Lecture on Martin Wickramasinghe at ICES
View(s):In collaboration with the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) Colombo, the Martin Wickramasinghe Trust will be organising a lecture on Martin Wickramasinghe at the ICES Auditorium in Colombo on Friday, February 6.
The lecture, titled “The Making of a Modern Sri Lankan Mind. The Life and Work of Martin Wickramasinghe (1890 – 1976)”, will be delivered by Uditha Devapriya, an independent researcher, columnist, and analyst involved in various projects.
The presentation at ICES Colombo is part of a series of lectures which were organised by the Martin Wickramasinghe Trust last year. The first of these was a webinar at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) UK and the second of these was a lecture at India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi. Both presentations evoked much interest among foreign and local audiences. They were followed by lectures at Lakmahal Community Library, the Social Scientists’ Association (SSA), and Marga Institute.
2025 marked Wickramasinghe’s 135th birth anniversary, while this year marks his 50th death anniversary. With that in view, the trust has undertaken a number of projects, including the lecture series. Since 2024, Devapriya has been researching Wickramasinghe for a comprehensive biographical study. The research incorporates interviews with individuals who knew Wickramasinghe, worked with him, and studied him, and archive material which has never been considered or researched before.
The lecture series has approached Wickramasinghe from different vantage points. While the SOAS and IIC presentations gave a general overview of him and his writings, the Lakmahal, SSA, and Marga Institute presentations approached him from specific vantage points. The Marga lecture, for instance, looked into the social and economic developments of late 19th and early 20th century Ceylon, and how these influenced his work.
The lecture at ICES will present an overview of Wickramasinghe, with focus on his anthropological writings. The opening remarks are set to be delivered by Ambassador (Retd) Ravinatha Aryasinha, Executive Director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), while the closing remarks are set to be delivered by Priyanthi Fernando, Executive Director of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS). The session will be moderated by Hirun Matheesha, who works with Uditha on a number of research projects and moderated most of the earlier sessions on Wickramasinghe.
For further information on registration, you can contact Uditha at
udakdev1@gmail.com.
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