DOCSLIB.ORG

Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network Annual Report 2011

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network Annual Report 2011 Photo courtesy: Arakan Project Refugee team Photo courtesy: Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network Annual Report 2011 Photo courtesy: Arakan Project Refugee team Photo courtesy: Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network 7th Floor, Ploy Mitr Building, 81 Sukhumvit soi 2, Bangkok, Thailand Tel / Fax: +66 (0) 22526654 | [email protected] | www.aprrn.org Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network Annual Report 2011 1 Design and Layout: Julia Mayerhofer Editing: Anoop Sukumaran, Julia Mayerhofer, Issac Olson, Dana Mclean Photo Courtesy: The Arakan Project Refugee Team, Thai Committee for Refugees foundation, APRRN. This document is under a creative commons licence. June 2012 2 Table of contents 4 Message from the APRRN Chairs 6 Note from the APRRN Secretariat 7 About APRRN 10 Refugees in the Asia Pacific - An overview of 2011 11 Australia & Pacific 11 South Asia 12 Southeast Asia 14 East Asia 15 Key Achievements in 2011 16 Making an impact - What APRRN members say 17 Advocacy programmes 25 Capacity- building initiatives 31 Network development and communication 34 APRRN Members 36 Acknowledgements 3 Message from the APRRN Chairs The Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) was established in 2008 at the first Asia Pacific Consulta- tion on Refugee Rights in Kuala Lumpur. While 2009 and 2010 were focused on laying a good foundation for the Network in the years to follow, 2011 was the year APRRN was able to implement a range of activi- ties and produce tangible results. In the second half of 2011, APRRN pioneered initia- tives in the region such as a Refugee Mental Health Training in Hong Kong, a short course on refugee Pill Kyu Hwang Gopal Krishna Siwakoti law with the University of York and the Refugee and Statelessness Studies Programme at Mahidol Univer- in December 2010. Relevant stakeholders from the sity in Bangkok. In November 2011, APRRN and the Thai government recognized the statement and International Detention Coalition also organized a APRRN supported Thai civil society to take the lead. successful workshop on immigration detention for This was a historic development and has led to 45 participants from across the region. In the same further releases of refugees and asylum seekers from month, APRRN coordinated the East Asia Symposium detention by other stakeholders. Our members in under the theme “Beyond Asylum: Refugee Policy Thailand are now also working on a draft bill, which in Practice and How Refugees Experience it,” which will be tabled at parliament if 10,000 signatures from brought together over 100 people from Hong Kong, Thai citizens are collected. Other key achievements Korea, Japan and Taiwan. In addition we were able include the draft of Standard Operating Procedures to hold consultations in three sub-regions: East Asia in Indonesia, the new refugee law in South Korea and (November), Southeast Asia (September) and South the promising collaboration between civil society Asia (April). and the Japanese government. In 2011, our advocacy efforts also concentrated on APRRN members have also continuously engaged strengthening initiatives of members on a national with regional formations such as ASEAN & SAARC level. One of the highlights this year was the release and its diverse bodies to ensure that refugee lan- of 94 refugees and 2 asylum seekers from immigra- guage is represented. In addition, APRRN has ex- tion detention in Bangkok in June 2011. APRRN co- panded the reach of the network and continues ordinated the initial joint statement demanding the cooperating with other networks such as the Solidar- release of detained Ahmadi Pakistanis in Thailand ity for Asian People’s Advocacy (SAPA) network. 4 On an international level, APRRN continues engaging with UNHCR in Geneva as well as with the UNHCR Regional Hub. Through APRRN, members were able to raise key concerns with UNHCR senior staff and APRRN is now being recognized as one of the key stakeholders in refugee rights discourses. During the UNHCR Consultations with NGOs in June 2011, APRRN also officially launched model pledges to states, which urge governments in the Asia Pacific region to embrace a number of pledges related to the protection of refugee rights. In 2011, the APRRN Secretariat saw some positive changes. Julia Mayerhofer joined as Programme Officer in April 2011 and Haemin Park as an intern from July to December 2011. This increase in staff has allowed APRRN to develop the previously mentioned range of new initiatives. APRRN has now grown to over 110 members organ- ized in four thematic and four geographical working groups. APRRN has facilitated discussion, sharing of resources and joint responses among its members through our various communication channels. All of this has resulted in a dynamic and maturing network making us confident that APRRN will contin- ue to grow and strengthen its position in 2012. After this fruitful year, we would like to express our sincere thanks to the other Steering Committee members, the APRRN Secretariat and of course all members for their continuous commitment towards APRRN. Pill Kyu Hwang, Chair of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network Gopal Krishna Siwakoti, Deputy Chair of the Asia Pacific Refgugee Rights Network 5 Note from the APRRN Secretariat 2011 was significant as it commemorated the 60th Programme Officer. The Secretariat was also sup- anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the ported by Haemin Park, who volunteered as an intern Status of Refugees and the 50th anniversary of the from July to December. Undoubtedly, this increase in 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. human resource capacity from competent and com- It is fitting that through its various initiatives the Asia mitted individuals has meant greater efficiency in Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) made a mark meeting the goals set for the Secretariat. at the national, regional and international levels in 2011. The Secretariat wishes to thank the APRRN Steering Committee for their incredible support and insight, The strength of APRRN resides in the incredible com- the APRRN membership who inspire us with their mitment and ownership that its membership dem- work and APRRN donors whose support has enabled onstrates toward upholding and advancing refugee the achievement of the outcomes for the year. rights in the region. The network has become a platform that synergizes the wonderful work that is The Secretariat is proud and honoured to be part of a being done at various levels. movement that is advancing the rights of refugees. Based in Bangkok, the APRRN Secretariat is tasked Anoop Sukumaran with coordinating the activities of the network APRRN Coordinator as well as enabling the achievement of goals and objectives set by the membership. The Secretariat is provided policy direction through the Steering Committee, as representatives of the general APRRN membership. The APRRN Secretariat remains in con- APRRN Secretariat Team stant contact with the membership through emails, newsletters, website and face-to-face interactions at workshops, consultations and field visits. In addition, the Secretariat endeavors to ensure the active partici- courtesy: APRRN Photo pation of all the members and encourages contribu- tions to policy debates, knowledge, resource and skill sharing. In 2011, the Secretariat was augmented by the re- cruitment of Julia Mayerhofer as the APRRN 6 About the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network The Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) was Forging partnerships between civil society, UN founded in November 2008 and since then has pro- agencies, national governments, academic institu- vided a forum for joint advocacy and communication tions, and regional bodies through a common front between diverse civil society organizations working catalyzes the movement and draws upon all refugee on refugee rights in the Asia Pacific. The Network support systems to maximize available resources and currently consists of more than 110 members, bring- leave no potential pathway untried. ing them together to strengthen protection frame- works and develop key mechanisms to advance APRRN members are organized according to four refugee rights in the region. The strength of APRRN Geographical and four Thematic Working Groups: as a network is drawn from its assorted member base specializing in varied fields such as service provision, Geographical working groups human rights advocacy, research, pro-bono legal aid, and refugee community-based organizations. Using • South Asia these various specializations to establish mecha- • Southeast Asia nisms and strategies addressing refugee situations • East Asia creates a holistic and resourceful response. • Australia and Pacific Core activities Thematic working groups APRRN undertakes joint advocacy, capacity build- • Immigration Detention ing, and highlights under-addressed issues through • Legal Aid and Advocacy information sharing, regular contact between mem- • Right to Health APRRN Secretariat Team bers, trainings and conferences, and university short • Women and Girls at Risk courses for academics and advocates. The network’s mission is to protect fundamental refugee rights The APRRN Secretariat is based in Bangkok and is enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and its currently comprised of one Coordinator, one Pro- 1967 protocol. By encouraging the adoption and gramme Officer and one intern. The Steering Com- implementation of international human rights laws, mittee of APRRN, elected by members bi-annually, and raising awareness of violations, APRRN aims to provides general guidance
Load more

Recommended publications
  • (2012) “Our Kith and Kin”?: Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees and the Ethnonationalist Parties of Tamil Nadu
    This is a peer-reviewed, post-print (final draft post-refereeing) version of the following published document, This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics on 16th November 2021, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2012.734174. and is licensed under All Rights Reserved license: Jones, Demelza ORCID: 0000-0002-5985-1972 (2012) “Our Kith and Kin”?: Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees and the Ethnonationalist Parties of Tamil Nadu. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 18 (4). pp. 431-451. doi:10.1080/13537113.2012.734174 Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2012.734174 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2012.734174 EPrint URI: http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/5969 Disclaimer The University of Gloucestershire has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material. The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited. The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation that the use of the materials will not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights. The University of Gloucestershire accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view pending investigation in the event of an allegation
    [Show full text]
  • The Indo-Portuguese Creoles of the Malabar: Historical Cues and Questions
    ** NOTE: This is a pre-print version. The published version of the chapter can be found in: - Cardoso, Hugo C. 2019. The Indo-Portuguese creoles of the Malabar: Historical cues and questions. In Pius Malekandathil, Lotika Varadarajan & Amar Farooqi (eds.), India, the Portuguese, and maritime interactions, vol. II [Religion, language and cultural expression], 345-373. Delhi: Primus Books. ** --- The Indo-Portuguese Creoles of the Malabar Historical Cues and Questions Hugo C. Cardoso THIS ESSAY PROVIDES a state-of-the-art of current research on the Indo-Portuguese creoles of the Malabar. Having been given up as extinct, these creoles have been off the radar of linguists and historians alike for a long while. Yet, they are particularly important as potential descendants of the earliest forms of contact varieties of Portuguese that formed in Asia in the sixteenth century, and raise questions that interact with a social historiography of the Indo-Portuguese communities of the region. This essay will focus on four aspects of the study of these languages which operate on a linguistic-historical interface: (a) the social conditions required for their formation; (b) their course after the end of Portuguese colonial rule; (c) their putative foundational role in the context of Luso-Asian creoles; and (d) the social and linguistic stratification encapsulated in modern and late nineteenth-century records. This discussion is meant as a step towards the integration of linguistic evidence into the study of Indo-Portuguese social history, and of historical evidence into the study of Indo-Portuguese linguistics. Introduction Starting in the early sixteenth century, the colonial involvement of Portugal with Asia introduced the Portuguese language in the region.
    [Show full text]
  • The Military Economy of Seventeenth Century Sri Lanka: Rhetoric and Authority in a Time of Conquest
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Military Economy of Seventeenth Century Sri Lanka: Rhetoric and Authority in a Time of Conquest A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Cenan Pirani 2016 © Copyright by Cenan Pirani 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Military Economy of Seventeenth Century Sri Lanka: Rhetoric and Authority in a Time of Conquest by Cenan Pirani Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 Professor Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Chair From the end of the sixteenth century, the overseas administrative arm of the Portuguese Crown, the Estado da Índia Oriental, sought to gain complete territorial control of the island of Sri Lanka and outlined the tenets of the military project dubbed in administrative letters, “the Conquest of the Island of Ceylon”. Such efforts however would be impeded by military rebellions (ie. mutinies and desertions) by native military personnel in Portuguese service, where a rebellion that occurred in 1630 severely weakened the Estado's position in the island from which it could not recover. The specific event, the death of a Portuguese general at the hands of his own Christianized native troop, left a deep imprint on Portuguese memory. Decades later, the chronicler Fernão de Queiroz claimed the event, which paved the way for the European's eventual removal from the island by 1658, bore testament to the unbridgeable cultural and religious schism between the Portuguese and the native Sinhala people, an established viewpoint in current historiography. This study focuses attention on the documentation in Portuguese, English, Spanish, and ii Sinhalese written during the more active moments of the conquest period (1580-1640) in order to test such well-established views.
    [Show full text]
  • Closing the Distance Text:Layout 1 9/2/09 3:18 PM Page I
    closing the distance text:Layout 1 9/2/09 3:18 PM Page i CLOSING THE DISTANCE How Governments Strengthen Ties with Their Diasporas Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, Editor closing the distance text:Layout 1 9/2/09 3:18 PM Page ii Migration Policy Institute Washington, DC © 2009 by the Migration Policy Institute. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy; or included in any information storage and retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the Migration Policy Institute. Permission for reproducing excerpts from this book should be directed to: Permissions Department, Migration Policy Institute, 1400 16th Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC, 20036, or by contacting [email protected]. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. Agunias, Dovelyn Rannveig, ed. Closing the Distance: How Governments Strengthen Ties with Their Diasporas. 10-digit ISBN: 0-9742819-5-6 13-digit ISBN: 978-0-9742819-5-7 1. United States—Migration and development—Diaspora engagement—Migrant-origin governments. 2. Philippines—Migrant worker protections—Contract labor migration— Development gap—Bilateral labor agreements. 3. Mali—Skill and knowledge transfers—Co-development partnerships. 4. Mexico—Diaspora engagement—Diaspora empowerment. Cover Photo: William Vann, EduPic Graphical Resource, www.edupic.net Cover Design: April Siruno Interior Design and Typesetting: Letra Libre, Inc. Printed in the United States of America. closing the distance text:Layout 1 9/2/09 3:18 PM Page iii CONTENTS Foreword v Kathleen Newland, Director, Migrants, Migration, and Development Program, Migration Policy Institute CHAPTER I.
    [Show full text]
  • Of Alvares Mar Julius, Archbishop of Ceylon, Goa and India
    Sabaragamuwa University Journal Volume 12 Number 1; December 2013, pp 61-82 ISSN 1391-3166 The Goa-Ceylon Religious Connection: A Review of the ‘The Indian Cry’ of Alvares Mar Julius, Archbishop of Ceylon, Goa and India Pratima P. Kamat Goa University. India. Abstract Goa, a former Portuguese colony and, at present, a state of the Republic of India, located on the west coast of the subcontinent, has an interesting history of commercial and cultural contacts with Ceylon that were nurtured through the maritime route, especially during the colonial period. Portuguese Goa enjoyed thriving trade relations with the Ilha de Ceilão. It also participated in the Christianisation of this island both under the Portuguese and later, in the seventeenth century, when the Goan priest, Fr. Joseph Vaz, and other Oratorians, made a bid to revive Roman Catholicism there. In 1885, Msgr. Sebastião Rodolfo Dalgado was deputed to Ceylon as its Vicar-General. He served there for two years and with the surrender of their mission of Ceylon by the Portuguese, he returned to Goa in 1887. And in the very same year, 1887, another Goan priest, Padre Alvares, journeyed to Ceylon to contribute to its religious history: initially, to rally the Goan clergy posted there in their fight against the Concordat of 1886, and later to perform his episcopal duties as the Archbishop of Ceylon, Goa and India. Alvares Mar Julius, also known as Padre Alvares, was an editor, writer, founder of educational and social institutions, patriot and, above all, a dedicated social worker. In the pursuit of the spiritual and socio-political uplift of his people, Padre Alvares was branded seditious by the colonial Government of Goa, ex-communicated by the Roman Catholic Church, and elevated to episcopal stature by the Syrian Orthodox Church in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • Documenting Modern Sri Lanka Portuguese
    Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 19 Documentation and Maintenance of Contact Languages from South Asia to East Asia ed. by Mário Pinharanda-Nunes & Hugo C. Cardoso, pp.1–33 http:/nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/sp19 1 http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24905 Documenting modern Sri Lanka Portuguese Hugo C. Cardoso, Mahesh Radhakrishnan, Patrícia Costa & Rui Pereira Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras Abstract Sri Lanka Portuguese (SLP) is a Portuguese-lexified creole formed during Sri Lanka’s Portuguese colonial period, which lasted from the early 16th century to the mid-17th century. The language withstood several political changes and became an important medium of communication for a portion of the island’s population, but reached the late 20th century much reduced in its distribution and vitality, having essentially contracted to the Portuguese Burgher community of Eastern Sri Lanka. In the 1970s and 1980s, the language was the object of considerable research and documentation efforts, which were, however, curtailed by the Sri Lankan civil war. This chapter reports on the activities, challenges, and results of a recent documentation project developed in the post-war period and designed to create an appropriate and diverse record of modern SLP. The project is characterised by a highly multidisciplinary approach that combines linguistics and ethnomusicology, a strong focus on video recordings and open-access dissemination of materials through an online digital platform (Endangered Languages Archive), archival prospection
    [Show full text]
  • Strained Fraternity
    Strained Fraternity IDENTITY FORMATIONS, MIGRATION AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION AMONG SRI LANKAN TAMILS IN TAMIL NADU, INDIA NICOLAY PAUS THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE CAND.POLIT DEGREE DEPT. OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN APRIL 2005 Acknowledgements This research could not have been conducted without the assistance and help of several people. I am primarily indebted to my dear friends in India and Sri Lanka who, in spite of their sense of insecurity, warmly received me and accepted me as a part of their lives. I also wish to thank Fr. Elias and other people from the Jesuit community in Tamil Nadu, Agnes Fernando, as well as the people at OfERR for helping me in the initial difficult stages of my fieldwork. Their help were of immense importance for me, and my research would have been much more difficult to carry out were it not for their assistance. Discussions with Manuelpillai Sooaipillai and Joseph Soosai were also helpful while preparing my journey to India. I also wish to stress my sincere gratitude to my supervisors during these years, Professor Leif Manger and Professor Bruce Kapferer. Their knowledge, feedbacks and advises have been highly appreciated. Furthermore, I wish to thank the Chr. Michelsen Institute where I have been affiliated as a student since February 2003. The academic environment and discussions with people at the institute has been very aspiring and helpful for my work. I am indebted to Marianne Longum Gauperaa for her great support before, during and after my fieldwork. Her own experiences and backing was of great help.
    [Show full text]
  • An Interview with K. S. Sivakumaran on Aspects of Culture in Sri Lanka
    NAOSITE: Nagasaki University's Academic Output SITE Title An Interview with K. S. Sivakumaran on Aspects of Culture in Sri Lanka Author(s) Robinson, LeRoy Citation 経営と経済, 69(2), pp.271-296; 1989 Issue Date 1989-09 URL http://hdl.handle.net/10069/28404 Right This document is downloaded at: 2020-09-18T06:11:10Z http://naosite.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp An Interview with K. S. Sivakumaran on Aspects of Culture in Sri Lanka LeRoyRobinson Kailayar Sellanainar Sivakumaran, a literary journalist, is Deputy Features Editor of The Island, an English language daily newspaper published by Upali Newspapers Ltd. in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is a visiting lecturer in journalism at the University of Colombo. A Tamil Hindu, he was born in Batticaloa, the capital town of the Eastern Province, on October 1 , 1936. He had his early education from 1947 to 1953 in Batticaloa at St. Michael's College, then managed by North American Jesuits. He then at- tended St. Joseph's College, Colombo, until 1958. In 1960 Sivakumaran began his career as a journalist working for a trade journal, Industry, now defunct. From 1961 to 1969 he was a translator of Tamil for the Local Government Service Commission. In 1966 he was selected as a relief announcer in Tamil for the com- mercial service of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. In 1969 he join- ed the S. L. B. C. in a permanent capacity as a Tamil translator in the News Division. He was later appointed an assistant editor and subsequent- ly held the post of Duty Editor of the S.
    [Show full text]
  • DIAC Annual Report 2012-13
    ANNUAL REPORT 2012–13 2012–13 © Commonwealth of Australia 2013 All material presented in this publication is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/deed.en). For the avoidance of doubt, this means this licence only applies to material as set out in this document. The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website (accessible using the links provided) as is the full legal code for the CC BY 3.0 AU licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode). Contact us Enquiries regarding the licence and any use of this document are welcome at: National Communications Branch Department of Immigration and Border Protection PO Box 25 BELCONNEN ACT 2616 Phone: (02) 6264 2233 Email: [email protected] Website: www.immi.gov.au HTML and PDF versions of the annual report are available on the department’s website at www.immi.gov.au/about/reports/annual/2012-13 ISSN: 1835-1700 (printed) ISSN: 1835-1719 (online) SECRETARY 24 September 2013 The Hon Scott Morrison MP Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Dear Minister Annual Report for 2012–13 I am pleased to present the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Annual Report 2012–13 as required by subsection 63(1) of the Public Service Act 1999 (“the Act”). The report has been prepared pursuant to the Requirements for Annual Reports approved by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit as required by subsection 63(2) of the Act.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Categories and Dutch Bureaucracy in Colonial Sri Lanka
    Itinerario, Vol. 45, No. 2, 252–278. © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Research Institute for History, Leiden University. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work. doi:10.1017/S0165115321000152 Classifications at Work: Social Categories and Dutch Bureaucracy in Colonial Sri Lanka DRIES LYNA* and LUC BULTEN• E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected] Feeding into current debates on ethnic identities in colonial South Asia, this article ques- tions to what extent Dutch institutions articulated and impacted social categories of peo- ple living in coastal Sri Lanka during the eighteenth century. A thorough analysis of three spheres of Dutch bureaucracy (reporting, registering, and litigating) makes it clear that there was no uniform ideology that steered categorisation practices top-down throughout the studied colonial institutions. Rather, the rationale of the organisation as such affected the way people were classified, depending to a large extent on what level of bureaucracy individuals were dealing with, and what the possible negotiation strategies were for the people recorded. Future research should perhaps not ask “when” certain ethnicities were “made up,” but strive to understand the process in which they were created, the institu- tional contexts in which they were recorded, and how changing bureaucratic practices not only articulated, but also transformed, social categories in the long run.
    [Show full text]
  • Goan Brahmans in the Land of Promise: Missionaries, Spies and Gentiles in the 17Th-18Th Century Sri Lanka”, Portugal – Sri Lanka: 500 Years, Ed
    Final version of this article is published in: “Goan Brahmans in the Land of Promise: Missionaries, Spies and Gentiles in the 17th-18th century Sri Lanka”, Portugal – Sri Lanka: 500 Years, ed. Jorge Flores, South China and Maritime Asia Series (Roderich Ptak and Thomas O. Hölmann, eds , Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2006, pp. 171-210. Goan Brahmans in the Land of Promise: Missionaries, Spies and Gentiles in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Sri Lanka Ines G. Županov* In 1688, thirty years after the loss of Sri Lanka to the Dutch, Fernão de Queiroz, a Jesuit in Goa, added the final touches to his bulky manuscript Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon, and then died1. Consequently, by neglect or on purpose, the book was not published until the early 20th century and the manuscript probably had a limited circulation outside the Goan administrative and clerical milieu. Nevertheless, his message was clear. With divine providence on their side, the Portuguese had, a century and a half earlier, both conquered this jewel of a territory in the Indian Ocean and lost it in 1658. His was, therefore, a lesson in providential history on how divine grace can be bestowed and withheld. If the Portuguese were brought to the East, and to discover the island of Sri Lanka, it was for the purpose of spreading Christianity, for engaging in spiritual conquest. However, according to Queiroz, the temporal conquest that went hand in hand with the spiritual perverted this lofty ultimate goal. That the desire for gain, riches and fame, under the humoral excesses of the tropical climate, corroded Portuguese national character was not th a new idea; theories of decadence had been elaborated from the mid-16 * CNRS, Paris.
    [Show full text]
  • Abstracts and Bios
    SALA 2015 Borders, Boundaries, and Margins The 15th Annual South Asian Literary Association Conference 6 -7 JANUARY 2015 Listel Hotel, 1300 Robson St. Vancouver, Canada ABSTRACTS AND BIOS Nasia Anam UCLA The Immigrant Enclave as a Borderland in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane Monica Ali’s realist rendering of the quotidian lives of late-twentieth century Bangladeshi immigrants living in London belies an innovative meditation on contemporary borderlands. The titular immigrant enclave of Brick Lane is an elastic, transitional, contradictory borderland—one that houses a claustrophobic, overly-intimate community while simultaneously crystallizing all world historical and geographic contingencies that comprise the postcolonial condition. The boundary between colony and metropolis shifts in Brick Lane as geopolitical borders change between India, East/West Pakistan, and Bangladesh. These borders are reconfigured in the hallways and narrow streets of estates housing on the East End of London. Brick Lane brings together age-old questions of migration from rural to urban spaces and compounds them with the complex, postcolonial cultural matrix of late twentieth century England. The immigrant enclave comes to be a space of manifold borders that constantly shift and multiply. The novel brings the question of the rural and urban directly into that of emigration from the post colony to the metropolis, and makes distinctions within the depicted Bangladeshi community that would not necessarily be evident to U.K. culture at large. This paper will focus upon two figures of Bengali masculinity that embody the ever-changing borderland of the immigrant enclave. The character of Chanu represents a figure of elite colonial urbanity from a bygone era who has little to no efficacy in a post 9/11, multicultural London.
    [Show full text]