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Tuesday, 16 August 2011

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SLACLALS conference :

Brainstorming on language and literature


Prof Ashley Halpe

Tissa Jayatilaka


Prof Manique Gunasekera
 

Dr Maithree
Wickramasinghe

Prof Walter Perera

Dr Sumathy Sivamohan

Vivimarie Van der Poorten

Sunil Govinnage

R L Spittel

Lal Medawattegedara

Pramod Nayar
 

We attended a three-day conference of the Sri Lanka Association of Commonwealth Language and Literature (SLACLALS) during the last weekend held at the SLFI (Sri Lanka Foundation Institute). The sixth of its kind had as its theme “The 21st Century Postcolonial: Issues and Challenges in Literature and Language.”

The three-day confab had nearly 20 interested participants, but many more from the three Universities where English is taught and where they are situated in and around Colombo could have participated, more in number. A few from the Open University and three from the University of Jaffna were also present.

It was all academic and as such it was productive and at the same time it was a little highbrow for a few like yours truly. The vigorous participation of young academics and the sober and measured presentations of the old guard bought in a blend of clarity and unwariness. With Post-Modernism and Post-Structuralism and deconstruction being in vogue in the university circles, it was the young academics that shone with their unorthodox interpretation of Literatures in English. It took sometime for me to really understand what they were trying to say.

Prof Walter Perera of the English department of the University of Peradeniya, who was the live wire behind the scene, took his chair and made some opening remarks. The versatile Tissa Jayatilaka was behind the microphone paying a glowing tribute by way of a felicitation to one of the unassuming teachers of English in the Universities in Lanka and even abroad as a visiting don for decades. Besides being a poet, painter, translator and a musician – the indomitable but slightly uneasy in physical movement, the Professor Emeritus, Ashley Halpe was listening seated in a wheel chair assisted by his spouse Bridgette, herself an artiste and scholar.

In his usual fine enunciation and measured use of words, Tissa was paying his due respects to his Guru Ashley in a fitting manner. Then the scholar and theatre enthusiast Halpe himself set the ball rolling in the Plenary Session with an interrogation. Yes, it was on “Postcolonial” – Is the Concept still Valid? He argued that the concept is subject to change.

At the end of his speech, Prof Manique Gunasekera Head of the English Department of the University of Kelaniya presented a gift to him for his services on behalf of the academics. Before the end of the session Prof Ashley Halpe and K S Sivakumaran read their poems. This was followed by a reception where many did not wait to chat and eat.

On the following day, August 06, Prof Walter Perera, a Fulbright scholar took the chair and conducted a video conference with another scholar from India, Pramod Nayar in the Plenary Session. Nayar was reading his paper: The Postcolonial Bildungsroman: Subalternity and the Culture of Human Rights.

After Tea, Dr Nihal Fernando, Head of the English Department in the University of Peradeniya chaired the next session. Chandana Dissanayake, Senior Lecturer in the English Department of the University of Sabragamuwa read a paper of interest: Vanished Trails: Issues and Challenges in Reinterpreting R L Spittel’s text in the 21st century.

Another interesting contribution was by Carol Leon, Professor in English at the University of Singapore. She spoke on ‘Issues and Challenges Faced by the Diasporic Self and Community’. Mahendran Thiruvarangan of the English department of the University of Jaffna read a stimulating paper: Writing Jaffna: A Santhan’s Presentation of Histories and Identities in The Whirlwind.

Dr Maithree Wickramasinghe, Kelaniya University, spoke on “Readings from Afar: Methodologies for Femininity, Postcolonial Critiques in her own style of lecturing. It was clear to me. But I wouldn’t say the same thing to young academic Kanchanakesi Warnapala’s contribution although her choice of subject was different to the rest. She read a paper on “Landscape of Desire:

The Problematic Construction of Ceylon, Sri Lanka as a Picturesque Site. But I enjoyed the style of presentation and the logic in Gayathri Hewagama’s paper. Her topic was: Narayan Writes Back: The Anti-Imperil Semiotics of Order-Disorder-Order in The Painter of Signs.

Prof Sumathy Sivamohan conducted the session. Marlon Ariyasinghe and Mike Masilamani entertained the audience with their ultra modern poetry. Under Kanchanakesi Warnapala’s chairpersonship Liyanage Amarakeerthi and Sumathy Sivamohan read their respective papers followed by Readings by Lal Medawattegedera.

The final day (Sunday, Aug 07, 2011) saw Prof Edwin Thamboo of the National University of Singapore and Thiru Kandiah, Professor Emeritus providing energetic renderings of their views on “Re-cognizing the Linguistics of Post-Colonial Literary Creativity in English under the chairmanship of Prof Ashley Halpe.

Vivimarie Van der Poorten conducted three speeches. Of all the papers I enjoyed most the one presented by Prof Manique Gunasekera. Her excellent presentation was useful to my understanding the problems regarding syllabus for the GCE A-L examinations. Her subject was on Syllabus Design. Young lecturer Rukshan Ibrhim read a paper on Deconstructing Language Standards in Effective Language Teaching. Another young academic, Maduranga Karlugampitiya’s subject was: The Need to go Beyond Linguistics for an Effective and Meaningful Study of Language: The Case of Veddah Language Studies.

Theena Kumaragurunathan mesmerized me with his reading of a long short fiction.

He is a new find in the academic circles. Rishda Rafeeke also read her poems. Sunil Govinnage a Lanka born Australian revealed many things, both through his poems and his paper on Migrant Writings from Down Under: Some observations on Multicultural Writings.

Equally interesting was the analysis of Lal Meddawattegedera. He read a paper on The Question of Masculinity in Blue Stories for Adults. Vihanga Perera’s approach was “Notes from a Quest for an ‘Absent’ Writer named Mark Wilde. He was in detective mode to find the ‘real’ Mark Wilde. It was entertaining.

Sunil Govinnage and Edwin Thamboo read some of their poems while the chairperson Chandana Dissanayake thanked all the participants with his genuinely expressed feelings. The Confab ended well.

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