INTERVIEW WITH MAITHREE WICKRAMASINGHE
“We would need to think in terms of professional degrees in Translation Methods, Interpreting, editing, Pedagogy, Journalism, and research to assist graduates into jobs that have political relevance as well as to ease them into professions that would further the discipline as a whole.”
by KS Sivakumaran
(November 03, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) As one of the Joint-Secretaries along with Dr Nihal Fernando, Head of the English Department of the University of Peradeniya, I am still interested in English Studies although the English Association of Sri Lanka instituted by Emeritus Professor Ashley Halpe’ is not now functioning.
Lately I happened to read an interesting article titled “Re-Emerging English Studies” published in Vol 11 Number 1 of a publication called Nethra Review published by the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) written by Dr Maithree Wickramesinghe of the English Department, University of Kelaniya.
My purpose in this week’s column is to bring to the notice of students of English Literature some of the salient points that the writer makes for further discussion and analysis. My part here is only to comment briefly from the point of a reader and not as an academic critic.
In the article mentioned Dr M W actually reviews a book: Arbiters of a National Imaginary: Essays on Sri Lanka-Festschrift for Professor Ashley Halpe’. The book was edited by Lanka-born Canadian Prof Chelva Kanaganayakam and published by the ICES, Colombo.
Dr M W justifiably pays a tribute to Prof Ashley Halpe’ whose humility and humanness are appreciated by many who admired him.
What is her approach?
Says she: “I approach this collection of essays primarily as a methodologist…To develop this perspective, I have taken Dr Thiru Kandiah’s essay in the festschrift -
“And How Can We Know the Dancer from the Dance? Post Coloniality, the Unified Sensibility, Self-Reflexivity, and Much Else”
Then the writer refers to the ‘disciplinary and discursive evolution of English Studies –in this country and worldwide. Her examples are the writing of Ernest MacIntyre and Chandani Lokuge, Jim MacDonald and Ashley Halpe.’
Dr M W Talks about multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary significance of English Studies as found in the Festscrift.
Adding further, the writer points out that the collection reviewed by her ‘reflects how the discipline today ‘embraces a range in aesthetic form’. She lists the range of aspects included.
M W also adds that “the collection alludes to multiple ideological, epistemological and theoretical standpoints from feminist views to postcolonial analysis; from critical theories to Buddhist perspectives; from neo-liberal outlooks to post modern deconstructions that are supported by the discipline’
Another feature M W observed was that the collection of academic essays “incorporates the array of interdisciplinary methodological practices from visual and literary analysis to creative and critical practice to the translational and deconstructive that is currently applied in English Studies.”
The writer argues that ‘there has to be a paradigm shift when engaging with English Studies in Sri Lanka today.”
This columnist welcomes such a shift as an academic exercise, but to enjoy literature a non-academic teacher and journalist like yours truly feels at home following the traditional practical criticism rather than deconstructing a work and throwing away the author as ‘dead’.
However, I salute her suggestions that she makes. I quote her:
“To begin with, there needs to be institutional acknowledgement of these trends and concerns as well as institutional responses to accommodate such disciplinary diversity in future programmes”.
One of her questions is: “Do we need to reorganise and gender mainstream English curricula keeping such gender imbalance in mind?”
The rest of her essay should be read and thought about to bring in changes in understanding English Studies.
Maithree Wickremesinghe concludes her well argued review with these comments:
“We would need to think in terms of professional degrees in Translation Methods, Interpreting, editing, Pedagogy, Journalism, and research to assist graduates into jobs that have political relevance as well as to ease them into professions that would further the discipline as a whole.”
Here is a suggestion by her which I endorse very much. That is:
“We would necessarily have to think in terms of English Faculties that would constitute departments of English Literature, English Language, English Linguistics, Professional English, Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary English Studies, English Pedagogy and Policy Studies, Sri Lankan English and so on.”
As a person interested in Thamil Literature as well, I wish that the Departments of Thamil in various universities in the country should reorganise the faculties in the manner suggested by Dr Wickremesinghe interchanging “English” to “Thamil” appropriately.
(The writer can be reached at sivakumaran.ks@gmail.com )
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