Museums play a key role in shaping civic identities across generations. They act as ‘authentic’, ‘authoritative’, ‘consensual’ or ‘accepted’ narration of a society’s historic trajectory and identity for its own people as well as for the outsiders. In the aftermath of war in Sri Lanka, the dialogue on memory, transitional justice and reconciliation highlights museums as important sites of conscience and engagement. The publication draws from a study on museums in Sri Lanka from April 2017 – July 2017, covering an analysis of 25 museums and their relevance to the current discourse on memory and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. The purpose of the study is to arrive at an evidence based understanding of how museums in Sri Lanka deal with memory and identity politics. The study presents 3 in depth case studies from an array of museums such as national, regional, military and religious museums. The study scrutinizes how museums represent different communities and their histories, with special attention given to how they include marginalized and war affected communities. In addition, it discusses the current museum administration and its implications, vis-à-vis the reconciliation agenda pursued by the current government. The educational and pedagogical aspects of museums and their immediate potential to contribute to reconciliation will be highlighted through the case examples. The publication contextualizes the trajectory and evolution of museums in Sri Lanka over the last century and analyse how this has contributed to the formation of identities based on ethnic and religious lines.
The book is available for purchase in Sinhala, Tamil and English:
Online – Vidarshana Publishers online store
Collection – Historical Dialogue, 25 Elibank Road, Colombo 5. Please contact Sarath – 0777 270 812.
The digital version is made available at Academia.edu via the following link: Museums Memory and Identity Politics Digital Copy
The virtual book launch on 5th April 2020, had a review by Harshana Rambukwella, Director of the Postgraduate Institute of English, Open University of Sri Lanka followed by a discussion with:
Jagath Weerasinghe, Artist and Archaeologist (Post Graduate Institute of Archeology)
Aurelia Collard, Cultural Attache, French Embassy Colombo
Sanjeewani Widyarathne, National Museum Colombo
Hasini Haputhanthri, Consultant, Researcher and Author of the book
Moderated by Hiranyada Dewasiri, Journalist
Watch the launch event here: