Práce srovnává dvě mezinárodní zprostředkování etnického konfliktu na Šrí Lance. První, vedené Indií v letech 1983 - 1987 a druhé, iniciované Norskem v letech 2000 - 2002. Seznamuje čtenáře s pozadím etnického konfliktu na ostrově a jeho vývojem do začátku indického zprostředkování. Detailně analyzuje průběh indické a norské mediace. Na základě teoretického rámce stanovuje determinanty úspěšné mediace. Pomocí nichž pak dochází k závěrům reflektujícím příčiny neúspěchu indické mediace a příčiny částečného úspěchu mediace vedené Norskem.

This thesis, “Re-visioning a Discipline: Martin Wickramasinghe’s Contribution to Comparative Literature,” explores the comparative approach of Martin Wickramasinghe, the pioneering twentieth-century Sri Lankan novelist, literary-cultural critic, and journalist. Wickramasinghe drew on Sinhala folk and classical, Pali, Sanskrit, and Western literary traditions, especially those of England, and Russia. His comparative approach had two main principles: First, literary concepts do not belong to any literary culture on the basis of their origin. Second, any concept that exists in a given literary culture can be “remoulded” and incorporated by another culture. The rejection of the notion of origin-based ownership of literary concepts and the reformulation of literary concepts as phenomena that may be circulated among literary cultures create a hierarchy-less base for comparison. In creating his comparative approach, Wickramasinghe problematized the binaries of local and metropolitan, village and city, and national and international. I examine his comparative approach by analyzing, first, his re-interpretations of the concepts of reader and grāmyatā (vulgarity). For example, Wickramasinghe challenged the elitism of Sanskrit literary theoretical conceptions of the reader and vulgarity. Second, I discuss how he “remoulded” different literary concepts in his theoretical writings and fiction. For example, he created a concept of realism that drew on classical Sinhala narratives as well as Western literature and theory. In this thesis, I place Wickramasinghe’s comparative approach in conversation with postcolonial scholarship such as that of Dipesh Chakrabarty, Simon Gikandi, Revathi Krishnaswamy, Gayathri Spivak, and S. Subramaniam. Wickramasinghe’s comparative approach provides us new insights on how to compare different literary cultures without ascribing hierarchical values to these cultures. He rejected the binaries of colonial and postcolonial Sri Lanka and, instead, situated himself in a liminal position. His writings illumine how Pali, Sanskrit, and European metropolitan literary traditions all impacted Sinhala literary culture in different historical periods. Wickramasinghe focused on how Sinhala literary culture appropriates literary concepts from other literary traditions rather than on the traditions themselves.

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Idén till denna uppsats tog sin början i en kyrka i Kandy, i centrala Sri Lanka, i januari 2019. Två präster från Svenska kyrkan och jag hade varit på besök i landet och vi skulle avsluta vår vistelse med att fira högmässa i anglikanska St. Paul’s Church på trettondedag jul. Efter gudstjänsten fick vi under kyrkfikat möjlighet att sitta ned med kyrkoherden och diskutera religionsdialog. Något som blev tydligt för mig under samtalet var hur ifrågasatt den kristna minoriteten i landet är. St. Paul’s Church byggdes under den brittiska kolonialtiden och ligger vägg i vägg med Sri Lankas viktigaste buddhisttempel – Sri Dalada Maligawa. Marken som omgärdar templet är omstridd och församlingen har fått utstå flera verbala och fysiska attacker från buddhister som inte velat ha kyrkan på den mark som britterna tog ifrån dem under 1800-talet. Kyrkoherdens berättelse fick mig att vilja undersöka situationen närmare – hur ser relationen mellan kristna och människor av annan trosuppfattning egentligen ut? Eftersom jag är student erbjöd han sig att kontakta ett teologiskt college i centralprovinsen för att jag skulle få möjlighet att själv undersöka hur studenter och lärare arbetar med frågan. Sri Lanka har med sin mångreligiösa miljö givit världen flera pionjärer inom religionsdialog. Aloysius Pieris – jesuitpräst och grundare av Tulana Research Center for Encounter and Dialogue, Wesley Ariarajah – Kyrkornas världsråds sekreterare för interreligiösa relationer och Lynn de Silva – tidigare vid Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue i Colombo, är några av dem. Att ägna sig åt religionsdialog i en kontext där man som samfund befinner sig i minoritet borde vara viktigt för att kunna samexistera, tänkte jag. Min egen bild av begreppet är att religionsdialog handlar om konstruktiva interaktioner över religionsgränser där människor försöker nå en ömsesidig förståelse av sin religiösa nästa för att i förlängningen främja fred mellan människor av olika trosuppfattningar. Ekumenik handlar för mig om relationer i samarbete och bön mellan kristna. Mina uppfattningar kom att utmanas under resan tillbaka till Sri Lanka i augusti samma år. Det blev början på en tid som kom att ge mig nya perspektiv och erfarenheter som resulterade i denna uppsats.

River sand mining from the Maha Oya is the main source of income and a force that drives economic activity for residents along the river. This study takes place in Sri Lanka, there are three villages included in this project: Jambugaswatte, Janituspuraya and Thoppuwa. In Sri Lanka, sand serves as the main building material. It is used to make bricks, tiles, asphalt and concrete, therefore demanding a high market value. However, the over-extraction of sand comes along with significant environmental problems. These communities depend on the river in many ways and the health of the river directly corresponds to the health of the ecosystem as a whole. Along the Maha Oya two important elements of survival are in conflict with one another: residents simultaneously need a healthy, thriving ecosystem to live in, as well as economic opportunities. With support from the Environmental Foundation Ltd. (EFL)--a Sri Lankan environmental justice NGO--this study focuses on the complex situation with sand mining on the Maha Oya. Data for this study comes from fifteen formal interviews with a Sinhala-English translator. These interviews are used to address the two research questions for this project: how do village residents along the Maha Oya perceive sand mining? And what are the emotional, practical and theoretical responses of village residents to the effects of sand mining on their local ecosystems? In order to envision a sustainable future, it is vital to begin with a clear understanding of community perceptions of these complex issues, which are at the heart of this project.

In conflict-affected and divided societies, citizenship education has gained considerable attention for its potential to promote democratic peace and address issues of identity and societal divisions. This study demonstrates the vital role of gender equality for social cohesion by illustrating how aspects of inclusive democratic citizenship needed for social cohesion are undermined by hierarchical social relations and harmful masculinities fostered through the patriarchal aspects of education and schooling. This inquiry examines if and how policies for social cohesion through education, specifically citizenship education, contribute to peace in conflict-affected Sri Lanka, a county plagued by 30 years of war. Through a document analysis of the grade 6-9 citizenship textbooks, interviews and surveys with teachers and students, and classroom and school observations, this study explores how policies related to education for social cohesion are appropriated and enacted within schools and classrooms and how students consequently understand their role as citizens in a conflict-affected society. The study design is a transformative design mixed methods study of 13 schools across four provinces in post-war Sri Lanka. Using a post-colonial feminist approach, this study draws conclusions on how gender roles and relations intersect with citizenship education and its potential to contribute to gender transformative peacebuilding. Qualitative and quantitative findings reveal that attitudes on gender equality are closely related to attitudes on social cohesion. Many of the factors associated with patriarchy, including harmful masculinities, not only reduced gender equality, but they also undermined the egalitarian foundations of democracy needed for peace and social cohesion. However, when educators were able to engage in practices that fostered the knowledge and skills to empathize across differences (gender, ethnic, and religious) and build egalitarian relationships, they fostered inclusive democratic citizenship among students and contributed to social cohesion. At the same time, results indicate that education’s capacity to promote social cohesion, through the formal and informal curriculum, is limited due to a state-centric belligerent approach to citizenship and citizenship education, which is primarily focused on developing a personally responsible citizen.

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A legislative authority empowered to protect Srilanka's environment, operating similarly to the Environmental Protection Agency of the U.S., is needed, along with wastewater treatment. Wastewater parameters of importance in treatment are BOD, COD, total suspended solids, settleable solids, pH, colour, turbidity, ammonia or nitrate nitrogen, heavy metals, sulfides, phosphates, and phenols. Methods of industrial waste treatment vary depending on the climatic conditions, the industry, raw materials, and process adopted. Textile and pulp and paper industries exist in Srilanka and have very high pollution potential. Methods of treatment to finally generate reasonably good quality effluent are available. Processing of effluents from these type industries together with municipal sewage is feasible and economical. Due to the complex nature of the composition of industrial wastes, a final decision could only be made after a thorough investigation of the industrial complexes, the methodology used, and pilot plant studies.

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Yes / This paper looks at community peace work in Sri Lanka, and represents work in its early stages. It provides a view of peace work from the perception of a Sri Lankan community peace activist. The popular practice of treating community peace work as an apolitical exercise will be challenged. An overview of the meta-narratives of the Sri Lankan conflict will be provided, since these inform the broader analytic context which needs to be understood for successful community peace work to be undertaken. Community peace building practice, which draws from knowledge of the international conflict resolution discourse, is treated as just one `peace¿ approach among several. Community level work is seen as one contribution to the overall peace effort in finding a resolution to the Sri Lankan conflict.