The Media Reform Lanka Initiative Website Launch

The Media Reform Lanka Initiative, based at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, has launched its website http://mediareformlanka.com/.

The Initiative aims to broaden and inform the perspectives in which media law, media policy and regulation are debated and determined in Sri Lanka and the wider South Asian region. It is led by Colombo-based senior legal advocate and media columnist Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, in association with Dr David Page and Dr William Crawley, Senior Fellows at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and Co-Directors of the Media South Asia Project. Their work to date has generated two core papers on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility in Sri Lanka: A Review of the Legal, Institutional and Educational Framework Relating to the Print Media (co-authored by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena & Gehan Gunetilleke) and on the Political Economy of the Electronic Media (co-authored by the late Tilak Jayaratne and Sarath Kellapotha).

New Senate House Library archives collection listed

Recently added to the Senate House Library collection is additional material from the book collector Ron Heisler

The Ron Heisler collection (MS1186) incluides a number of files relating to Commonwealth studies, including material on Sri Lankan Trotskyism, comprising of memoranda, news bulletins, and correspondence, dating from c1975 to 2007; correspondence from c1947-1960 with the South African trade unionist and socialist, Solly Sachs, who was author of The Choice Before South Africa (1952),  The Rebel's Daughters (also called Garment workers in action) (1957),  with L Forman The South African Treason Trial (1959) and The Anatomy of Apartheid (1965); and a number of photographs signed by the New Zealand writer, social reformer and member of the Chinese Communist Party, Rewi Alley.

Sri Lanka Journals OnLine

Sri Lanka Journals OnLine (SLJOL) is a service to provide access to Sri Lankan published research, and increase worldwide knowledge of indigenous scholarship.SLJOL is a database of journals published in Sri Lanka, covering the full range of academic disciplineswith the aim of giving greater visibility to the participating journals, and to the research they convey. Sri Lanka Journals OnLine (SLJOL) was initiated in August 2008. It is a project supported by the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publication (INASP).


Journals are selected for inclusion on SLJOL using the following criteria:

1.They are scholarly in content, and contain original research (in addition to other content)

2.Their content is peer reviewed and quality controlled

3.They are able to provide all content for inclusion on SLJOL (tables of contents, abstracts and PDFs of full text) in electronic format

4.They are published within Sri Lanka. Management of publishing strategy, business development and production operation are all run from Sri Lanka.

SLJOL provides information on each participating journal, including aims and scope, contact details and general information. It also provides Tables of contents and abstracts (where available) for all articles published within these journals. Many full text articles are also available.

All the material on SLJOL is free to view, search and browse, however copyright of all content is retained by the journals or authors - each journals will need to give permission for any use or re-use of the content that falls outside Fair Use.

The journals are listed alphabetically, to help researchers find journals of relevance, and allow browsing of the journals and the website also has a sophisticated searching tool, to help researchers locate articles of interest and relevance to their area of study. Email alerts also provide a reminder service, to alert researchers to newly-published issues from their selected titles.

Researchers should also take note of the Research Support Tool which accompanies the abstracts of each article. The links from the red box to the right of each Abstract screen are designed to support the reading and use of the abstracts. Tools offered include information about the authors, quick and easy links to allow identification of further articles from other websites, definition of difficult terms using online dictionaries (simply click twice on any word in the abstract), and the automatic generation of citations to the article using "Capture Cite."
Titles currently included in SLJOL comprise:

• Built-Environment Sri Lanka (An international refereed research publication of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects.)
• Ceylon Journal of Medical Science (Published by the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.)
• Ceylon Journal of Science (Biological Sciences) (Published by the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.)
• Ceylon Medical Journal (The Official Publication of the Sri Lanka Medical Association. Established 1887.)
• COCOS (The Journal of the Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka.)
• Galle Medical Journal (The Official Journal of Galle Medical Association.)
• International Journal on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions (ICTer) (Published by the University of Colombo School of Computing. The journal also has a website at http://www.icter.org/index.php/ICTER/index)
• Journal of Agricultural Sciences (Published by the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka)
• Journal of Diagnostic Pathology (Official journal of the College of Pathologists of Sri Lanka.)
• Journal of Food and Agriculture (A half yearly publication by the Faculty of Agriculture and Plantation Management and Faculty of Livestock fisheries and Nutrition of the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka which provides a valuable forum for scientists endeavouring in research and development aspects in agriculture, food and nutrition.)
• Journal of Science of the University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka (Official journal of the Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.)
• Journal of the Ceylon College of Physicians (The Official publication of the Ceylon College of Physicians.)
• Journal of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka (Official publication of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka, established in 1995.)
• Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka (The Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka publishes the results of research in all aspects of Science and Technology. The journal also has a website at http://www.nsf.ac.lk/)
• Journal of the Rubber Research Institute of Sri Lanka (The official publication of the Rubber Research Institute of Sri Lanka.)
• Journal of the University Librarians Association of Sri Lanka (JULA provides a forum for the publication of research and developments done by university library professionals and opens the doorways to explore the current topics related specifically to university library profession.)
• OUSL Journal (A peer-reviewed journal published by the Open University of Sri Lanka. It was the first academic journal to deal with Open/Distance Learning in Sri Lanka and although it welcomes research publications in other academic areas, its main focus remains Open and Distance Learning/Teaching.)
•  Sabaragamuwa University Journal (The official journal of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka.)
• Sri Lanka Journal of Advanced Social Studies (Published by the National Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences.)
• Sri Lanka Journal of Aquatic Sciences (Official journal of the Sri Lanka Association for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Also available on SLAFAR website.)
• Sri Lanka Journal of Bio-Medical Informatics (The joint official publication of the Health Informatics Society of Sri Lanka (HISSL) and the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) of the University of Colombo.)
• Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health (The Journal is the primary organ of Continuing Paediatric Medical Education in Sri Lanka. The journal also has a website at http://www.srilankacollegeofpaediatricians.com/publications.php)
• Sri Lanka Journal of Critical Care (A peer-reviewed publication of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.)
• Sri Lanka Journal of Forensic Medicine, Science & Law (Official publication of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka)
• Sri Lanka Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (The official journal of the National Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences.)
• Sri Lanka Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (The official publication of the Sri Lanka College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.)
• Sri Lanka Journal of Psychiatry (Official journal of the Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists)
• Sri Lanka Journal of Surgery (Official publication of the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka.)
• Sri Lanka Journal of Urology (Oficial Publication of the Sri Lanka Association of Urological Surgeons.)
• Sri Lankan Journal of Agricultural Economics (The official journal of the Sri Lankan Agricultural Economics Association.)
• Sri Lankan Journal of Anaesthesiology (The Sri Lankan Journal of Anaesthesiology publishes clinical investigations, research articles, case reports, review articles and CME articles relating to anaesthesiology and critical care.)
• Sri Lankan Journal of Infectious Diseases (Official journal of the Sri Lankan Society for Microbiology (SSM).
• Sri Lankan Journal of Librarianship and Information Management (SLLIM is a journal for all those concerned with librarianship, information management, records management, information technology and any other related disciplines.)
• Sri Lankan Journal of Physics (Official journal of the Institute of Physics - Sri Lanka. The journal also has a website at http://www.ip-sl.org/sljp/ )
• Staff Studies (The official journal of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.)
• TAPROBANICA: The Journal of Asian Biodiversity (Official journal of the Taprobanica Private Limited, Homagama, Sri Lanka)
• Tropical Agricultural Research (Official journal of the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya.)
• Tropical Agricultural Research and Extension (An International Journal on Agricultural Research and Extension in the Tropical and Subtropical Areas, published by the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka.)
• Vidyodaya Journal of Science (Official science journal of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura)
• Vingnanam Journal of Science (Vingnanam is a biannual refereed Journal of the Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka)

Culture and Conflict - call for projects and research proposals

The Prince Claus Fund and the Commonwealth Foundation are calling for high quality, multi-disciplinary and innovative project proposals from civil society organisations addressing the issue of culture and conflict, within the framework of the Culture and Conflict Programme.


Grants will be awarded to civil society organisations in Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Organisations should submit a proposal for the development and delivery of activities that use culture as a way of engaging with local communities. Projects should also include a tangible output that captures the experiences of the participants and highlights the impact of the project.

The Prince Claus Fund and the Commonwealth Foundation are also calling for high quality and innovative research proposals from individuals exploring the role of culture in conflict and post-conflict situations, within the framework of its Culture and Conflict programme.


Two researchers will be appointed with responsibility for examining arts and culture-led initiatives for conflict resolution, including the work of the Culture and Conflict Programme grant recipients in Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. One researcher will be appointed from Africa and another from Asia.

Applicants should have proven professional research experience or practice in the field of culture and conflict and/or development.

All applications and queries should be sent to: h.thomas@commonwealth.int

Deadline: 27 January 2012, 17:00 (GMT)

A Selection of New Books - Asia

A selection of new books from South and South East Asia added to the collection this month are listed below:

Malaysia : human rights report 2008 : civil & political rights. Selangor, Malaysia : Suaram Kommunikasi, c2009.

Baruah, Sanjib (ed). Ethnonationalism in India : a reader. New Delhi : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Brunner, Hans-Peter. North East India : local economic development and global markets. New Delhi ; London : SAGE, 2010.

Buch, Nirmala. From oppression to assertion : women and panchayats in India. Delhi : Routledge India; c2010.

Chowdhury, Kanishka. The new India : citizenship, subjectivity, and economic liberalization. New York : Palgrave Macmillan, c2011.

Deo, Nandini. The politics of collective advocacy in India : tools and traps. Sterling, VA : Kumarian Press, 2011.

Faraizi, Aminul Haque, Taskinur Rahman and Jim McAllister. Microcredit and women's empowerment : a case study of Bangladesh. London : Routledge, c2011.

Gilani, Ijaz Shafi, The voice of the people : public opinion in Pakistan 2007-2009. Karachi : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Holt, Sarah. Aid, peacebuilding and the resurgence of war : buying time in Sri Lanka. Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Hossain, Shahadat. Urban poverty in Bangladesh : slum communities, migration and social integration. London : I.B. Tauris, 2011.

Kaviraj, Sudipta. The imaginary institution of India : politics and ideas. New York ; Chichester : Columbia University Press, c2010.

Kazi, Seema. In Kashmir : gender, militarization & the modern nation-state. Brooklyn, NY : South End Press, 2010.

Kua, Kia Soong. 20 years defending human rights. Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia : SUARAM, [c2009]


Kumar, Deepak, Vinita Damodaran and Rohan D'Souza (eds). The British Empire and the natural world : environmental encounters in South Asia. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2011.

Leong, Wai Kum. The Singapore Women's Charter : 50 questions. Singapore : Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2011.

Milner, Anthony. The Malays. Malden, MA ; Oxford : Wiley-Blackwell Pub., 2008.

Panagariya, Arvind. India : the emerging giant. New York, N.Y. : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Pande, Ishita. Medicine, race and liberalism in British Bengal : symptoms of empire. Abingdon ; New York : Routledge, 2010.

Raj, Subhendu Ranjan. Coalition politics in India : dimensions of federal power sharing. New Delhi : Manak Publications, 2009.

Ranganathan, Maya. Eelam online : the Tamil diaspora and war in Sri Lanka. Newcastle : Cambridge Scholars, c2010.

Roy, Anupama. Mapping citizenship in India. New Delhi : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Saif, Lubna. Authoritarianism and underdevelopment in Pakistan, 1947-1958, the role of the Punjab. Karachi ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2010.
 
Saravanamuttu, Johan. Malaysia's foreign policy : the first fifty years : alignment, neutralism, Islamism. Singapore : Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010.

Schaffer, Howard B. How Pakistan negotiates with the United States : riding the roller coaster. Washington, D.C. : United States Institute of Peace, 2011.

Shaban, Abdul. Mumbai : political economy of crime and space. New Delhi : Orient BlackSwan, 2010.

Shankar, B. L. The Indian Parliament : a democracy at work. New Delhi ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2011.

Siddiqui, Kamal  et al. Social formation in Dhaka, 1985-2005 : a longitudinal study of society in a third world megacity. Farnham, Surrey ; Burlington, VT : Ashgate, c2010.

de Silva Jayasuria, Shihan. African diaspora in Asian trade routes and cultural memories, Lewiston, N.Y. : Edwin Mellen Press, c2010.


Singh, A.K., S.P. Singh and D.S. Sutaria (eds) Gender budgeting and women empowerment in India. New Delhi : Serials Publications, 2010.

Sobhan, Rehman. Challenging the injustice of poverty : agendas for inclusive development in South Asia.  New Delhi, India ; Thousand Oaks, Calif. : SAGE, 2010.

Sury, M. M. India : sixty years of planned economic development, 1950 to 2010. New Delhi, India : New Century Publications, 2010.

United Nations report on Sri Lanka

The recent Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka has been made public and released on the UN website.

The panel was set up to advise Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on accountability issues relating to the final stages of the conflict, which ended in May 2009 when Government forces declared victory over the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The panel found credible allegations of serious violations committed by the Government, including killing of civilians through widespread shelling and the denial of humanitarian assistance and credible allegations regarding the LTTE concerning numerous serious violations, including using civilians as a human buffer and killing civilians attempting to flee LTTE control.

The Sri Lanka conflict was fought over three decades and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies contains a wide range of material on the conflict and peacebuilding in Sri Lanka. Collections include primary material published by both the Sri Lanka Government and LTTE, as well as publications on topics including the conflict, peacebuilding, resettlement, development, displacement, ethnicity and human rights.

Recently acquired books also include works on recovery from the tsunami of 2004.

Sri Lanka - Voices of Reconciliation VOR Radio

A useful resource of non-print material concerned with reconciliation in Sri Lanka was recently drawn to our attention.

VOR Radio is part of the Voices of Reconciliation project led by the Centre for Policy Alternatives. It has created an online archive of radio programmes (including both interviews and discussion) relating to issues of
reconciliation and post conflict reconstruction in Sri Lanka. Topics covered include civil war, democracy, peace and reconciliation. It is possible to search by keyword or browse by date from 2006 onwards. At present it seems to only include programme up to and including 2008.

Technical and copyright information is displayed on the website. Some materials are offered in Tamil or Sinhala languages.

 http://radio.voicesofpeace.lk/
 

(with thanks to Intute for alerting us to this resource)

Spice up your life!

As the colder weather approaches you may be thinking of spicier foods, we're thinking about books and government reports on spices and the spice trade within the Commonwealth. The Library collections include many reports and other publications on specific crops and commodities. To get you into a warmer mood here's a selection on spices to whet your appetite:

Zanzibar. Committee Appointed to Discuss the Rationalization of the Clove Industry.
Report / (chairman: G.D. Kirsopp).
Zanzibar, 1929.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9210 ZAN

Troup, Robert Scott, 1874-1939.
Report on clove cultivation in the Zanzibar Protectorate.
Zanzibar : Govt. Printer, 1932.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] SB307 C6 TRO

Kirsopp, G. D. (George Dougal), 1888-
Report of a mission appointed to investigate the clove trade in India and Burma, Ceylon, British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies / by G.D. Kirsopp and C.A. Bartlett.
London : Published on behalf of the Government of Zanzibar by the Crown Agents for the Colonies, 1933.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9210 KIR fol

Grenada. Inquiry Into the Nutmeg Industry of Grenada.
Report / (Chairman: D.E. Jackson).
St. George's : G.P., 1951.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9248 GRE fol

Zanzibar.
Report of the Clove Mission to India, Jan. 6th - 20th. 1958.
Zanzibar, 1958.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9210 ZAN

Ly-Tio-Fane, Madeleine.
Mauritius and the spice trade : the odyssey of Pierre Poivre / [documents] Edited by Madeleine Ly-Tio-Fane.
Port Louis, Mauritius : Esclapon, 1958.
[Mauritius. Archives Dept.] Publication ; no.4.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9210 LYT

Bartlett, C. A.
Clove growers association commentary.
Zanzibar : Zanzibar Nationalist Party, 1959.
Microfiche
ICOMM Ground Floor Libr M841

Zanzibar clove industry : statement of Government policy and report / by R. A Crofts.
[Zanzibar] : Zanzibar Protectorate, [1959]
Contents: Zanzibar Protectorate. Legislative Council. Statement by Government on the development of the clove industry.--Crofts, R. A. Report on the Zanzibar clove industry.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9210 ZAN

Bastin, John Sturgus, 1927-
The changing balance of the early Southeast Asian pepper trade
Kuala Lumpur : Dept. of History, University of Malaya, 1960.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9210 BAS

Saw Huat Guan.
The production and potential of spices in West Malaysia with special reference to pepper, clove and nutmeg.
Kuala Lumpur : Malaya University, Faculty of Agriculture, 1971.
Microfiche 3 cards.
ICOMM Ground Floor Libr MF163

Grenada. Commission of Enquiry Into the Affairs of the Grenada Co-operative Nutmeg Association.
Report / (chairman: E.R. Ward).
St. George's : G.P., 1971.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9248 GRE fol

Mayers, J. M.
The nutmeg industry of Grenada
Kingston, Jamaica : Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies, c1974.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9248 MAY fol

Moore, M. P.
The state and the cinnamon industry in Sri Lanka
Colombo : Agrarian Research & Training Institute, 1978.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9210 MOO fol

Sheriff, Abdul.
Slaves, spices, & ivory in Zanzibar : integration of an East African commercial empire into the world economy, 1770-1873
London : J. Currey ; Athens : Ohio University Press, 1987.
ICOMM Ground Floor Libr DT447 SHE

Nandakumar, T.
The global spice trade and the Uruguay round agreements
Geneva, Switzerland :, London : International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO, Commonwealth Secretariat, 1996.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9210 NAN

Brizan, George I.
The nutmeg industry, Grenada's black gold
Grenada? : s.n., 1979?]
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9248 BRI

Brizan, George I.
Black gold revisited, 22 years later 2001
Grenada : The Author? : St George's Government Printery, 2003.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9248 BRI

Douglas, Claude J.
The Battle for Grenada's black gold
St. Andrew, Grenada : Maryzoon Press, c2004.
STACK SERVICE [ICOMM] HD9248 DOU

Archive Cataloguing project: Catholic Institute for International Relations

The ULRLS commences an exciting new archives cataloguing project this week, which will provide improved access to the papers of the Catholic Institute for International Relations. These papers relate to Southern Africa, Sri Lanka, and Latin America, and were recently deposited with the libraries of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and the Institute for the Study of the Americas. A one-day conference is planned as part of this project, looking at the role of NGOs in development and resources for the study of such NGOs. The ULRLS is grateful to the Vice Chancellor's Development Fund, which has funded this project.

We are therefore delighted to welcome Jane Kirby who has taken up the archives cataloguing post for this project. Jane joins us having just completed a project at the Wellcome Library.