Sociocultural Plurality in Sri Lanka: Interculturality and New Knowledge Systems

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Sri Lanka’s diversity reflects its situation in the Indian Ocean and its trading potential. The existent diversity was further enhanced with the arrival of the Portuguese in the sixteenth century ad. The Portuguese were driven by the twin goals of trading and proselytising which led to territorial control and cultural flows. Historical narratives have centred around conflicts, wars, treaties, heroes, tensions and have omitted the day-to-day interactions and cultural flows. Recovering these narratives lead to creating new knowledge systems with more comprehensive pictures of the past which enable societies to understand the present better. Negative portrayals of the Portuguese have centred around the destruction to the religious philosophies in the island – Buddhism and Hinduism – and the loss of land to the Portuguese. These were further exacerbated by the ruthless and corrupt practices of colonisation. Documented historical narratives ignored the porosity and human interactions between the coloniser and colonised (De Silva Jayasuriya, 2008a). Concurrent occurrences of the official presence have not been separated from the unofficial that remain unrecognised. Alternative narratives of culture (material culture, artistic expressions, clothes, domestic lifestyles, etc.) relay the unrecognised. This chapter highlights sociocultural connections between communities in multiethnic pluricultural Sri Lanka which evolved during the colonial era. Histories built from the bottom up and alternative narratives which include culture contact mirror colonial encounters (de Silva, 2007). The impact of the Portuguese on Sri Lankan culture, economy and lifestyle has been explored. The degree to which colonial histories have influenced and informed new ways of knowing within Sri Lankan culture is considered. Drawing on the author’s critical self-reflections and her long-term interest in researching and writing about the Portuguese encounter and spillover effects in Sri Lanka, this chapter argues that a new historiography is called for in order to appreciate and acknowledge the Portuguese legacy in Sri Lanka and its contemporary relevance.