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| Wednesday, 17 September 2003 |
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Exploring political and symbolic meanings in Colonial Sri Lanka by Irangika Range Dr. Nira Wickramasinghe's book titled "Dressing the Colonised Body" - 'Politics, Clothing, and Identity in Colonial Sri Lanka' will be released by the Chairman of the National Heritage Commission Prof. Senaka Bandaranayake today at 10.00 a.m. at the Colombo International Book Fair, BMICH, Colombo 7. "Dressing the Colonised Body" explores popular political and symbolic meanings assigned to dress in a variety of colonial contexts in Sri Lanka. This well-researched and highly creative book focuses on the politics and identity under late colonialism and is an important addition to the growing literature on the social history of South Asia. Proceeding from the understanding that self-representation is at its peak at the moment of political independence, the author examines the lineages that exist between that moment in Sri Lanka and the colonial past, as also the meaning of the commemorations that took place on Independence Day. Simultaneously she attempts to recreate the life of one man through a study of his dress as revealed in photographs. Nira Wickramasinghe obtained her PHD in History from Oxford. She has been a Fellow at the School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland and Visiting Professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Socials, Paris. A recipient of the World Bank Robert McNamara Fellowship, Wickramasinghe's work focuses on identity, politics, nationalism and transnationalism in which areas she has published extensively. Her publications include Social Theory (1994, co-edited with R.Coomaraswamy); Ethnic Politics in Colonial Sri Lanka (1995); History Writing: New Trends and Methodologies (2001). She is currently working on the political history of Sri Lanka in the twentieth century. |
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