Conference on Sri Lanka studies

The 10th International Conference on Sri Lankan Studies (ICSLS), a bi-annual meeting of scholars researching on historical, socio-economic, cultural and political aspects of Sri Lanka will be held from December 16 to 18.

The event organised by the Kelaniya University will attract a large number of scholars from all parts of the world who are studying various aspects of the past and contemporary Sri Lankan society, Prof. Siripala Hettige of the Kelaniya University Social Sciences Department said.

Addressing the media at the Government Information Department Prof. Hettige said this year's Conference to be held in the Kelaniya University has been organised under the theme 'Sri Lanka after Five Hundred Years of Western Colonisation and Future Perspectives".

"Papers will be invited from a variety of fields including anthropology, archaeology, architecture, defence studies, demography, economics, ethnic studies, fine arts, media studies and sociology. Over 250 papers have been submitted for the conference this year," he said adding that it would be the largest gathering of social scientists in Sri Lanka so far.

The ICSLS was founded in 1987 in the United Kingdom with a gathering of 25 scholars in the University of Sussex. The 'Sri Lanka Studies Network' of the conference was founded at the ninth ICSLS conference in 2003.

The conference will be inaugurated on December 16 by Education Minister Susil Premjayantha.