Citizens and the Political in Sri Lanka since 1931 - Professor Nira Wickramasinghe

How can we read and interpret citizenship over a longue duree? This talk considers the practices, moral judgments and imaginaries that constitute the political in Ceylon/Sri Lanka at various moments in time: in 1931, when men and women over 21 years of age in the crown colony were bestowed with universal suffrage; in 1948 when citizenship laws made stateless most of the plantation workers in the island and in 2014-2015 when an active citizenry used their vote to oust an authoritarian leader. The political is shown as a ‘space of appearance’ (Arendt), ephemeral and differentiated.