Professor Ariyaratne is a graduate of University of Kelaniya. Inset: In his university days in the late 70s
Prof. Ari Ariyaratne, a university batchmate and now a professor of anthropology at Heartland Community College, Illinois, has created history by publishing a textbook in his preferred field of work.
He is among the very few Sri Lankan-born academics to publish a textbook in a foreign country.
Titled Key Concepts of Cultural Anthropology, the heavily-researched book published by Kendall Hunt, a reputed American publishing house, also includes extensive ethnologic fieldwork in Sri Lanka. Prof. Ariyaratne received his BA from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, in Fine Arts, with First Class Honours and received his M.A. and Ph. D in cultural anthropology from the University of Illinois.
He pays tributes to professor Senaka Bandaranayake, an internationally-known archeologist, author, and UNESCO ambassador, saying that the late scholar ‘encouraged my interest in anthropology during undergraduate years in Sri Lanka.’
Professor Ariyaratne’s current research interests include critical pedagogy, globalization, nation-state, South Asia and Sri Lanka. Describing what motivated him to write this original work, he says he decided to compile this edition after noticing his students’ tendency to learn more from his class notes than textbooks. “However, the initial thought was morphed into a full-fledged plan only when Keely Newton, my acquisition editor of Kendall Hunt Publishing company, approached me with the suggestion to write an original textbook for college-level cultural anthropology,” he mentions.
From the introduction of cultural anthropology, the 13-chapter book covers a wide area of subjects like distinguishing human condition, theorizing culture. anthropology of art, growth of modern world order, globalization, kinship, descent and marriage, sexual relations and marriage, culturally institutionalized inequality, subjects that can attract the attention of any serious non-fiction reader.
Anthropology, as we know, studies human activity through investigation of physical evidence. It is thought of as a branch of anthropology in the United States and Canada, while in Europe and many other countries it is viewed as a discipline in its own right or grouped under other related disciplines, such as history.
Professor Mahir Saul, Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois, describes the book ‘as an excellent introduction to socio-cultural anthropology that allows instructors and students to have a stimulating entry to a scholarly field that has lent a hue to the ways of looking at our modern world’.
I first met Ari, as a fresh-faced, ambitious youth from Ambalanthota, an ancient kingdom in the south where the Walawa River meets the sea. He presented me with a collection of poetry he wrote in his high school years, poems which showed a maturity beyond his years. I saw him last at the American Centre in the leafy diplomatic enclave of Colombo and lost touch as we got busy with our own lives.
Hemachandra Devamuni who was a few years junior to us in the university rekindled an interest in Ari in a recent Facebook post. He remembered a review he presented at a symposium to discuss Viragaya, a landmark Sinhala film made in the 70s based on a novel by Martin Wickremesinghe. “There were many scholars who reviewed the film at the discussion, and I rate Ari’s critique as the best, even better than Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne’s”, said Devamuni. (The two Ariyaratne are not related.)
After coming to Canada I was trying to establish contacts with old friends through Facebook but could not locate Ari. Another batchmate, Chandana Liyanage who lives in Alberta, Canada, gave me the name Ari is using now with a slight change to his original second name.
According to his new pictures, he has changed a lot making it difficult to spot him at a first glance if I meet him in the street but on a closer look he still retains the familiar facial features.
We renewed old memories through Facebook including the topic of Chandra, a friendly cashier at the university who had a legendary kettle of milk-tea from which she poured a glass and offered to anyone whether you paid or not. We talked about many other things some of which had escaped my memory.
I discussed his debut poetry collection and the powerful imagery of some poems that I can still remember very well, but he was not keen in pursuing his artistic interests probably because he has branched off to a quite different field of study since he had settled down in the US.
A trip to the university a few years ago overwhelmed me with nostalgia. Everything has changed. Chandra was missing. There were new faces all around except for a few colleagues who now hold responsible positions on the academic staff.
The old familiarity and freedom are gone with eagle-eyed security guards looking at you suspiciously along a new tree-lined boulevard shaded with purple bougainvilleas and gleaming new glass and cement buildings.
An attempt to have a look at familiar haunts was not possible as it required permission from the Vice-Chancellor.
Everything except our friendships has changed and it is heartening to note scholars like Prof. Ariyaratne, the products of our beloved university, serving the world making it a better place to live. Somasiri Munasinghe
