Sri Lanka

Basics

CIA World Factbook. Includes map.

New Internationalist Profile.

UN Development Program, Human Development Indicators.

World Guide.

On the Web: Articles

Fishermen Protest Against Tigers. M. Vasanthan, WSWS (9/27/04).

Journey to Jaffna. Rajan Philips, Peace Magazine (10-12/02).

On the Web: Specialized Sites

Human Rights Watch: Sri Lanka.

WWW Virtual Library

In the Library: Articles

Bartholomeusz, Tessa. "Mothers of Buddhas, mothers of nations: Kumaranatunga and her meteoric rise to power in Sri Lanka," Feminist Studies 25 (1999):211-25.

Bray, John. "Sri Lanka: things fall apart?" World Today 45 (8-9/89):156-61.

Brochmann, Grete. "Escape Route to Dependency?: Female Migration from Sir Lanka to the Middle East" Asian and Pacific Population Forum 1.3 (5/87): 14-24.

de Silva, K.M. "Sri Lanka: surviving ethnic strife," Journal of Democracy 8,1 (1/97):97-112.

de Silva, Manik. "Sri Lanka's civil war," Current History 98 (12/99):428-33.

de Silva, Purnaka L. "Sri Lanka: futures beyond conflict," Futures 29,10 (12/97):971-84.

Gamer, Gary N. "Conflict & confusion in Sri Lanka," Cultural Survival Quarterly 12,4 (1988):4-6.

Goonetilleke, D.C.R.A. "Sri Lanka's 'ethnic' conflict in its literature in English," World Literature Today 66,3 (sum 92):450-54.

Goulet, Denis. "Development strategy in Sri Lanka & a people’s alternative," in Attwood et al. (eds.) Power & Poverty (Boulder, 1987).

Greenberg, Richard. "Sri Lanka lurches toward civil war," Nation (11/30/85).

Halliday, Fred. "The Ceylonese insurrection," New Left Review 69 (9-10/71):55-90.

Isaac, Kalpana. "Sri Lanka's ethnic divide," Current History 95,4 (4/96):177-82.

Kearney, Robert N. "Sinhalese nationalism & social conflict in Ceylon," Pacific Affairs 37,2 (1964).

Lerski, George J. "The twilight of Ceylonese Trotskyism," Pacific Affairs 43,1 (1970).

Moore, Mick. "The ideological history of the Sri Lankan ‘peasantry’" Modern Asian Studies 23 (feb 1989):179-207.

Obayesekara, Jayasumana. "Revolutionary movements in Ceylon," in K. Gough & H.P. Sharma (eds.) Imperialism & Revolution in South Asia (NY: Monthly Review, 1973), pp. 368-98.

Rogers, John D. et al. "Sri Lanka: political violence & ethnic conflict," American Psychologist 53,7 (7/98):771-78.

Rubin, Barnett. "Human rights in Sri Lanka (interview)," South Asia Bulletin 11,1-2 (1992?).

Shastri, Amita. "Sri Lanka's provincial council system: a solution to the ethnic problem?" Asian Survey 32,8 (8/92):723-44.

Singer, Marshall R. "Sri Lanka's Tamil-Sinhalese ethnic conflict: alternative solutions," Asian Survey 32,8 (8/92):712-23.

__________. "Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict: have bombs shattered hopes for peace?" Asian Survey 36,11 (11/96):1146-56.

In the Library: Non-Fiction Books

Amnesty International. Sri Lanka: Current Human Rights Concerns & Evidence of Extrajudicial Killings by the Security Forces, July 1983-April 1984 (NY, 1984).

__________. Sri Lanka "Disappearances" (NY, 1986).

__________. Sri Lanka: Continuing Human Rights Violations (NY, 1989).

__________. Sri Lanka: Extrajudicial Executions, "Disappearances", & Torture, 1987-1990 (London, 1990).

__________. Sri Lanka: The Northeast. Human Rights Violations in a Context of Armed Conflict (NY, 1991).

__________. Sri Lanka: When Will Justice Be Done? (NY, 1994).

__________. Sri Lanka: A Time for Truth & Justice (NY, 1995).

__________. Sri Lanka: Torture in Custody (London, 1999).

Arasaratnam, Sinnapah. Sri Lanka After Independence: Nationalism, Communalism & Nation-Building (Madras: U. Madras, 1986).

Asian Human Rights Commission. Sri Lanka: Disappearances & the Collapse of the Police System (Hong Kong, 1999).

Balasingham, A.S. Liberation Tigers & Tamil Eelam Freedom Struggle (Madras, 1983).

Briggs, Jimmie. Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War (NY: Basic, 2005).

Bush, Kenneth D. The Intra-Group Dimensions of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Learning to Read Between the Lines (NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).

Chandraprema, C.A. Sri Lanka: The Years of Terror: The J.V.P. Insurrection, 1987-1989 (Colombo: Lake House, 1991).

Committee for Rational Development. Sri Lanka: The Ethnic Conflict. Myths, Realities & Perspectives (New 'Delhi, 1984).

De Silva, Harendra. Power Games in War & Peace: The Tragic Impact of Corruption, Violence, & Impunity on the Sri Lankan Child (Colombo, 2003).

De Silva, K.M. Sri Lanka. Ethnic Conflict, Management & Resolution (Kandy, 1999).

DeVotta, Neil. Blowback: Linguistic Nationalism, Institutional Decay, & Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka (Stanford CA: Stanford, 2004).

Dharmadasa, K.N.O. Language, Religion, & Ethnic Assertiveness: The Growth of Sinhalese Nationalism in Sri Lanka (Ann Arbor, 1992).

Dissayanaka, T.D.S.A. War or Peace in Sri Lanka: An In-Depth Account of the Current Quest for Peace (Colombo: Swastika, 2003).

Farmer, B.H. Pioneer Peasant Colonization in Ceylon: A Study in Asian Agrarian Problems (NY: Oxford, 1957).

__________. Ceylon: A Divided Nation (NY: Oxford, 1963).

__________ (ed.) Green Revolution? Technology & Change in Rice-Growing Areas of Tamil Nadu & Sri Lanka (Boulder: Westview, 1977).

Fernando, J. Basil. Sri Lanka: Militarization vs. Modernization (Hong Kong: Asia Monitor Resource Center, 1991).

Fernando, Laksiri. Human Rights, Politics & States: Burma, Cambodia, Sri Lanka (Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, 2002).

Ghosh, Partha S. Ethnicity vs. Nationalism: The Devolution Discourse in Sri Lanka (Thousand Oaks CA: Sage, 2003).

Hellmann-Rajanayagam, Dagmar. The Tamil Tigers: Armed Struggle for Identity (Stuttgart: F. Steiner, 1994).

Hillier, Stella & Lynn Gerlach. Whose Paradise? Tea and the Plantation Tamils of Sri Lanka (London: MRGfin, 1987).

Holt, John. The Buddhist Visnu: Religious Transformation, Politics & Culture (NY: Columbia, 2004). See esp. last chapter, "The politics of deification in contemporary Sri Lanka."

Hyndman, Patricia. Sri Lanka: Serendipity under Siege (Nottingham: Spokesman, 1988).

Jayatilleka, Dayan. Sri Lanka: The Travails of a Democracy. Unfinished War, Protracted Crisis (New Delhi: Vikas, 1995).

Jupp, James. Sri Lanka: Third World Democracy (London: Cass, 1978).

Karim, Afsir. Transnational Terrorism: The Danger in the South (New Delhi: Lancer Papers, 1993).

Kearney, Robert N. Communalism & Language in the Politics of Ceylon (Durham NC: Duke, 1967).

Kois, Lisa M.; Dana Francis & Robert I. Rotberg. Sri Lanka's Civil War & Prospects for Post-Conflict Resolution (Cambridge MA: World Peace Foundation, 1998).

Lakshman, W.D. & C. A. Tisdell (eds.) Sri Lanka's Development Since Independence: Socio-Economic Perspectives & Analyses (Huntington NY, 2000).

Lerski, George J.. Origins of Trotskyism in Ceylon. A Documentary History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, 1935-1942 (Stanford: Stanford U., 1968).

Lévy, Bernard Henri. War, Evil & the End of History (trans. Charlotte Mandell; Hoboken NJ: Melville House, 2004). Chap. 2 on Tamil Tigers.

Little, David. Sri Lanka: The Invention of Enmity (Washington: US Institute of Peace, 1994).

Loganathan, Ketheshwaran. Sri Lanka: Lost Opportunities. Past Attempts at Resolving Ethnic Conflict (Colombo: Centre for Policy Research & Analysis, 1996).

Madduma Bandara, Sandaruwan. Lionsong: Sri Lanka's Ethnic Conflict (Colombo, 2002).

Mannikalingam, Ram. A Unitary State, a Federal State, or Two Separate States? (Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, 2003).

Manogaran, Chelvadurai. Ethnic Conflict & Reconciliation in Sri Lanka (Honolulu: U. Hawaii,1987).

__________ & Bryan Pfaffenberger (eds.) The Sri Lankan Tamils: Ethnicity & Identity (Boulder: Westview, 1994).

Manor, James (ed.) Sri Lanka in Change & Crisis (London: Croom, 1984).

__________. The Expedient Utopian: Bandaranaike & Ceylon ((NY: Cambridge U., 1989).

Narayan Swamy, M.R. Tigers of Lanka, from Boys to Guerrillas (Delhi: Konark, 1994).

__________. Inside an Elusive Mind: Prabhakaran, the First Profile of the World's Most Ruthless Guerrilla Leader (Delhi: Konark, 2003). Velupillai Prabhakaran, Tamil Tiger leader.

Nissan, Elizabeth. Sri Lanka: A Bitter Harvest (London: Minority Rights Group, 1996).

Nubin, Walter (ed.) Sri Lanka: Current Issues & Historical Background (NY: Nova Science, 2002).

Orjuela, Camilla. Civil Society in Civil War: Peace Work & Identity Politics in Sri Lanka (Goteborg: Goteborg U., 2004).

Piyadasa, L. Sri Lanka, the Holocaust & After (London: Marram, 1984).

Ponnambalam, Satchi. Dependent Capitalism in Crisis: The Sri Lankan Economy, 1948-1980 (London: Zed, 1980).

__________. Sri Lanka: National Conflict & the Tamil Liberation Struggle (Totowa NJ: Biblio, 1983).

Pratap, Anita. Island of Blood: Frontline Reports from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan & Other South Asian Flashpoints (NY: Penguin, 2001).

Richardson, Al (ed.) Blows Against the Empire: Trotskyism in Ceylon. The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, 1935-1964 (London: Porcupine, 1997).

Robinson, Court. Sri Lanka: Island of Refugees (Washingto: US Committee for Refugees, 1991).

Ross, Russell R. & Andrea Matles Savada (eds.) Sri Lanka, A Country Study (2nd ed.; Washington: Library of Congress Federal Research Division, 1982).

Sardeshpande, S.C. Assignment Jaffna (New Delhi: Lancer, 1992).

Sieghart, Paul. Sri Lanka: A Mounting Tragedy of Errors (London: International Commission of Jurists, 1984).

Southwold, Martin. Buddhism in Life: The Anthropological Study of Religion & the Sinhalese Practice of Buddhism (Manchester: Manchester U., 1983).

Spencer, Jonathan (ed). Sri Lanka: History & the Roots of Conflict (NY: Routledge, 1990).

Tambiah, Stanley J. Sri Lanka. Ethnic Fratricide & the Dismantling of Democracy (Chicago: U. Chicago, 1986).

__________. Buddhism Betrayed? Religion, Politics & Violence in Sri Lanka (Chicago: U. Chicago, 1992).

__________. Leveling Crowds: Ethnonationalist Conflicts & Collective Violence in South Asia (Berkeley: U. California, 1996).

US Congress. House Committee on International Relations. Sri Lanka in Turmoil: Implications of Intensified Conflict (Washington, 1996).

Vanniasingham, Somasundaram. Sri Lanka: The Conflict Within (London: Sangam, 1989).

Vittachi, V.P. Sri Lanka, What Went Wrong? J.R. Jawardena's Free & Righteous Society (New Delhi: Navrang, 1995).

Wickramasinghe, Nira. Dressing The Colonized Body: Politics, Clothing & Identity in Colonial Sri Lanka (Hyderabad: Orient Longmans, 2003).

Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam. Politics in Sri Lanka, 1947-1979 (2nd ed.: London, Macmillan, 1979).

__________. The Break-up of Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese-Tamil Conflict (Honolulu: U. Hawaii, 1988).

Zwier, Lawrence J. Sri Lanka: War-Torn Island (Minneapolis: Lerner, 1998).

In the Library: Fiction

Arasanayagam, Jean. Inheritance (Colombo: S. Godage, 2001). Stories.

Cambrai, Jeanne. Murder in the Pettah (London: Penguin, 2001). Colombo detective story.

De Kretser, Michelle. The Hamilton Case (London: Chatto & Windus, 2003).

De Silva, Daya. Shattered Hopes (New Delhi: Prestige, 2001).

Gooneratne, Vernon. A Feast of Carnivores (Colombo: ANCL, 1998).

Gooneratne, Yasmine. Masterpiece & Other Stories (New Delhi: Indialog, 2002).

Goonetilleka, D.C.R.A. (ed.) The Penguin Book of Modern Sri Lankan Stories (NY: Penguin, 1996).

Gunesekera, Romesh. Monkfish Moon (NY: New Press, 1992). Stories.

__________. Reef (London: Granta, 1994).

__________. The Sandglass (NY: New Press, 1998).

Hower, Edward. A Garden of Demons (Princeton NJ: Ontario Review, 2003). Civil war.

Manicka, Rani. The Rice Mother (NY: Penguin, 2002). Tamil emigrés to Malaysia.

Meidav, Edie. The Far Field: A Novel of Ceylon (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001).

Merrick, Gordon. Now Let's Talk About Music (Los Angeles: Alyson, 1997).

Muller, Carl. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Cemetery (NY: Penguin, 1995). Stories.

__________. Colombo: A Novel (NY: Penguin, 1995).

Ondaatje, Griffin (ed.) The Monkey King & Other Stories (Toronto: HarperCollins, 1995).

Ondaatje, Michael. Anil's Ghost (NY: Knopf, 2000). "Apolitical" novel set in current ethnic conflict, which portrays but does little to help understand it.

Roberts, Karen. The Flower Boy (NY: Penguin, 1999). Tea plantation life.

__________. July (London: Wiedenfeld & Nicolson, 2001).

Salgado, Gamini. The True Paradise (Manchester: Carcanet, 1993).

Selvadurai, Shyam. Funny Boy: A Novel (San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1997).

__________. Cinnamon Gardens (NY: Hyperion, 1999).

Sivanandan, Ambalavaner. When Memory Dies (London: Arcadia, 1997). Three generations of Sri Lankan life see rise of communalism. Author, a Muslim Tamil, helped found Race & Class & was long-time director of London's Institute of Race Relations.

__________. Where the Dance Is: Stories from Two World & Three (London: Arcadia, 2000).

Suriyakumaran, Canaganayagam. Kilali Crossing: A Tale of Despair & Desire (Colombo: Vijita Yapa, 2002). Ethnic tragedy of Tamils.

Wijenaike, Punjakante.The Third Woman & Other Stories (Maharagama: Sarman, 1963).

__________. The Unbinding: A Story of Rebirth & Other Stories (Ratmalana: Sarvodaya Vishva Lekha, 2001).

Woolf, Leonard (1880-1969). The Village in the Jungle (ed. Yasmine Goomeratne; Lewiston NY: Edwin Mellen, 2004). Colonial administrator's story.

In the Library: For Young Readers

In the Library: Poetry

In the Library: Drama

In the Library: Photography

Page, Tim. Sri Lanka (NY, 1984).

CD & Audio

Film & Video

"Against the Tide" [1997], Uduman Yamaya, ?m.

"Along the Road (Para Dige)" [1980], dir. Dharmasena Pathiraja, ?m.

"August Sun (Ira Madiyama)" [2003], dir. Prasanna Vithanage, 108m.

"Coming of Age (Eya Dan Loku Lamayek)" [1975], dir. Dharmasena Pathiraja, ?m.

"Dark Night of the Soul (Anantha Rathriya)" [1996], dir. Prasanna Vithanage, 82m. Philandering businessman faces moral challenge.

"Death at the Doorstep (Dorakada Marawa)" [1998], dir. Vasantha Obeysekera, 120m.

"Death on a Full Moon Day (Pura Handa Kaluwara)" [1997], dir. Prasanna Vithanage, 74m.

"The Eldest Daughter (Lokuduwa)" [1994], dir. Sumithra Peries, ?m.

"End of an Era (Yagunthaya)" [1983], Lester James Peries, ?m.

"Flying with One Wing" [?], dir. Thani Thatuwen Piyambanna, ?m.

"Gamperaliya (The Changing Village)" [1963], dir. Lester James Peries, ?m.

"Human Weapon" [2002], dir. Ilan Ziv, 55m. From First Run/Icarus. Examines new tactic of "suicide bombing" in conflicts in Iran, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Israel, Palestine, Europe & the US.

"Mansion By the Lake (Wekande Walauwa" [2003], dir. Lester James Peries, 106m. Adaptation of Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard." Expatriate landowners return from England to greatly transformed Sri Lankan society.

"Mr. Soldier (Soldadu Unnahe)" [1981], dir. Dharmasena Pathiraja, ?m.

"Some Day in the Future (Matu Yam Dawasa)" (2001), dir. Dharmasena Pathiraja, 116m.

"Walls Within (Pawuru Walalu)" [1997], dir. Prasanna Vithanage, ?m.

"The Wasps Are Here (Bambaru Avith)" [1977, dir. Dharmasena Pathiraja, 140m.

"The Way of the Lotus (Viragaya)" [1987], dir. Tissa Abeysekera, ?m.

"White Flowers for the Dead (Ahasin Polawatha)" [1977], dir. Lester James Peries, ?m.

"The Yellow Robes (Ran Salu)" [1967], dir. Lester James Peries, 125m.

"Younger Sister (Ponmani)" [1977], dir. Dharmasena Pathiraja, ?m.