Rajiva Wijesinha
Encyclopedia
Rajiva Wijesinha, MA, DPhil (Sinhala: රජීව විජේසිoහ) (born May 16, 1954) 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 Mahinda Rajapakse appointed him Secretary-General of the Sri Lankan Government Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP)
, and in June 2008 he also became concurrently the Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights (Sri Lanka)
. The Peace Secretariat wound up in July 2009), and in February 2010 he resigned from the Ministry as well as the University, as he was a candidate on the National List of the United People's Freedom Alliance
in the General Election
held on 8 April 2010, following which he was appointed a Member of Parliament
.
He belongs to the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka
, and has served as its President and Leader, and also as a Vice-President of Liberal International
. He is currently Chair of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
. He has travelled widely, including as a Visiting Professor on the Semester at Sea Programme of the University of Pittsburgh
, and has published Beyond the First Circle: Travels in the Second and Third Worlds.
when he was 16. After his first degree, which also led to an MA in 1977, he moved to Corpus Christi College, Oxford
as an E K Chambers Student (Edmund Kerchever Chambers
), and obtained a B.Phil.
degree in English, followed by a Ph.D.
degree on the subject of Women and Marriage in the early Victorian novel. The thesis was subsequently published by the University Press of America
under the title The Androgynous Trollope.
He taught briefly at the University of Peradeniya
before resigning in protest against the increasing authoritarianism of the government of President Junius Richard Jayewardene
. He then worked for the British Council
in Colombo
as its Cultural Affairs Officer before rejoining the University system to initiate English degree programmes for students from backgrounds that had limited English in school. He was responsible for the islandwide pre-University General English Language Training programme, as well as General English programmes at the Affiliated University Colleges established in 1992 to introduce employment oriented courses into the tertiary education system.
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 Chanaka Amaratunga
to set up the Council for Liberal Democracy and was Co-Editor of the Liberal Review, at a time when dissenting voices had no space to publish in Sri Lanka. He became President of the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka
when it was established in 1987 and, though more comfortable as an analyst rather than a politician, he took over as Leader of the Party after Dr Amaratunga’s death in 1996. He was the Presidential candidate of the party in 1999, and came 6th out of 15 candidates, defeating several former parliamentarians. During this period he conducted workshops on Liberalism
in India
, Pakistan
, Nepal
, Afghanistan
and Indonesia
, on behalf of the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung (FNS), the German Liberal Foundation, for whom he also edited Liberal Values for South Asia (revised recently as Liberal Perspectives on South Asia and published in 2009 by Cambridge University Press, Delhi).
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, 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.
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 Gratiaen Award for 1995, was published by Giovanni Tranchida Editore in Milan in 2002, and this was followed in 2006 by Atti di fede. This last was a translation of Acts of Faith, based on the 1983 government-sponsored riots against Tamils known as Black July
, and the first part of a trilogy that included Days of Despair (1989) and The Limits of Love (2005). He worked on this last novel, which is based on the kidnapping and murder of the poet and journalist Richard de Zoysa, as a resident at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center and at the Center for Writers at Hawthornden Castle.
Prof Wijesinha serves at present 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.
Sri Lankan literature
Sri Lankan literature is the literary tradition of Sri Lanka. The largest part of Sri Lankan literature was written in the Sinhala language, but there is a considerable amount of works in other languages used in Sri Lanka over the millennia .Up to the present, short stories are a very important...
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
Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
The Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka located in Belihuloya, Balangoda, Sri Lanka. It was founded on 20 November 1991 and consists of 5 Faculties.- Faculties :*Faculty of Agricultural Sciences**Department of Agribusiness Management...
, Sri Lanka.
In June 2007 President Mahinda Rajapakse appointed him Secretary-General of the Sri Lankan Government Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP)
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP)
Born out of a need to institutionalize the Peace Process, the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process was established on 6 February 2002 with the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Government of Sri Lanka . The Secretariat was headed by Bernard Goonetilleke , Jayantha Dhanapala ,...
, and in June 2008 he also became concurrently the Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights (Sri Lanka)
Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights (Sri Lanka)
The Cabinet Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights was established in terms of the gazette notification issued on 20 February 2006. The Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe was appointed as the first Minister of this new Ministry by His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapakse...
. The Peace Secretariat wound up in July 2009), and in February 2010 he resigned from the Ministry as well as the University, as he was a candidate on the National List of the United People's Freedom Alliance
United People's Freedom Alliance
The United People's Freedom Alliance is a political alliance in Sri Lanka. The current leader of the United People's Freedom Alliance is Mahinda Rajapaksa and Susil Premajayantha is the general secretary of UPFA.The alliance was formed by:...
in the General Election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
held on 8 April 2010, following which he was appointed a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
.
He belongs to the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka
Liberal Party of Sri Lanka
The Liberal Party of Sri Lanka began as a think-tank called the Council for Liberal Democracy, founded in 1981 by the late Dr. Chanaka Amaratunga, a longstanding member of the United National Party which was then in government....
, and has served as its President and Leader, and also as a Vice-President of Liberal International
Liberal International
Liberal International is a political international federation for liberal parties. Its headquarters is located at 1 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HD within the National Liberal Club. It was founded in Oxford in 1947, and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties and for the...
. He is currently Chair of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats is a regional organization of liberal and democratic political parties in Asia. The Council was created on October 15, 1993, in a meeting in Taipei...
. He has travelled widely, including as a Visiting Professor on the Semester at Sea Programme of the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
, and has published Beyond the First Circle: Travels in the Second and Third Worlds.
Education and career
Rajiva Wijesinha schooled at S Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia, and won an Open Exhibition in Classics to University College, OxfordUniversity College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
when he was 16. After his first degree, which also led to an MA in 1977, he moved to Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
as an E K Chambers Student (Edmund Kerchever Chambers
Edmund Kerchever Chambers
Sir Edmund Kerchever Chambers was an English literary critic and Shakespearean scholar. His four-volume history of Elizabethan theater, published in 1923, remains a standard resource for scholars of the period's drama....
), and obtained a B.Phil.
Bachelor of Philosophy
Bachelor of Philosophy is the title of an academic degree. The degree usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects...
degree in English, followed by a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
degree on the subject of Women and Marriage in the early Victorian novel. The thesis was subsequently published by the University Press of America
University Press of America
University Press of America is an academic book publisher based in the United States. Part of the independent Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, it was founded in 1975 and boasts of having published "more than 10,000 academic, scholarly, and biographical titles in many disciplines"...
under the title The Androgynous Trollope.
He taught briefly at the University of Peradeniya
University of Peradeniya
The University of Peradeniya is a world renowned state university in Sri Lanka, funded by the University Grants Commission...
before resigning in protest against the increasing authoritarianism of the government of President Junius Richard Jayewardene
Junius Richard Jayewardene
Junius Richard Jayewardene , famously abbreviated in Sri Lanka as JR, was the first executive President of Sri Lanka, serving from 1978 till 1989. He was a leader of the nationalist movement in Ceylon who served in a variety of cabinet positions in the decades following independence...
. He then worked for the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
in Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
as its Cultural Affairs Officer before rejoining the University system to initiate English degree programmes for students from backgrounds that had limited English in school. He was responsible for the islandwide pre-University General English Language Training programme, as well as General English programmes at the Affiliated University Colleges established in 1992 to introduce employment oriented courses into the tertiary education system.
In 2001 he served as a Consultant to the Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education (Sri Lanka)
The Ministry Of Education is a ministry of the Government of Sri Lanka that directs the formulation and implementation of policies related to primary and secondary education in Sri Lanka...
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 Chanaka Amaratunga
Chanaka Amaratunga
Chanaka Amaratunga was the founder of the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka.-Early life:Schooled at St Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, Amaratunga went on to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at University College, Oxford...
to set up the Council for Liberal Democracy and was Co-Editor of the Liberal Review, at a time when dissenting voices had no space to publish in Sri Lanka. He became President of the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka
Liberal Party of Sri Lanka
The Liberal Party of Sri Lanka began as a think-tank called the Council for Liberal Democracy, founded in 1981 by the late Dr. Chanaka Amaratunga, a longstanding member of the United National Party which was then in government....
when it was established in 1987 and, though more comfortable as an analyst rather than a politician, he took over as Leader of the Party after Dr Amaratunga’s death in 1996. He was the Presidential candidate of the party in 1999, and came 6th out of 15 candidates, defeating several former parliamentarians. During this period he conducted workshops on Liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, on behalf of the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung (FNS), the German Liberal Foundation, for whom he also edited Liberal Values for South Asia (revised recently as Liberal Perspectives on South Asia and published in 2009 by Cambridge University Press, Delhi).
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
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
which aided and administered the EWC at its inception. He had earlier edited the New Lankan Review, 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.
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 Gratiaen Award for 1995, was published by Giovanni Tranchida Editore in Milan in 2002, and this was followed in 2006 by Atti di fede. This last was a translation of Acts of Faith, based on the 1983 government-sponsored riots against Tamils known as Black July
Black July
Black July is the commonly used name for the anti-Tamil pogrom and attacks carried out by mobs in Sri Lanka which began on July 23, 1983. The riots occurred following a deadly ambush by a Tamil militant organization known as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which killed 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers...
, and the first part of a trilogy that included Days of Despair (1989) and The Limits of Love (2005). He worked on this last novel, which is based on the kidnapping and murder of the poet and journalist Richard de Zoysa, as a resident at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center and at the Center for Writers at Hawthornden Castle.
Prof Wijesinha serves at present 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.
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.
English Language
- Aspects of Teaching and Learning English as a Second Language, 1991 (edited with James Drury)
- A Guide to Studying and Thinking, 1998 (with Priyantha Kulatunge and Ralf Starkloff)
- A Handbook of English Grammar, 2004
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
- A Selection of Modern Sri Lankan Poetry in English, 2006
- Bridging Connections (An Anthology of Sri Lankan Short Stories), 2007
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.
- The Foundations of Modern Society, 2004
Politics
- Current Crisis in Sri Lanka, 1986
- http://www.google.co.uk/books?id=1mpjAAAACAAJ&dq=rajiva+wijesinha 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
- http://www.google.co.uk/books?id=GMhrTs6dmCgC&pg=PP1&dq=rajiva+wijesinha&sig=tXnycwyMwPuZ6O9q9WRqYv2UF1I 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
- Ideas for Constitutional Reform, 2007 (revised/abridged from the original publication as edited by Dr Chanaka AmaratungaChanaka AmaratungaChanaka Amaratunga was the founder of the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka.-Early life:Schooled at St Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, Amaratunga went on to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at University College, Oxford...
, 1989) - Declining Sri Lanka, 2007
- Pursuing Peace, Fighting Falsehood, 2008
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