The branch office supported various workshops/dialogues through SPARC. They are listed below.
♦ Theme – Conspiracies and contingencies: Struggles over political geography in eastern Sri Lanka
Date – 6 July (Monday), 2015
Venue – Sociology Department Auditorium
SAI Colombo Branch Office in collaboration with the SPARC, University of Colombo organized a talk on ‘Conspiracies and contingencies: Struggles over political geography in eastern Sri Lanka (A geographical perspective on post-war transition and spatial contentions around military zones, religious sites, strategic roads and settlement patterns)’ by Dr. Bart Klem from University of Zurich, Switzerland. This was also initiated as an outcome of the student excursion that took place in early 2015
♦ Theme – University of Zurich and University of Colombo, Faculty of Arts Dialogue
Date – 13th August 2015
Venue – Seminar Room, Dept. of Sociology, University of Colombo
The SPARC organized a workshop together with the Political Geography Unit of the Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich in form of a dialogue to exchange ideas, knowledge and experiences on Eastern province of Sri Lanka. The objective of this dialogue was critical engagement with research projects undertaken in the Eastern Province. This was a follow up activity (or a by product) of Zurich Student Excursion that took place in Jan-Feb 2015. Two PhD students from University of Zurich and University of Colombo presented their research.
♦ Thiruni Kelegama (Zurich)- “Anxious Integration: Development in Sri Lanka’s post-war frontier”
♦ Sachini Kulatunga (Colombo)- “Understandinghousehold assets of female headed households in eastern Sri Lanka”
Dr. Farah Haniffa from Colombo commented on the work of Prof. Benedict Korf from Zurich on Eastern Muslim politics in Sri Lanka.