The Center for International Studies and the Departments of Political Science and Religious Studies hosted Mr. Tissa Jayatilaka as an International Visiting Scholar during the Fall Semester 2001.

His course, "Politics, Ethnicity and Religion in South Asia: Two Novels," involved a close reading of two historical novels, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (India) and A. Sivanandan’s When Memory Dies (Sri Lanka). In revealingly different ways, each author addresses the contemporary directions and dynamics of politics in South Asia. Through these readings, Mr. Jayatilaka examined how various religious constituencies (Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist) and ethnic groups have allied with various types of political forces and persuasions, and reflected on the ways religion and ethnicity are bound to each other in 20th century politics in South Asia and beyond.

Mr. Jayatilaka is a public intellectual, serving since May, 1989, as the Executive Director of the United States-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission. Mr. Jayatilaka earned an M.A. in English from Wake Forest University (1984), where he also served as a graduate teaching assistant. Between 1977 and 1992, he was a visiting lecturer in English and American Literature at the University of Peradinya (Kandy, Sri Lanka), and since 1993 has been an External Examiner and Moderator in the English Department of the same university. In addition, he has served as a Visiting Lecturer in the English Departments of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (Sri Lanka) and of Vidyalankara University of Sri Lanka.

PUBLIC LECTURE
“Literature of Ethnic Conflict and Political Violence in South Asia
(with special reference to Sri Lanka)”.

S & B INTERVIEW
Kenneth Yeung '04, S & B reporter, interviewed Tissa Jayatilaka for the October 5 issue of the S & B. Click here to read the interview.

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