Papers by Dennis McGilvray
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Sep 2, 1982
Page 1. Caste Ideology and Interaction Edited by Dennis B. McGilvray Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. 3 C ... more Page 1. Caste Ideology and Interaction Edited by Dennis B. McGilvray Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. 3 C I' I 1 'I t I i '1 < V 1. 1 T I ' i I I i s! II 'I h Page 5. Page 6. Page 7. CAMBRIDGE PAPERS IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY General Editor: Jack Goody No 9 Caste Ideology and Interaction ...
Visual Anthropology, Jul 15, 2010
The multicultural festival for the Sri Lankan god Kataragama, extensively studied by Gananath Obe... more The multicultural festival for the Sri Lankan god Kataragama, extensively studied by Gananath Obeyesekere and other anthropologists, is the destination for a group of Tamil Hindu pilgrims shown in this film walking 300 km from the northern Jaffna Peninsula down the eastern coastline of the island, to fulfill their vows at the god’s remote jungle shrine in the south. (For an excellent film on this from a Sinhala Buddhist perspective, see Kataragama: A God for All Seasons in the 1973 Granada Television ‘‘Disappearing World’’ Series, 52min.) Lord Kataragama, also known as Murugan to most Tamils, is the good-looking second son of Siva, and his festival celebrates his mythic extramarital love affair with an aboriginal Vedda princess named Valli. Filmed in 2003–2004 during a ceasefire in the island’s bitter civil war, this documentary makes a strong effort to situate the Kataragama Pada Yatra (on-foot pilgrimage) within the context of Sri Lankan military campaigns and multiethnic violence. In fact, the camera first sights the pilgrims already a third of the way toward their destination, after they have left territory then controlled by the LTTE (‘‘Tamil Tiger’’) guerrillas. More than two-thirds of the film’s footage depicts the progress of this growing pilgrim band as they walk in daily stages from one temple campsite to the next along the eastern coastal road, stopping frequently to receive village hospitality and to express their devotional fervor by singing hymns and falling into states of rapturous possession–trance. Some of this footage is spectacular. We see a Tamil woman in trance illuminated by camphor flames frantically reaching into the holes of a termite mound trying to make physical contact with the cobra deity. We are mesmerized by a Tamil granny in white sari who dances sensuously and seductively to a recorded devotional song while gazing into the doorway of a Murugan shrine. Every day, as they hike steadily southward, the pilgrims chant harō harā, the distinctive invocation for Lord Kataragama. A central figure in the film is an American Hindu devotee, Patrick Harrigan, who first performed the Pada Yatra in 1972 and who led the efforts to sustain the pilgrimage during Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict. Harrigan, conspicuous in a bright green waistcloth and turban, offers a somewhat patronizing meta-commentary throughout the film, yet he is also deeply committed to the religious goals of the pilgrimage, making him a Visual Anthropology, 23: 356–357, 2010 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0894-9468 print=1545-5920 online DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2010.485019
Oxford University Press eBooks, Nov 3, 2016
Our country is made of numerous linguistic, ethnic and religious communities. We have to get the ... more Our country is made of numerous linguistic, ethnic and religious communities. We have to get the best out of all, blend and march forward as a nation and reach the world communities
Journal of the American Oriental Society, Oct 1, 1994
Routledge eBooks, Aug 30, 2021
Journal of Anthropological Research, Apr 1, 2011
Duke University Press eBooks, 2008
Duke University Press eBooks, 2011
Man, Jun 1, 1983
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Contributions to Indian Sociology, Nov 1, 1998
In the context of Sri Lanka's inter-ethnic conflict between the Tamils and the Sinhalese, the... more In the context of Sri Lanka's inter-ethnic conflict between the Tamils and the Sinhalese, the Tamil- speaking Muslims or Moors occupy a unique position. Unlike the historically insurrectionist Māppilas of Kerala or the assimilationist Marakkāyars of coastal Tamilnadu, the Sri Lankan Muslim urban elite has fostered an Arab Islamic identity in the 20th century which has severed them from the Dravidian separatist campaign of the Hindu and Christian Tamils. This has placed the Muslim farmers in the Tamil-speaking north-eastern region in an awkward and dangeruus situation, because they would be geographically central to any future Tamil homeland. The first part of this essay traces the historical construction of contemporary Muslim ethnicity and surveys their position in contemporary Sri Lankan politics. The second half of the essay provides an ethnographic portrait of a local-level Muslim com munity closely juxtaposed with their Hindu Tamil neighbuurs in the agricultural town of Akkaraipattu in the eastern Batticaloa region of the island.
Anthropology News, Oct 1, 2010
India Review, Dec 1, 2006
... LTTE now occupies a fortified nation-like swath of Dry Zone territory it has renamed Tamil Ee... more ... LTTE now occupies a fortified nation-like swath of Dry Zone territory it has renamed Tamil Eelam, LTTE cadres in the eastern region of the island also control much of the inland forest and paddy lands on the western shore of the Batticaloa Lagoon (Figure 2). Tamil Tiger cadres ...
Nations and Nationalism, Dec 22, 2010
Sri Lanka's Sunni Muslims or ''Moors'', who make up eight percent of the population, are the coun... more Sri Lanka's Sunni Muslims or ''Moors'', who make up eight percent of the population, are the country's third largest ethnic group, after the Buddhist Sinhalese (seventy-four per cent) and the Hindu Tamils (eighteen per cent). Although the armed LTTE (Tamil Tiger) rebel movement was defeated militarily by government forces in May 2009, the island's Muslims still face the long-standing external threats of ethno-linguistic Tamil nationalism and pro-Sinhala Buddhist government land and resettlement policies. In addition, during the past decade a sharp internal conflict has arisen within the Sri Lankan Muslim community between locally popular Sufi sheiks and the followers of hostile Islamic reformist movements energised by ideas and resources from the global ummah, or world community of Muslims. This simultaneous combination of ''external'' ethno-nationalist rivalries and ''internal'' Islamic doctrinal conflict has placed Sri Lanka's Muslims in a double bind: how to defend against Tamil and Sinhalese ethnic hegemonies while not appearing to embrace an Islamist or jihadist agenda. This article first traces the historical development of Sri Lankan Muslim identity in the context of twentieth-century Sri Lankan nationalism and the south Indian Dravidian movement, then examines the recent anti-Sufi violence that threatens to divide the Sri Lankan Muslim community today.
Duke University Press eBooks, 2008
Journal of Anthropological Research, Apr 1, 2008
Man, Mar 1, 1985
Page 1. Caste Ideology and Interaction Edited by Dennis B. McGilvray Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. 3 C ... more Page 1. Caste Ideology and Interaction Edited by Dennis B. McGilvray Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. 3 C I' I 1 'I t I i '1 < V 1. 1 T I ' i I I i s! II 'I h Page 5. Page 6. Page 7. CAMBRIDGE PAPERS IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY General Editor: Jack Goody No 9 Caste Ideology and Interaction ...
American Ethnologist, Feb 1, 1983
Anthem Press eBooks, May 5, 2012
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Papers by Dennis McGilvray