Rajiva Wijesinha
National List | |
---|---|
In office 2010–2015 | |
State Minister of Higher Education | |
In office 12 January 2015 – 17 February 2015 | |
President | Maithripala Sirisena |
Prime Minister | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
Personal details | |
Born | Liberal | 16 May 1954
Alma mater | University College, Oxford; Corpus Christi College, Oxford |
Occupation | Author |
Website | rajivawijesinha |
Rajiva Wijesinha, MA, DPhil (Sinhala: රජීව විජේසිංහ) (born 16 May 1954)[1] is a Sri Lankan writer in English, distinguished for his political analysis as well as creative and critical work. An academic by profession for much of his working career, he was most recently Senior Professor of Languages at the University of Sabaragamuwa, Sri Lanka.
In June 2007 President
He belongs to the
Education and career
Rajiva Wijesinha schooled at
He taught briefly at the
In 2001 he served as a Consultant to the Ministry of Education to initiate the reintroduction of English medium education in the state sector, which had banned it previously for several decades. He was also Academic Consultant to the Sri Lanka Military Academy when it began degree programmes for Officer Cadets. He has served as chair of the Academic Affairs Committee of the National Institute of Education, and has been a member of the National Education Commission and of the Board of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies.
In 1982 he supported
He was instrumental in promoting English Language writing in Sri Lanka, and initiated the English Writers Cooperative of Sri Lanka while he was at the British Council which aided and administered the EWC at its inception. He had earlier edited the New Lankan Review,[11] which provided space for Sri Lankan writers in English when the genre was regaining acceptance, and he served on the Editorial Board of the EWC for over a decade. He has edited several collections of poetry and short stories by Sri Lankan writers in English, most recently Bridging Connections, an Anthology of Stories which also contains translations from Sinhala and Tamil and was published by the National Book Trust of India in 2007.[12][13][14]
He was the first Sri Lankan writer resident in the county whose works have been translated into a European language. Servi, the Italian translation of Servants which won the
Prof Wijesinha served for several years on the editorial board of the Journal of Commonwealth Literature. Works in other genres include The Foundations of Modern Society, Political Principles and their Practice in Sri Lanka and A Handbook of English Grammar, published by Cambridge University Press in Delhi, which also brought out most recently Declining Sri Lanka: J R Jayewardene and the erosion of Democracy.
Work
Fiction
- Acts of Faith, 1985
- Electra (A play in three Acts)
- Days of Despair, 1989
- The Lady Hippopotamus and Other Stories, 1991
- Servants: A Cycle, 1995
- An English Education, 1996
- The Limits of Love, 2005
- Servi, 2002 (Italian translation of Servants: A Cycle, 1995)
- Atti di fede, 2006 (Italian translation of Acts of Faith, 1985)
- The Terrorist Trilogy, 2008.[17]
- Acts of Faith, 2016
- Servants(2nd Expanded Edition), 2020
Non Fiction
- The Androgynous Trollope: Women in the Victorian Novel (1982)
Education
- English and Education: in search of equity and excellence?, 2016
- A City of Acquatint (Letters from Oxford to Colombo 1971-79), 2018
- George Cawkwell of Univ. Colombo, Sri Lanka: S. Godage & Brothers, 2019 (edited)[18]
English Language
- Aspects of Teaching and Learning English as a Second Language, 1991 (edited with James Drury)[19]
- A Guide to Studying and Thinking, 1998 (with Priyantha Kulatunge and Ralf Starkloff)[20]
- A Handbook of English Grammar, 2004[21]
- Building Career Skills, 2016 (with Shashikala Assella, B. M. C. N. Balasooriya, Noel Jayamanne, Darshana Sanjeewa, Ravi Pratap Singh, Neomal Weerakoon)
- Developing Career Skills, 2016 (with Thilanka Ariyathilaka, Shashikala Assella, B. M. C. N. Balasooriya, Noel Jayamanne, Darshana Sanjeewa, Ravi Pratap Singh, Neomal Weerakoon)
Literature
- Breaking Bounds: Essays on Sri Lankan Writing in English, 1998
- Inside Limits: Identity and Repression in Post- Colonial Fiction, 1998
- A Selection of Modern Sri Lankan Short Stories in English, edited (with Dinali Fernando), 2005[22]
- A Selection of Modern Sri Lankan Poetry in English, 2006[22]
- Bridging Connections (An Anthology of Sri Lankan Short Stories), 2007[23]
- Poets and their Visions, 2015
- An Anthology of English Poetry and Prose, 2016
Travel and Social History
- Beyond the First Circle: Travels in the Second and Third Worlds, 1993
- Fact and Fable: Aspects of East West Interaction (proceedings of a conference held at Sabaragamuwa University in August 1999), 2000
- Richard de Zoysa: his life, some work ... a death, 2000
- Across Cultures: Issues of Identity in Contemporary British and Sri Lankan Writing, 2001 (edited with Neluka Silva)
- Gilding the Lily: Celebrating Ena de Silva, 2002
- All Experience: Essays and Reflections (edited essays of Sam Wijesinha), 2001.[24]
- The Foundations of Modern Society, 2004
- Endgames and Excursions: Lakmahal, Sri Lanka and a wider world, 2017
- Lakmahal Justified: Taking English to The People, 2018
- Lakmahal in War for Peace, 2019
Politics
- Current Crisis in Sri Lanka, 1986
- Liberal Values for South Asia Liberal Values for South Asia (edited with Friedrich Naumann Stiftung), Colombo, 1997
- Conflict: Causes and Consequences (proceedings of a Seminar Series conducted by the CLD), (edited with Priyantha Kulatunge), 2001
- Political Principles and Their Practice in Sri Lanka Political Principles and their Practice in Sri Lanka, 2005
- Enemies of Pluralism: Assaults on Diversity, Democracy and the Rule of Law, by JR Jayewardene & Velupillai Prabhakaran, 2006[25]
- Ideas for Constitutional Reform, 2007 (revised/abridged from the original publication as edited by Dr Chanaka Amaratunga, 1989)
- Declining Sri Lanka, 2007
- Pursuing Peace, Fighting Falsehood, 2008[26][27]
- Reform, Rights and Good Governance, 2015
- Triumph and Disaster: the Rajapaksa Years. Part 1 – Success in War, 2015
- Triumph and Disaster: the Rajapaksa Years. Part 2 - Failure in Reconciliation, 2016
- The Mango Tree: Inclusivity and Integrity in International Relations, 2016
Articles in books & major journals
- Interview in Configurations of Exile: South Asian Writers and their World, edited by Chelva Kanaganayakam, TSAR, Toronto, 1995
- Teaching Post-Colonial Literature in Sri Lanka' in Dolphin 27 – Teaching Post-Colonialism and Post-Colonial Literatures, edited by Anne Collett, Lars Jensen & Anna Rutherford, Aarhus, 1997
- "Aberrations and Excesses: Sri Lanka substantiated by the Funny Boy", Miscelanea vol. 18, Universidad de Zaragoza, 1997
- "Cutting through Territories: Naipaul's 'A Way in the World'", Translating Cultures, KRK/Dangaroo, 1999
- "Sex and the Single Girl: Scott's recommendations for the Raj", Gladly wolde she teche and lerne: Essays in honour of Yasmine Gooneratne, London 1999
- Why are we afraid of Secularism in Pakistan?, Christian Study Centre, Rawalpindi, 1999
- "Travesties: Romance and Reality in the Raj Quartet", Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, Orissa, 2000
- "Spices and Sandcastles: the exotic historians of Sri Lanka", Across Cultures: Issues of Identity in Contemporary British and Sri Lankan Writing (proceedings of the Conference held at the British Council Sri Lanka in 2000; British Council, Colombo, 2001)
- "A deeper communion: the older women of The Raj Quartet", Missions of Interdependence, the publication of the proceedings of the 1999 Tübingen EACLALS Conference (Rhodopi, 2002)
- "Richard de Zoysa: his life, some work ... and a death", Towards a Transcultural Future: Literature and Human Rights in a ‘Post’-Colonial World, the publication of the proceedings of the 2000 ASNEL Conference held in Aachen (Rhodopi 2005)
- "Bringing back the bathwater: new initiatives in English policy in Sri Lanka", The Politics of English as a World Language, the publication of the proceedings of the 2001 ASNEL Conference held in Freiburg (Rhodopi, 2003)
- "Religion and Culture in the Liberal State", Liberal Values for South Asia, edited by Wijesinha, CLD, Colombo 1997
- "Education in Sri Lanka – the failure of good intentions and little learning", Protection of Minority Rights and Diversity, edited by Nanda Wanasundara, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, 2004
- "Agendas of Oppression", I want to speak of tenderness: 50 writers for Anne Ranasinghe, edited by Gerard Robuchon, ICES 2004
- "Travels in the United States", Excursions and Explorations: Cultural Encounters between Sri Lanka and the United States, edited by Tissa Jayatilaka, Colombo, 2002
- "A Refuge", Gilding the Lily: Celebrating Ena de Silva, edited by Wijesinha, Colombo, 2002
- "Entries on Bapsi Sidhwa and Sri Lankan Literature", Encyclopaedia of Postcolonial Studies, edited by John C Hawley, USA, 2001
- Entry on Sri Lankan Literature in English in the Encyclopaedia of South Asian Literature in English, edited by Jaina Sanga, USA, 2004
See also
References
- ^ Team Lanka Mission (15 May 2008). "Sri Lanka: Happy birthday Dear Professor". The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office in Geneva. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
- ^ Muhammad Akbar Notezai (8 May 2016). "Interview: Rajiva Wijesinha A leading author on Sri Lanka's efforts to repair relations with the Tamils". The Diplomat. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
- ^ Hiran H. Senewiratne (25 July 2009). "SCOPP to close down". Daily News Online. Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
- ^ "Rajiva quits, question mark over Eran".
- ^ ":: :: :: Lakbimanews Online Edition :: :: ::". Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
- ^ "Sri Lanka Parliament profile". Archived from the original on 20 October 2010.
- ^ The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (21 April 2010). "Gazette Extraordinary No. 1650/19" (PDF). The Department of Government Printing, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 April 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ Kamal Nissanka (27 May 2007). "Liberal Party Elects a New Leader". Liberal Lanka. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
- ^ Liberal Party (18 December 2011). "Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha Is To Lead The Party Again After Five Years". Liberal Party Sri Lanka. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
- ^ Rajiva, Wijesinha (1979). Marriage and the position of women, as presented by some of the early Victorian novelists (Thesis). Oxford Research Archive.
- ^ "|| Features". Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- OL 1832827M.
- ^ "Vedams eBooks".
- ^ "Online Book House".
- ^ "Italian Touch to Servants". Archived from the original on 31 December 2006. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "Rajiva Wijesinha - ATTI DI FEDE (or. "Acts of Faith")" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 21 December 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "The Galle Literary Festival 2007". Archived from the original on 19 November 2010. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^ "George Cawkwell of Univ; Godage".
- ^ "ELT Journal | Oxford Academic". Archived from the original on 27 November 2013.
- ^ "A Guide to Studying and Thinking - நூலகம்".
- ^ "Home". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^ a b "Feature". Archived from the original on 12 July 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^ Bridging Connections (An Anthology of Sri Lankan Short Stories).
- ^ "The Sunday Times Plus Section".
- ISBN 9789558975411.
- ^ "- Sri Lanka strives to strengthen Human Rights whilst dealing with Terrorism". Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ISBN 9789551732219.
External links
- Official Blog
- The Reconciliation Website (former Official Website of SCOPP)
- The Reconciliation Website's channel on YouTube
- Reconciliation Unit blog
- Liberal Party of Sri Lanka official site
- Rajiva Wijesinha's channel on YouTube
- Literary Blog
- Full text of doctoral thesis "Marriage and the position of women, as presented by some of the early Victorian novelists" via Oxford Research Archive