by Jehan Perera

The recent political transition in Sri Lanka, following the presidential and parliamentary elections of September and November, offers a pivotal opportunity to address entrenched issues of exclusion. In his inaugural speech at the 10th Parliament, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake emphasised his commitment to preventing racism and religious extremism in Sri Lanka. He asserted that his government would not allow racist politics to reemerge and pledged to establish a democratic state free from fear and suspicion.  The president highlighted the importance of the rule of law, ensuring that no individual or politician is above it. His address also included a promise to investigate controversial crimes, deliver justice to victims, and rebuild public trust in the legal system.

President Dissanayake has exceeded expectations as the public face of the NPP government. He is the government’s master communicator neither losing sight of his origins among the people as seen in his attire and demeanour, but also in his policies. The  president’s assurance  that he would not permit racism and ethnic hatred to get root again in the country is another testament to the value system that he  grew up with.  His origins in the farming  zones of the North Central province, once the heartland of the Sinhala Buddhist kingdoms, and his personal struggles with poverty and overcoming it with the support of the social welfare system set in place by the early governments of Sri Lanka, make him the quintessential  Sri Lankan success story.

Many decades ago, another leader of Sri Lanka cited the Buddhist teaching that “hatred ceases not by hatred but by love (non-hatred)”, a phrase that was repeated by the current Japanese ambassador in his welcome speech at his official residence.  Former President J R Jayewardene spoke these words to safeguard Japan from being subjected to reparations after it was defeated in the World War II.  The question is the extent to which words are made flesh and become manifest in the world.  Unfortunately, President Jayewardene was unable to manifest the words he spoke to the world when it came to his own country.  When faced with intractable foes in the JVP and LTTE insurrections, his government countered the ferocious violence of the rebel groups with the ferocious violence of the state.

COMMEMORATING DEAD

So far it appears that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is living and acting out the values that he speaks.  It  has been only two months since  he won the presidency, so it may be too early to tell for certain, but the signs of sincerity are manifest in his words and deeds and the manner in which he seeks to uphold the national interest.  This it seen in the way he has led the Marxist-JVP core of the NPP government into sticking by pragmatic economic policies agreed to by the previous government with the IMF, in which the masses of people have to bear the burden, but to which there seems to be no viable alternative at the present time.  The president and his government are being criticised by those who would probably act no differently if they had been in power, except that they would be trying to take their own cut, for which good reason the people rejected them.

The government’s approach to the controversy about the memorialisation of the departed persons known as Maveerar (Heroes) Day was also an instance where the president and his government stood by their values and gave the Tamil people who wished to commemorate their fallen sons and daughters in the three decade long war, the opportunity to do so peacefully and as a community.  This has in fact been endorsed in law by the Office for Reparations Act No 34 of 2018 which allows for individual and group remembrance (Section 27). The JVP has long commemorated their own dead, their heroes, who fought for social change, for curd to the villages and not only to Colombo, and for revolution.  The government was consistent in accepting that the Tamil people had the same right to commemorate those who lost their lives in the struggle for their rights.

A news report stated “T. Sellathurai and his wife turned up at the event in Kodikkamam, Jaffna, to commemorate the deaths of two of their sons, whose remains were buried in the one-time cemetery, now a military base. The symbolic event was organised on a private plot of land opposite the military base. “We just want to remember our sons, and we came with their favourite food for prayers.” On this occasion, the government’s position was that the fallen people could be commemorated, but not the organisation they belonged to. Another news report stated that “A 29-year-old youth from Inuvil, Jaffna was taken into police custody under the Prevention of Terrorism Act this week. The youth was arrested by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) officers in connection with the messages he had shared on social media during the Maveerar Day events this week.” Maybe in the future, the police will not intervene to cover the pictures of the LTTE leaders, just as much as they do not cover the pictures of the JVP leaders.

There has been strong criticism by opposition politicians about the government’s permission to hold the LTTE commemorations.  The power of ethnic nationalism to revive cannot be underestimated.

The permission given  by the government to the commemoration ceremonies in  the north and east of the country is, however, not a new phenomenon.  Similar permission was also given by the  previous governments  in which former President Ranil Wickremesinghe played a lead role, and for which he needs to be appreciated for standing for a non-racist Sri Lanka.  The former president has long represented the cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic and  plural character of Sri Lankan society, though it has periodically got overwhelmed by competing nationalisms that become incredibly powerful when backed by ethnic nationalist government leaders. The JVP has traditionally been closer to this latter thinking, which is why all the more credit should go to President Dissanayake for the positive change today.

MUSLIM EXCLUSION

In keeping with its pledge to be non-racist in governance, the NPP government has been making a strenuous effort to rectify its failure to include a Muslim in its first cabinet of ministers.  This is the first time that the Muslim community finds itself excluded from being part of decision making at the highest level of government.  Although the government has attempted to rectify the situation by appointing a Muslim as the deputy speaker and another as a deputy minister, the sense of exclusion continues to trouble the Muslim community, especially as a significant number of them voted for the government.

However, it also needs to be noted that in the past, even when governments had multiple Muslim ministers, this did not prevent significant injustices taking place against the Muslim community.  In particular, after the end of the three-decade long war, in which the Tamil community was the main protagonist at the receiving end, the Muslim community became the main target of nationalist groups.  There were terrible riots against the Muslims, where their properties were looted and destroyed, and some were killed, while the perpetrators were permitted to go on the rampage.  The presence of multiple  Muslim ministers in the cabinet did not stop this pillage.

Much before the country got into a debt trap, even before it became a country of widespread corruption, there  was an ethnic divide that corroded the spirit of unity in the country.  At the very dawn of Independence, the Tamils of recent Indian origin (Malaiyaha Tamils) were denied their citizenship and excluded from the polity.  This was followed by the denial  of equal language rights to all the Tamil-speaking peoples, through the policy of Sinhala-only,  which led to the first mass migration of Sri Lankan citizens out of the country when the most educated community at that time, the Burgher community, emigrated to  foreign lands.  Today, people  from the four corners of the country and the middle as well, have voted for change, unity and a new start.  This is the unique opportunity that the NPP government has and the promise it must keep.

by Maduranga Kalugampitiya

Generative Artificial Intelligence, or GenAI, has been a hot topic, mainly in academic circles, for the past few years, and one of the fields in which GenAI has made ripples is English Language Teaching (ELT). While some have embraced GenAI as a resourceful tool, which could be used to improve the ELT situation, some others have expressed concern regarding the possible negative impact of GenAI in the field. Research conferences are being organized where the intervention of GenAI in ELT is being discussed from multiple angles. Research publications are emerging on the topic turning the field into one of academic enquiry.

Key Contextual Factors

In my view, there are three contextual factors, which we need to take into consideration in understanding the connection between GenAI and ELT, especially in the Sri Lankan context. The first factor concerns itself with the socioeconomic context in which access to GenAI needs to be understood. GenAI is often being talked about as a tool that is freely available for whoever wants to use it; however, the limitations with regard to access to technological resources would show that GenAI is not at everyone’s fingertips. In such a context, the claim that GenAI is a tool that is freely available itself is a classist one.

The second factor concerns itself with the general attitude towards English in the Sri Lankan context. Much has been said about the ambivalent relationship that many maintain with the English language. Although English does not enjoy the official language status in the Constitution, it is arguably the most powerful language in the country. It is widely seen as the language that can get you opportunities in life. Nevertheless, English, at the same time, is being seen as a threat, mainly for the cultural and socioeconomic baggage that it carries around with it. The class undertones of the language continue to repel large segments of learners from the language. Such ground level realities have made English a politically and ideologically charged language, converting ELT into a tension-filled exercise.

The third factor is about the form of English that is used in the country. We generally think of languages as homogeneous entities; however, the reality is far from that. Variation is a core part of every language, and it is particularly the case with languages like English, which have wide international presence. Much has been said about different forms or varieties of English being used in different parts of the world and also about them being legitimate forms of English. Similarly, in the Sri Lankan context, we speak of Sri Lankan English. The attitudes towards Sri Lankan English range from seeing it as a substandard, broken form of English to conceptualizing it as a fully legitimate form of English that is most suited to engaging with the realities that are Sri Lankan in nature. Irrespective of the attitude that one may maintain towards the kind of English that is associated with Sri Lanka, the fact that what is taught and used predominantly in the local context is a form that is characteristically Sri Lankan. It has meaning making processes that are specific to the local context. Whether GenAI is sensitive to such context-specific characteristics of English is a question.

General Perception

There is a widespread perception that GenAI is going to render English language teachers as experts on the language redundant, at least for two reasons. Firstly, the learner could go directly to GenAI and get their doubts clarified. Generally speaking, clarifying doubts about the language has so far been the duty of the English language teacher, but now that role is being taken over by GenAI. Secondly, GenAI can be used by the learner to get their language related tasks, especially in the area of writing, done. They can get their essays, responses, reports, and even poems and short stories written by GenAI. The sense of autonomy that GenAI as a tool affords the learner arguably raises questions regarding the relevance of the role played by the teacher.

Current Theory of Language and Language Teaching

I would argue that we share this perception because we subscribe to a certain theory of language and a certain theory of language teaching. We tend to think of language primarily as a structured object, or in other words, as an entity composed of a collection of sounds and vocabulary items that are held together by a set of rules. Phonology concerns itself with the rules that govern how the sounds of the language are formed. The physiology behind the production of individual sounds and how the sounds thus produced position themselves in relation to each other become the primary focus there. Then in morphology, we talk about the rules that govern the formation of words. The idea is that there is a structure for each and every word in the language and that there are rules that govern that structure. The study of the words in the language becomes a study of those structures. In syntax, we talk about the rules that govern how words are put into bigger constructs, such as phrases, clauses, and sentences. Again, the primary focus is on the rules and structures. According to this conception of language, it is the structuredness of the entity that defines its identity. That is why we see language primarily as a collection of sounds and vocabulary items that are held together by a set of rules.

When we subscribe to such a conception of language, language teaching becomes instilling those rules and structures in the mind of the learner. This explains why language teaching is so much about teaching the grammar of the language. From this point of view, the goal of language teaching is to produce someone who is skilled in managing the rules and structures of the language. Error correction is a big part of this type of approach to language teaching. Errors are violations of the rules that govern the structures of the language, and language teaching aims at minimizing such violations so that the structures can function smoothly. This is why language teaching has become primarily about instilling the correct rules pertaining to pronunciation, word formation, and the formation of sentences and rectifying any errors made in those areas.

Interestingly, this function of language teaching is increasingly being taken over by GenAI. The language teacher is in competition with GenAI to remain the authority on the structure of the language, and there are signs that the former may not be able to maintain their primacy for too long.

Need for Re-orientation

In my view, GenAI has brought us to a historical juncture where we have no choice but to reexamine the theory of language and language teaching that we subscribe to. I see this as a wonderful opportunity for language to distance itself from its position as a structured entity whose structuredness is seen as what defines its identity to a position where language is understand as a particular take on reality, a position that is at the heart of the theories of language proposed by many thinkers. This theory of language entails that different languages are different ways of thinking and talking about the world and our existence in it. There are thinkers who have pointed out that no two languages look at the world in the exact same way. In that sense, the different languages could be thought of primarily as voices.

This shift in the theory of language entails a shift in the theory of language teaching, too. In a context where a language is seen primarily as a voice, language teaching becomes an activity that facilitates the acquisition of that voice. When one learns a language what she acquires is the ability to think and talk about the world and existence in a novel way. This does not mean that teaching grammar and correcting errors are no longer part of language teaching. It means that language teaching will not be limited to those two activities. The proposed re-orientation is a move in the direction of critical pedagogy whose end goal is to empower the learner with a voice, which would enable her to negotiate her position in the broader web of power relations that she is part of.

(Maduranga Kalugampitiya is attached to the Department of English, University of Peradeniya)

Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies

In our scene, ‘lunu-dehi’ is, indeed, an appetizer, and most of us do like to have it…to enhance the taste of our meals.

Well, lunu-dehi, in another form, is now in big demand, not only locally, but abroad, as well.

Led by Dushan Jayathilake, the band LunuDehi has enhanced the musical tastes of the public and now it’s a big scene for this versatile outfit.

In fact, their calendar of events keeps increasing, literally, by the day, and they have already been booked to perform at ‘Bens Dance 2025’ to be held in the UAE on 25th January, 2025.

This month, on the 8th of December, they will be in Dubai’, along with Hana Shafa, to back BNS, Umaria and Randhir at ‘Dubai 2024,’ a Ceylon Food Festival, they say.

The BNS-LunuDehi combination has turned out to be a resounding success and that was quite evident, early this year, when they toured the States and Canada.

They did four cities in Canada, in March, along with Umaria and Randhir – Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto; and four in the States, as well – Tampa, New York, Houston and Los Angeles.

LunuDehi’s foreign assignments commenced in January, this year, when they performed at a dinner dance, in Dubai, while the BNS-LunuDehi combination checked out the UK in February, and Melbourne, Australia, in October.

Falan Andrea: Five gigs with BNS and LunuDehi in Canada (L) / Dushan Jayathilake:Birthday celebrations in Ireland

In November, the BNS-LunuDehi combination embarked on another tour of Canada, doing five gigs, with Falan Andrea as their guest artiste.

While Falan returned home, after the Canada trip, BNS and LunuDehi did Manchester, in the UK, and Ireland.

While in Ireland, Dushan Jayathilake celebrated his birthday…on 12th November.

For the record, Dushan played keyboards for the Gypsies. He is also a composer and producer.

Before their departure for Dubai, later this week, this combination will be seen action again at the BNS Original Concert, on 6th December, at the Lotus Tower Colombo.

Organised by D.S. Senanayake College OBA, the concert will also feature Randir, Umara and Ashanthi.

LunuDehi will usher in 2025 at the Grand Kandyan, Kandy.