It's all very well for Indi, Kumar Sangakkara and others to talk about the fact that they're Sri Lankan and not defined by their race.
Maybe, just maybe, instead of discussing why people who are part of the Sinhala majority already feel Sri Lankan, we'd be better off looking at why so many other people DON'T feel included in the "Sri Lankan" identity label.
Or is that just mad?
5 comments:
Didn't see any of the video's in Indi's post. Saw all the faces in them, knowing the majority of them personally I know for a fact that they are all based in or around Colombo. Not really a fully representative group of 'Sri Lanka' that's saying they are 'Sri Lankan'.
@auf - asking people who have emigrated from their motherland why they don't feel sri lankan seems like a pretty useless idea to me.
exactly what I thought re: Auf's comment. Indi seems to be making large generalisations on Sri Lanka drawing from his circle.
i don't feel included in the sri lankan category, and i'm happy to be excluded, because the category includes several fuckwits.
also, indi's circle-jerk doesn't really add anything constructive to the debate.
I am from a very tiny minority and not even born in SL. But my Grandma who taught me what "Magerata" is, absolutely think it is her country and refuse to leave. She is from a very tiny minority herself and managed to wake up the Sri Lankan in me. I do not know if I ever become an official Sri Lankan. But I feel some thing binding me to SL.
Auf, we all know it is not a comprehensive collective of Sri Lankans that Indi posted (in fact according to his tweets, it was a group of people who could afford to go to Horton Plains for the weekend)
But I will give him credit for at least getting even a few together. Who knows now the tag is created it might spread. Since you know the group of people, are they at least from diverse communities or Just a bunch from Sinhalese community. I have no Idea who Sangakkara is and would not comment on him.(I am reading his lecture now, from RD's link and sounds right to me)
Like RD asked, I too would like to ask why so many others do not feel the way I feel, Sri Lankan! What am I doing wrong / right? #IamSL :)
Also I know a few people, who are not Sinhalese, and say they are Sri Lankans. But all of them live in USA.
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