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ID: 168566

Island journeys: fisher itineraries and national imaginaries in Colombo / Radicati, Alessandra

Radicati, Alessandra	Journal Article
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Summary/Abstract

This paper explores questions of mobility, ethnicity and spatial imaginaries in Sri Lanka through the experiences of fishermen in Mutuwall, a neighborhood of Colombo. While scholars of Sri Lanka have explored the historically contingent nature of Sri Lanka’s island-identity, this paper engages with the contemporary construction of island-ness through ethnographic fieldwork with twenty-first century residents of the city. Through fishers’ accounts of their pre-war itinerant lifestyles and their experiences living in the coastal High Security Zone during the civil conflict, this essay juxtaposes the free movement of fishers before the war with the heavily restricted movement they experienced at the height of the tensions between the Sri Lankan state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Fisher itineraries can be understood as dovetailing with state imaginaries of island-wide sovereignty even as they challenge it by describing subaltern movement through space. Ultimately, this paper suggests the importance of contemporary modes of ‘doing’ Indian Ocean studies.

Key Words

Ethnicity ; Sri Lanka ; Mobility ; Fishermen ; Indian Ocean Studies

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ID: 188190

Journey to Justice: Transnational Civil Rights and Ramnath Biswas, an Indian Globetrotter from Bengal, 1938–40 / Bandyopadhyay, Nupur

Bandyopadhyay, Nupur	Journal Article
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Ramnath Biswas (1894–1955) independently travelled around the world on a bicycle between 1931 and 1940. His travelogues about Africa and the US reveal Biswas to be an active supporter of the nascent transnational civil rights movement. This article connects his endeavours to achieve social justice for African, African American and Asian people with the phenomenon of ‘coloured cosmopolitanism’. Biswas’ observations—in particular, his portrayal of racial dynamics between Indians and Africans—are striking. Exploring Biswas’ narratives from a micro-historical perspective allows us to envision an alternative history of solidarity between non-white (‘oshwet’) people and to place his journey at the intersection of Indian Ocean Studies and studies of transnational civil rights activities during the inter-War period.

Key Words

Anti-Imperialism ; Coloured Cosmopolitanism ; Indian Ocean Studies ; Globetrotting ; Race Relations in Colonial Africa ; Regional Language Travelogues ;
Transnational Civil Rights

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