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Tuesday, 24 July 2012

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Searching mind on social issues

Raised in a background which afforded ample opportunities for career development, Dr. Asoka Bandarage has reached great heights in the academic field. A professor, research scholar, policy analyst, and a consultant, Dr. Bandarage has many publications and achievements to her credit. A lady with outstanding qualifications, she took time off from her busy schedule to talk to Reminiscences in Gold.

“My father is from Induruwa in the Southern coast and my mother is from Piliyandala. But I was raised in Colombo and attended Visakha Vidyalaya. I was there right throughout. It was a different era. A much slower pace. People had more time for each other. There were few choices in terms of entertainment. It was basically a nice childhood.

Political economy


Dr. Asoka Bandarage

“At Visakha, I was very active in studies as well as extracurricular activities. I felt very much a part of my school. It was a very supportive environment and the teachers were very involved with the students’ development. Something very unique about my background was that the education was bilingual and I was very good in both English and Sinhala. It surprised some people that I could carry the Sinhala prize as well as the English prizes for English Speech and Drama and Literature. But for me it was not a contradiction. That multiculturalism has really helped my academic outlook,” said Bandarage.

She was initially at the University of Peradeniya for one year. After the General Arts Qualification (GAQ) examination, she got a full scholarship to Bryn Mawr College in the US so it was very difficult for her to turn it down. She finished her first degree in the United States. However, she still has very nostalgic memories of the university days in Peradeniya.

“I had a very interesting experience at Peradeniya. I still keep in touch with my friends and teachers. There I came across people from all different backgrounds, both rural and urban. They were students from different ethnic backgrounds. We moved closely with each other.”

“I did my M.A. and Ph. D at Yale University in Sociology. I was offered a position at Brandeis University , soon after or even before I had finished my Ph.D. So one thing led to another. But I’ve always kept my interest in Sri Lanka keeping in touch with family, friends and colleagues. My work has always been historically oriented and focused on political economy of global issues. For me Sri Lanka has been a case study both in terms of economic as well as political and cultural issues.”

Colonial records

Bandarage’s first book, Colonialism in Sri Lanka: The Political Economy of the Kandyan Highlands, a historical and sociological study, became quite popular. Commenting on this book, she said that she did her research on Colonialism in the British Museum and in the Public Record Office and on occasion she came back to Sri Lanka to do research which she found much more difficult to get access.

“I found it easier to access colonial records and documents abroad. On the other hand it is very important even if you are doing historical or archival research to be in touch with the local reality. It was my Ph. D thesis and it was published later on. It takes a critical perspective of the colonial experience and questions a lot of assumptions about colonialism and the long term consequences, the development trajectory that we were given.”

Sri Lankan issues

Her second book, Women, Population and Global Crisis, is not only about Sri Lanka and it takes a broader perspective. Stating that she had always been an independent person and that she had followed her own path - not the most travelled path, Bandarage said she had struck out on her own.

Bandarage’s recent book is The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka: Terrorism, Ethnicity and Political Economy. This issue has been narrowly interpreted as an ethnic issue between the Sinhalese and the Tamils.

“While not denying that there is an ethnic dimension to it, what I’ve tried to do is to move beyond a narrow ethnic perspective. I have brought in facts and figures that have not necessarily been part of the mainstream discourse.

“If it is not just an ethnic issue, the solutions have also to be broadened in terms of addressing poverty, issues of development, the regional dimension and the international dimension. Here in Sri Lanka people think of Sri Lankan issues in a narrow way as if they are just particular to Sri Lanka. While there is a local dimension, most of these are also global issues.”

It was said that the war was unwinnable. Locally and internationally that was the standard opinion. “In Sri Lanka there were many attempts to bring about peace through a political process. The LTTE turned its back on the peace process and the armed conflict ended through military victory.”

Gender studies programmes

Bandarage was also a pioneer in the development of gender studies programmes in the US. In addition to being the co-founder of the Committee on Women, Population and Health, she also held the position of Chair of the Women’s Studies programme at Mount Holyoke.

“I was very fortunate because I was involved in the emergence and evolution of women’s studies and gender studies in the United States. Even at the undergraduate level I had taken Gender Studies courses and I taught women’s studies at Yale University.

“I have done some work in Sri Lanka too. Gender studies is not only about women; it is about questioning gender roles and allowing greater possibilities for both men and women.”

Bandarage also touched on the subject of gender based division of labour. It is assumed that certain jobs can only be done by men and others by women. That to some extent confines men and women to gender categorized jobs. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.

“Women have entered male spheres of work. This is particularly so in the West. In spheres such as politics we don’t have enough women in high positions. I think both men and women can benefit from having opportunities to develop all our capacities. Domestic work, caring for the young and elderly is seen as women’s work, but I also think that men will benefit from engaging in that type of work. It helps develop our empathy and compassion.”

Pivotal role

It seems that Bandarage’s father, Dr. D.S. Bandarage, a specialist in Human Resource Management, played a pivotal role in her life.

“My father encouraged me to do what I wanted professionally. When we were growing up we had small autograph books which people would sign and write statements on. My father wrote: ‘long live the revolution but not in this house!’ At that time I did not understand what it meant or the need to break out of certain stereotype roles that women have been given in society. The women’s movement was not just about opening career paths but about equality and respect.”

A scholar who is passionate about Human Rights, Bandarage pointed out some undeniable facts. “Human Rights have to be interpreted very broadly. But what about economic rights? One could argue that malnutrition is a violation of human rights. There are starving children all over the world who die of poverty and lack of access to clean water. Those are all human rights so I think we need to have a broader perspective.

“What about environmental sustainability? Isn’t that a Human Right as well. If the environment collapses, it affects us all.”

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