Veiling the modular: literary language and subjective nationalism in Sinhala radio song of Sri Lanka, 1957-1964
Abstract
This article examines ‘intratextuality’ of Sinhala-language radio songs and the socio- historical and institutional forces behind the production of these songs. The purpose of the article is to reflect on the conception of nationalism as elaborated by historian Manu Goswami. According to Goswami, nationalism is a globally transposable ‘module’ that social agents since the mid-nineteenth century have used to assert the uniqueness of their nation. In this article, I argue that this conception is illuminating because of its sensitivity to sub-global or global configurations that factor into the celebration of local particularities. And yet emphasizing the ‘doubled’ form of nationalism as simultaneously local-and-global should not overlook the way in which the particular, in the form of literary language, has the power to veil the global or ‘modular’ formations, the very formations that have set the parameters for celebrating the local. Using three Sinhala radio songs as examples, this article suggests that such veiling can become a crucial feature of ‘subjective’ nationalism. Subjective nationalism refers to the articulations of nationalism made through written and spoken communication and the effects of these discourses on the public consciousness.
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———. (1997), Gāndharva Apadāna 4: Sōmadāsa Elvitagala saha Dunstan Da Silva [Musician Biographies IV: Somadasa Elvitigala and Dunstan De Silva], Colombo: S. Godage and Brothers
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———. (1992), Ṭikiri Līya [Village Damsel], Colombo. S. Godage and Brothers
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———. (1990), ‘Compulsory Reader Response: The Intertextual Drive’, in Michael Worton and Judith Still, (eds.), Intertextuality: Theories and Practices, Manchester: Manchester University Press: 56–78
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Tambiah, S. J. (1992), Buddhism Betrayed? Religion, Politics, and Violence in Sri Lanka, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Turino, T. (2000), Nationalists, Cosmopolitans, and Popular Music in Zimbabwe, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press
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Wickramasinghe, N. (2006), Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History of Contested Identities, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press
Wikramasinghe, K.D.P. (ed.). (1970), Pärakumba Sirita [Introduction, Commentary, and English Translation of 15th century Sinhala poem The Character of King Parakramabahu], Colombo: M.D. Gunasena and Company
Wriggins, W.H. (1960), Ceylon: Dilemmas of a New Nation, Princeton: Princeton University Press
———. (1997), ‘Mama, Ohu, Saha Ohugē Nirmāṇa’ [Me, Him, and his Compositions], in Samantha Herath (ed.), Madavale Ratnāyaka: Sāhitya Nirmāna Vimarshana) [Madawale Ratnayake: Analysis of his Creative Works], Colombo: S. Godage and Brothers: 115–119
———. (2007), Gī Sara Muvarada: Mataka Manpeta Digē Piyasaṭahan [Song Nectar: Strolling Down Memory Lane], ed. W.A. Abhesinghe, Colombo: NJCT
Amur, G.S. (1994), Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre (Ambikatanayadatta), Delhi: Sahitya Akademi
Anderson, B. (2006 [1983]), Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London and New York: Verso
Ariyaratne, S. (1986), Grämafōn Gī Yugaya [The Gramophone Era in Sinhala Music], Colombo: S. Godage and Brothers
———. (1991), Mānavasinha Gīta Nibandha [Compositions of Chandrarathna Manawasinghe], Colombo: S. Godage and Brothers
———. (1997), Gāndharva Apadāna 4: Sōmadāsa Elvitagala saha Dunstan Da Silva [Musician Biographies IV: Somadasa Elvitigala and Dunstan De Silva], Colombo: S. Godage and Brothers
Chakrabarty, D. (2000), Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference, Princeton: Princeton University Press
Chakravarty, B. (1968), Kazi Nazrul Islam, New Delhi: National Book Trust, India
Chatterjee, P. (1993), The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories, New Jersey: Princeton University Press
Colombage, D.M. (1980), Guvan Viduli Vanśaya [History of the Sri Lankan Radio Station], Colombo: H.M. Gunasena and Company
De Silva, K.M. (1981), A History of Sri Lanka, Berkeley: University of California Press
DeVotta, N. (2004), Blowback: Linguistic Nationalism, Institutional Decay, and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka, Stanford: Stanford University Press
Dharmadasa, K.N.O. (1992), Language, Religion, and Ethnic Assertiveness: The Growth of Sinhalese Nationalism in Sri Lanka, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press
Dissanayake, M. (1988), Kohomba Yak Kankariya saha Samājaya [Kohomba Kankariya and Society], Colombo: S. Godage and Brothers
———. (1998), Kohomba Kankari Kavi Sāhitya [Poetic Literature of Kohomba Kankariya], Colombo: S. Godage and Brothers
Godakumbura, C.E. (2013 [1955]), Sinhalese Literature, Colombo: Colombo Apothecaries’ Co.
Goswami, M. (2002), ‘Rethinking the Modular Nation Form: Toward a Sociohistorical Conception of Nationalism’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 44 (4): 770–799
Herath, S. (1997), ‘Janasāhityayen Pōśita Gīta Sāhityayak’ [Lyrics that Enriched Folk Literature], in Samantha Herath (ed.), Madavala Ratnāyaka: Sāhitya Nirmāna Vimarśana [Madawale Ratnayake: Analaysis of Literary Works], Colombo: S. Godage and Brothers: 221–38
Karunanayake, N. (1990), Broadcasting in Sri Lanka: Potential and Performance, Colombo: The Centre for Media and Policy Studies
Kearney, R. (1964), ‘Sinhalese Nationalism and Social Conflict in Ceylon’, Pacific Affairs 37(2): 125–36
———. (1967), Communalism and Language in the Politics of Ceylon, Durham: Duke University Press
Kulatillake, C. de. S. (1976), Melody Metre and Rhythm in Sinhala Music, Colombo: Sinhala Music Research Unit of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Company
———. (1982), Daha Aṭa Vannama [The Eighteen Kandyan Vannama], Colombo: Sinhala Music Research Unit of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Companys
Lelyveld, D. (1994), ‘Upon the Subdominant: Administering Music on All-India Radio’, Social Text (39): 111–27
Manogaran, C. (1987), Ethnic Conflict and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press
Manor, J. (1989), The Expedient Utopian: Bandaranaike and Ceylon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Mir, F. (2010), The Social Space of Language: Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab, Berkeley: University of California Press
Obeyesekere, G. (1984), The Cult of the Goddess Pattini, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Patel, G. (2002), Lyrical Movements, Historical Hauntings: On Gender, Colonialism, and Desire in Miraji’s Urdu Poetry, Stanford: Stanford University Press
Perera, M.J. (1997), ‘Madavale Äs. Ratnāyaka: Sämarum Saṭahan Kihipayak’ [Some Memories about Madawale S. Ratnayake], in Samantha Herath (ed.), Madavala Ratnāyaka: Sāhitya Nirmāna Vimarśana [Madawale Ratnayake: An Analysis of Literary Works], Colombo: S. Godage and Brothers: 67–69
Ratanjankar, S.N. (1952), ‘Folk Songs and Music’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Ceylon, Volume II New Series: 103–122
Ratnayake, M. (1977), Gīta Prabandha [Song Compositions], Colombo: Pradipa Prakashakayo
———. (1992), Ṭikiri Līya [Village Damsel], Colombo. S. Godage and Brothers
Reed, S. (2010), Dance and the Nation: Performance, Ritual, and Politics in Sri Lanka, Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press
Riffaterre, M. (1980), ‘Syllepsis’, Critical Inquiry 6 (5): 625–638
———. (1990), ‘Compulsory Reader Response: The Intertextual Drive’, in Michael Worton and Judith Still, (eds.), Intertextuality: Theories and Practices, Manchester: Manchester University Press: 56–78
Roberts, M. (1994), Exploring Confrontation: Sri Lanka Politics, Culture, and History, Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers
Sheeran, A. (1999), ‘Sri Lanka’, in Alison Arnold (ed.), Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Volume 5: South Asia The Indian Subcontinent, New York: Routledge: 954–972
Shukla, S. (1994), Bhagwati Charan Verma (trans. Tripti Jain), New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi
Spencer, J. (1990), ‘Writing Within: Anthropology, Nationalism, and Culture in Sri Lanka’, Current Anthropology 31 (3): 283–300
Tambiah, S. J. (1992), Buddhism Betrayed? Religion, Politics, and Violence in Sri Lanka, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Turino, T. (2000), Nationalists, Cosmopolitans, and Popular Music in Zimbabwe, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press
Vittachi, T. (1958), Emergency ’58: The Story of the Ceylon Race Riots, London: Andre Deutsc Limited
Wallerstein, I. (1997), ‘The National and the Universal’, in Anthony D. King (ed.), Cultural, Globalization, and the World System: Contemporary Conditions for the Representation of Identity, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press: 91–106
Warnapala, W.A.W. (1974), Civil Service Administration in Ceylon: A Study in Bureaucratic Adaptation, Colombo: Department of Cultural Affairs
Weidman, A. (2006), Singing the Classical, Voicing the Modern: The Postcolonial Politics of Music in South India, Durham: Duke University Press
Wickramasinghe, N. (2006), Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History of Contested Identities, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press
Wikramasinghe, K.D.P. (ed.). (1970), Pärakumba Sirita [Introduction, Commentary, and English Translation of 15th century Sinhala poem The Character of King Parakramabahu], Colombo: M.D. Gunasena and Company
Wriggins, W.H. (1960), Ceylon: Dilemmas of a New Nation, Princeton: Princeton University Press
Published
02-Dec-2015
How to Cite
Field, G. (2015). Veiling the modular: literary language and subjective nationalism in Sinhala radio song of Sri Lanka, 1957-1964. The South Asianist Journal, 4(1). Retrieved from http://www.southasianist.ed.ac.uk/article/view/1210
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