All of my research so far has shown me that here, in this rural area, to the everyday person, ethnicity is not an issue. Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese communities are certainly separate from one another, but whenever I ask anybody about tensions between the ethnicities I am told there are none. And then I read this online: “In August the ...
Earlier on last week Chamila asked if I’d like to go to her house. I couldn’t tell whether or not she was joking, but I was keen regardless. The next day she had asked again, and asked if ‘Baba G’ would come too, so I spoke to Baba G about it and we checked with Mrs G, and were given ...
Ampara clock tower in evening sunlight. For the first week in Ampara I would walk to and from the factory, which was bliss. Hot, but bliss. After the 3pm tea break, I would watch the glow outside gradually turn from white, to yellow, to orange, as the languid sun slowly settled herself into a bed of darkening greenery. It would ...
Today I held the pilot run for my participatory mapping sessions. I’ll explain this in more detail in a later post (when I’ll also explain time geography – having promised in one of my previous posts to talk more about this I’m very aware that I have ignored the topic entirely), but I’m basically asking girls to map their daily routines ...
This past week has been spent in the factory, participating, observing and learning, and my goodness I’ve learnt a lot, and I’ve come on leaps and bounds in terms of my relationships with the employees. But now it’s time for me to move onto putting into practice all the research methods I talked about in the run up to this. ...
I bought breakfast on the way to work today – two sweet bread things from the bakery and a bottle of mango juice, all for about 50p. I hadn’t quite finished by the time I got to work, and I didn’t want to risk missing the start of the morning routine, so I took the last morsels through to the ...
Reblogged from Thuppahi's Blog: Gerald H. Peiris, reprint from Ethnic Studies Report, Vol.IX, No.1, January1991 Among the various exemplifications of Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka, those that relate to claims over territory have acquired increasing prominence during the recent past. These claims are based upon the perception that certain parts of the country belong exclusively to the Sri Lankan Tamils – a ...
Well it’s been a while! Another year has passed at University, which means it’s time for my next adventure. And this time I’m in… Well, you can probably guess from the title of my next blog: Occidental in Oriental To find out more, click on the link just above, and just as before you are very welcome to follow me, ...
My first task of the morning was to head out to a village near Thirrukovil, to the Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation. It wasn’t easy to find, as it was in a little building concealed by palm trees, but once there I held a really interesting focus group with some of the staff members. I’ll write more about this ...
Before I tell you all about today’s research (it went well), I thought I’d tell you a little about some of the weird but not always wonderful snacks I’ve been fed whilst at the factory, mostly during tea breaks. Chunks of Jaggery (Essentially, chunks of slightly peculiar tasting sugar. Or rather, ‘a concentrated product of date, cane juice, or palm sap ...
It’s been a long and difficult afternoon of napping and thinking, napping some more, thinking a little more, and writing. But I feel it’s been useful. I started out with a mind map: The ‘What Am I Doing?’ Mind Map And then moved on to write up ‘The Situation’: • A large employment site, employing multiple ethnicities: Tamil, Muslim and ...
…But they’re certainly not going badly. The little schedule I made for myself the other day has not been diverged from too dramatically, and the next couple of days are set to be relatively fruitful. So far, I’ve done the following: Arranged a meeting with the Sri Lanka Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation in Thirrukovil tomorrow morning – this will ...
Once a month, or rather, every full moon, Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka celebrate Poya Day. It’s a national holiday, so lots of places are shut for the day, including the factory. If I was in Ampara, I might see the empty factory floor, the machines sitting quietly, the fans immobile. But I’m not in Ampara. I’m running days behind ...
Down the line… Driving through the countryside, a common sight is to see the railway winding its way along the side of the road, weaving in and out of trees and villages, and criss-crossing over the road as and when it pleases. I glanced down one line to see first a cat, peering across the sleepers, a dog a little ...
Hi folks, Sorry about the lack of contact. I’ve just taken a much-needed mini break, which involved a good deal of shopping, walking up rather large hills, shopping, eating monumental amounts of delicious food, shopping, relaxing on quiet, sandy beaches, and, um, more shopping… It’s been lovely, but it is now about time to return to why I’m here in ...
In Colombo, Rat, Ratty and Mouse took to entertaining me whilst I was working. This I could tolerate; they were quite amusing. Cockroaches, on the other hand, I struggle with. I could hear some scuffling noises in my room yesterday evening, and I thought, ‘Oh, a mouse!’ But then I paused, and listened. Whatever it was, it was moving at ...
All four participatory mapping groups are complete, although I do still have another week in the factory (after a short ‘break’ in Colombo – hopefully some more interviews and meetings with some NGOs and researchers), so I could do some more when I’m back. Interestingly, I’ve called in Chamila’s help to arrange the last two sessions, and although up until ...
