhism"
or "Sinhalese Buddhism" (e.g., Hallisey 1995).
About seventy percent of Sri Lanka's inhabitants are Buddhist.
Three other major world religions, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam, also have
significant followings on the island. In contrast to the extensive work on
Buddhism, American scholars have paid relatively little attention to these
religions. When they are studied, it is typically from the standpoint of
anthropology rather than religious studies (e.g., de Munck 1996, McGilvray
1998a, Whitaker 1999). Scholars assume that Sri Lankan Buddhism is important for
understanding Buddhism in general, but this is not the case for the other
religions, which are perceived as marginal in relation to the global faiths of
which they are a part.
The other main focus of contemporary American research on Sri
Lanka is studies related to identity and ethnicity. Interest in this area
developed in the 1980s, a product of the increasing strife that stemmed from
political claims made on the basis of ethnic identities. Cultural and
ideological aspects of the conflict have received the most attention, in part
perhaps because many American-based studies have been shaped by the pre-existing
academic interests of scholars in Buddhism. The economic and social aspects of
identity and ethnicity have also attracted some attention.
Much of the most interesting work on ethnicity and identity has
appeared in articles appearing in anthologies. These volumes reflect the
international nature of Sri Lanka studies and include contributors from
different countries. While American-based scholars have a significant presence
in these works, it is not practical to make a sharp distinction between their
contributions and those of other scholars.
One of the early works of this genre is the British-based
volume edited by Manor (1984). Some of its articles now seem somewhat dated, but
others remain important accounts for the events of the early 1980s. The 1980s
also saw three volumes produced in Sri Lanka (Social Scientists' Association
1984, Committee for Rational Development 1984, Abeyesekera and Gunasinghe 1987),
all of which had an important influence on American scholars. Like the other
volumes discussed here, their contents are uneven, but taken together these
three works treated ethnic and other social categories as historically dynamic
and changing categories. This approach forced scholars to stop taking the
presence of these social categories for granted.
Several new anthologies appeared in the 1990s. Spencer (1990)
is a British-based volume that focuses on the construction of historical images
and their use in contemporary politics. Since its appearance American-based
scholars have continued investigating this topic (e.g., Woost 1993). More
recently, three new volumes edited by American-based scholars have appeared.
Pffafenberger and Manogaran (1994) examine the Tamil side of the ethnic
conflict. Ismail and Jeganathan (1995) bring deconstructionist analysis to bear
on ethnicity and nationalism, while Bartholomeusz and C.R. de Silva (1998)
examine closely the relationship between Buddhist "fundamentalism" and various
minority communities. Also important is the two-volume study edited by the
Australian-based scholar Michael Roberts (1997-98), which ranges widely over
many aspects of nationalism and identity. Another volume edited in Australia,
which also includes several articles by American-based scholars, is due to
appear soon (Gamage and Watson 1999). Overall, the more recent anthologies
reflect a general movement away from the particularities of Sinhala-Tamil
conflict and towards a wider consideration of the many complex currents that
together form the basis for the many different types of identity found in
contemporary Sri Lanka. The studies explore the importance not only of ethnicity
and religion but also gender, caste, class, region and other factors.
American-based scholars have also produced a number of books on
themes concerning ethnicity and identity. Kemper (1991) examines a Pali
chronicle, the Mahawamsa, with special attention to the different ways that it
has been interpreted and extended in the twentieth century. Bose (1994)
discusses the politics of Tamil separatism, especially the most powerful Tamil
militant movement, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Tambiah explores
some of the historical roots of the island's "ethnic fratricide" (1986), and
offers an assessment of Buddhism's ideological role in the conflict (1992).
Little (1994) uses the papers and discussions generated by a conference on Sri
Lanka held at the United States Institute for Peace to construct a general
account of the roots of the conflict, with special reference to the use of
religious ideologies by Sinhala and Tamil polemicists and politicians. Manogaran
(1987) considers the geography of the proposed "Tamil homeland" and proposes
changes in provincial boundaries as part of a blueprint for a settlement.
American-based scholars have also produced many articles on aspects of identity
and ethnicity; this literature is too large to review here.
Most of this work on ethnicity and identity does not recommend
particular government policies, but it is nonetheless carried out with its
political implications very much in mind. Given the ongoing level of political
violence, many American-based scholars feel that they have a moral
responsibility to produce scholarship that might be used to defuse conflict. In
the aftermath of the anti-Tamil riots of 1983, much scholarship focused on
Sinhala and Buddhist identity; the assumption was that Sri Lanka had a "majority
problem." By the end of the 1980s, however, American scholars became more aware
of some of the problematic aspects of Tamil nationalism. These include the
reluctance of the LTTE to negotiate a peaceful settlement and the human rights
violations carried out in territory under its control.
Work that addresses the social impact of the recent violence
has also begun to appear (Daniel 1996, Lawrence 1997, Marecek 1998). There is an
increasing realization that the violence of the past fifteen years has changed
the nature of the conflict, and that it is no longer possible to envision a
settlement that does not take these changes into account.
American scholarship, of course, has not been limited to the
themes of Buddhism and of identity. Gender studies have attracted considerable
interest in recent years, mostly but not entirely from anthropologists (e.g.,
Bartholomeusz 1994; de Alwis 1998; Gamburd 1995, 1998; Lynch 1999; V.
Samarasinghe 1998, 1999; Winslow 1994). Many of the younger scholars entering
Sri Lankan studies have an interest in gender, and their work is likely to
attain an increasingly high profile in the future.
In other fields, scholars usually have few American-based
colleagues working on closely-related projects. Instead, they generally work
with a small number of colleagues in Sri Lanka itself, or they form links with
American scholars who work on analogous topics within their disciplines or on
other parts of South or Southeast Asia. It is not possible here to give a full
account of this scholarship, but a few examples will be provided to indicate the
range of work being done. Historical scholarship, apart from the history of
religions, is scarce, but in recent years American-based scholars have published
three books on the nineteenth century (Peebles 1995, Rogers 1987, Wickremeratne
1995). Moreover, the most recent standard history of the island has been
produced by an American-based scholar (C. de Silva 1997). The two most active
political scientists have focused primarily on chronicling and interpreting the
fast-moving political events (e.g., Oberst 1992, Shastri 1997). Some scholars,
especially anthropologists and those interested in gender, work on topics that
have implications for "development" (e.g., Brow 1996, Brow and Weeramunda 1992,
Kearney and Miller 1987, Winslow 1996, Woost 1993). Fields such as
ethnomusicology (Sheeran 1997), drama (R. Obeyesekere 1999), performance studies
(Reed 1991), law (Samaraweera 1997), medicine (McGill and Joseph 1996-97, Natasi
et al. 1998-99), psychology (Freeman 1998), urban planning (Perera 1998),
linguistics (Gair 1998), literary studies (Ismail 1999), geography (Duncan
1990), and economics (Richardson and S. Samarasinghe 1991, V. Samarasinghe 1999)
attract occasional interest. Such work, while sometimes quite isolated within
these American-based academic disciplines, often addresses familiar themes such
as ethnicity and nationalism, which are of interest to many in Sri Lankan
studies.
The Broader Context of American-based Scholarship on Sri Lanka
American-based scholars who work on Sri Lanka form one part of
a global network of researchers. The total number of European scholars
interested in Sri Lanka is at least as large as in the United States, but they
are scattered in a large number of countries and form a less cohesive group than
their North American counterparts. Although European scholars also have a
considerable interest in Buddhism, research on development-oriented and policy
problems, including those with gender dimensions, has a higher profile in
European scholarship than in North America. At one time Britain was clearly the
European center for Sri Lankan studies, but its number of active scholars has
declined in recent years, although there is still strength in anthropology and
development studies. London's extensive library resources remain attractive for
many types of investigations of the island. Of the continental countries, at the
present time scholars in the Netherlands are the most active. On the whole,
links between American and European scholars are not particularly close, but one
forum that has provided some interaction has been the biannual international
conferences on Sri Lanka that have been held since 1987. The first conference
was at the University of Sussex in Britain. It has been followed by gatherings
in Paris, Amsterdam, Colombo, Durham (New Hampshire), Kandy, and
Canberra.
There is also work on Sri Lanka being done in India, Australia,
and Canada. Indian scholarship is mostly concerned with Indo-Sri Lankan
relations and with development issues. Australian scholarship is strong in
public policy and development. Both Australian and Canadian scholars also work
on the Sri Lankan diaspora.
The largest concentration of active researchers is of course
found in Sri Lanka itself. Social science and humanities research is carried on
in the universities, in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and in government
departments such as the central bank, census department, and public health
bureau.
The island has twelve universities, six of which have been
established within the past decade (K.M. de Silva and Peiris 1995; Gunawardana
1992). The oldest and best known is the University of Peradeniya, near Kandy.
The University of Jaffna, which continues to function in a very difficult social
context, and the University of Colombo also have some staff members with
international connections. But the majority of the academic staff at all
universities have few direct contacts with foreign scholars. In the 1990s,
because of the need to teach the large numbers of students who were unable to
pursue their educations in the late 1980s, when most universities were closed
because of civil unrest, Sri Lankan universities faced considerable
difficulties. The need to "catch up" has extended teaching hours and left
university staff with little time for research. In addition, university
libraries can afford to subscribe to only a very limited number of foreign
periodicals and can buy only a few foreign books. As a result, the research
findings of foreign scholars working on Sri Lanka are very often unavailable to
university staff. Despite these difficult conditions, some university staff
continue to carry out and publish important research.
The decline of research output in the universities has been
offset to some extent by the increasing role of non-governmental organizations,
or NGOs. University-based scholars and those independent of the universities
participate in these NGOs. Some of the best known include the International
Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES), the Centre for Women's Research (CENWOR), the
Social Scientists' Association, and the Marga Institute. Others are listed in
the directory of research centers that is available on the AISLS web-site. Most
of the research-oriented NGOs are based in Colombo or Kandy. These
organizations, most of which receive foreign funding, often have more resources
and more international links than the universities. They tend to focus on issues
that are of interest to their funders -- economic policy and development, human
rights, globalization, gender, conflict resolution, and ethnic relations. While
the work of the NGOs has greatly enriched Sri Lankan academic life and provided
intellectual and material resources for a broad range of research on urgent and
topical issues, it has also highlighted the disparity in resources available for
the topical research favored by the NGOs on the one hand; and the basic social
science and humanities research that is more likely to be carried out in the
more poorly-funded universities on the other. If this situation continues, in
the long-run the quality of policy-based research will suffer from the lack of
up-to-date basic research.
In recent years an increasing number of American scholars have
affiliated with NGOs rather than universities when they are in Sri Lanka. The
NGOs often offer better facilities, English-speaking staffs, and fewer
bureaucratic obstacles. This trend is understandable, but it may further isolate
the majority of Sri Lankan academics who do not have access to the NGOs'
connections and resources.
What is the relation of American-based scholarship to that
produced in Sri Lanka? Some of the American-based work in religious studies and
anthropology has been fairly widely disseminated. In other disciplines, the
American contribution to research provides only occasional input.
The American focus on anthropology and religious studies means
that the American field of "Sri Lanka studies" is in many ways quite distinct
from the concerns of many academics in Sri Lanka itself. Some of the more
dynamic fields of Sri Lankan scholarship are virtually unknown in the United
States. A good example is Sinhala literature, which is taught in many Sri Lankan
universities. Most of the scholarship it generates is published in the Sinhala
language. Sri Lankan scholars in this field have no counterparts in the United
States, although some of them maintain links with a very small number of
interested American-based individuals. This disjuncture between American and Sri
Lankan scholarship even extends to Buddhist studies, where many Sri Lankan
scholars write within intellectual traditions that take little account of the
sociological concerns that shape American scholarship. The language of
scholarship poses problems across all disciplines, since many Sri Lankan
scholars write in Sinhala or Tamil, and few American-based scholars read
secondary works in these languages. Moreover, while all Sri Lankan university
staff have at some point in their careers studied English, in recent years many
younger lecturers have had little opportunity to develop their English-language
skills. And very little American scholarship has been translated into Sinhala or
Tamil.
There are many other reasons why American scholarship has an
uneven impact on the intellectual lives of Sri Lankan scholars. Most Sri Lankan
academics do not have easy physical access to American scholarship. Since few
international journals are available in libraries, Sri Lankans often have to
rely on the random circulation of photocopies. Most books published by
American-based scholars are never reviewed in any Sri Lankan publication. And
few American scholars publish in Sri Lankan journals, partly for career
considerations but also because the university-sponsored periodicals suffer
funding difficulties and are often published only after long delays. For an
interesting discussion of Sri Lankan intellectual life and attitudes towards
foreign scholarship, see Uyangoda (1997).
Prospects
American-based scholarship on Sri Lanka faces important
challenges. Ideally, it will be able to balance several different needs,
addressing both American and Sri Lankan concerns. At one level, the scholarship
should be responsive to Sri Lankan needs and concerns. Given that foreign
funding for NGOs ensures the viability of some policy-oriented and applied
research, work in less fashionable and seemingly less "relevant" fields might
prove the most useful in the long run, especially when carried out in
collaboration with Sri Lankan university staff. In particular, historical
research of all types (not just that identified with the discipline of history)
and studies of contemporary social and economic processes not directly related
to the "ethnic issue" might have the greatest impact. Such works have the
potential to fill important empirical gaps and stimulate further research by
scholars in Sri Lanka.
At the same time, given both the low profile of Sri Lanka and
the "rethinking of area studies" in the American academy, it is not likely, even
if it was desirable, that American scholars will seek to produce work that is
intended only as a contribution to knowledge about Sri Lanka. Most scholars
already formulate their work in ways that they hope will draw an audience beyond
Sri Lanka specialists, and this is likely to become an even stronger requirement
for American researchers in the future. This need is recognized by the AISLS,
which sponsored four panels on "Sri Lanka in South Asia" at the 1998 Madison
Conference on South Asia. These panels sought not only to place Sri Lanka in the
broader context of South Asia, but also show how a consideration of Sri Lanka
can reshape interpretations of South Asia as a whole. A number of recent
publications also follow this strategy (e.g., McGilvray 1998a, 1998b; Rogers
1994, Tambiah 1996, Winslow 1994), which has intellectual antecedents in some
earlier social science work that also had explicitly comparative concerns (e.g.,
Herring 1983, Leach 1961, Tambiah 1976, Yalman 1967). Work that seeks to link
Sri Lanka with contexts beyond mainland South Asia is likely to enrich further
our understanding of Sri Lanka and alert a wider scholarly audience to the
island's historical and contemporary importance. The AISLS is encouraging this
approach through the criteria it has set for its post-doctoral fellowships. The
guidelines for this program ask applicants who already work on Sri Lanka to show
how their work will reflect on broader themes relevant to a wider spatial area.
The competition also encourages scholars with no previous experience of Sri
Lanka to either carry out comparative work or explore the possibility of
carrying out a major research project.
Finding the desirable balance between American and Sri Lankan
needs will not always be an easy task. In an ideal world, there would be more
funds to bring Sri Lankan scholars to the United States to interact with their
American colleagues. Although some such opportunities exist, particularly
through the Fulbright program, they do not begin to meet the potential demand.
They also tend to favor scholars who already have international connections of
one sort or another. In the absence of adequate funding for such purposes, it is
at least incumbent on American-based scholars to ensure that their published
research is available in Sri Lanka. Most scholars send copies of their books and
articles to Sri Lankan institutions where they have contacts, but one project
under consideration by the AISLS seeks to design a more systematic way to
distribute articles to various libraries in Sri Lanka.
Despite all these difficulties, there are many opportunities
for American-based scholars to form meaningful links with Sri Lankan colleagues
and do important research that can reach audiences in both the United States and
Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan academics generally welcome the opportunity to work with
American-based colleagues. There are also considerably fewer bureaucratic
obstacles to carrying on research than in other countries of the region, such as
India. Sri Lanka, with its rich social and geographical diversity, is also well
situated for scholars interested in doing comparative work. In the past,
American scholarship on Sri Lanka has been more prominent than one would expect
given Sri Lanka's relatively small size. Sri Lanka scholarship, for instance,
has been well represented in the pages of the Journal of Asian Studies. There
are presently several younger scholars who are only beginning to publish the
results of their research. Despite the limited number of scholars active in the
field, the outlook continues to be bright.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following persons for their comments on various drafts of this
essay: Tessa Bartholomeusz, Anne Blackburn, Chandra de Silva, Michele Gamburd, Charles Hallisey, Steven
Kemper, Jeanne Marecek, Susan Reed, and Deborah Winslow. The text remains my responsibility, and does
not represent the views of the American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies.
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