Shihan De Silva Jayasuriya
Biographic Data
| ID | 542966 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Shihan De Silva Jayasuriya |
| GIVEN NAMES | Shihan De Silva |
| FAMILY NAME | Jayasuriya |
| SIGNATURE | JAYASURIYA S S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universidad de Londres |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3257-1935 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 46 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Global Portuguese
Introducing African Mobilities and Heritage in the Indian Ocean World
From Plantations to Military
Theorising on the Genesis of Chorus Baila
Chorus Baila is associated with the Portuguese colonisers of Sri Lanka. The originator of the genre, Mervin Ollington Bastiansz, was a member of a minority community, a Burgher with Dutch, Portuguese, and Sinhalese ancestry. I consider the life and musical experiences of Bastiansz in theorising on the genesis of chorus baila
Africa in South Asia
As public spaces become arenas to display cultural memories, Afrodescendants in South Asia become more visible. Emerging local histories further complement the trajectories of Africans and facilitate recognition of Afrodescendants. This paper explores the connections of Africa and Asia through a genre of music and dance called kaffrinha which enriched the colonial Sri Lankan musicscape and continues in the postcolonial period. Song texts, music s…
Remembering Indian Ocean Slavery through Film
Due to assimilation, the diversity of the region, and the problems of identification, the presence of Asians with African ancestry in some parts of the Indian Ocean goes largely unnoticed. Whilst Ethiopians came to Sri Lanka voluntarily during the sixth century, the largest known Afro-Sri Lankan community’s history dates back to the island’s colonial era, which began in the sixteenth century. Oral traditions and archival records demonstrate that …
A Hybrid Performance
The encounter of people from across the Indian Ocean was spurred by the growth of trade leading to colonisation. Enslaved Africans fell victim to the slave trade but held onto their cultural memories and religious practices. I theorise on the religious and spiritual aspects of the musical practices of an Afro–Sri Lankan community
Indians of African Descent
The trans-Atlantic slave trade with its forced migrations of millions overwhelms the subjects of African and African-diaspora histories. In contrast to closely studied Atlantic migrations, far less attention has been given to Africans' eastward movements and their tasks, enterprises, achievements, and contributions to societies east of Africa. Empowered through elite military slavery, some Africans reached prominent positions in India. The fate o…
Introduction African Migration
Recruiting Africans to the British Regiments in Ceylon
This paper focuses on the displacement of Africans, spurred by the tradition of recruiting soldiers to serve in both Asian and European armies. It considers the pressure to recruit Africans to the British regiments in Ceylon (called Sri Lanka since 1971) as documented in historical records in the National Archives and how this process was affected by Abolition in the Atlantic. It highlights the spillover effects, of abolishing the transatlantic s…
The African Diaspora in Asian Trade Routes and Cultural Memories
Foreword by Professor Richard Pankhurst, OBE 1. Movements of Africans in the Indian Ocean World 2. Africans in Japan and China 3. A Slave Route to Southeast Asia 4. Emancipation of the East India Company 5. Africans in Sri Lanka 6. Africans as People-In-Between 7. Cultural Memories 8. Crossing Borders Bibliography Index
Cross-Cultural Influences on the Language of the Sri Lankan Malays
Although Sri Lanka has had links with the Malays from ancient times, the Sri Lankan Malays trace their ancestry only from the mid-seventeenth century. Taking into account the process of global commercial interactions and territorial expansion, this paper demonstrates the effects of cross-cultural contact in the language of the Sri Lanka Malays illustrated through typological alterations and lexical changes in a multilingual and multicultural sett…
Migrants and the Making of Indian Ocean Cultures
East India Company in Sumatra
For scholars concerned with historical studies of cross-continental movement, migration from Africa to Asia poses challenges. Administrative records of the East India Company reveal the multi-ethnicity of slaves, trends of slavery, resistance to slavery and the circumstances that led to emancipation of the slaves. Through a case study on Sumatra, this paper considers how transition from British to Dutch control affected the emancipated slaves, wh…
Preliminary Materials
Chapter One. General Introduction
Index
Chapter Eight. Migrants And The Maldives
This chapter demonstrates how African culture spilt into Maldives. Asian migrants have left an indelible imprint on Divēhi, the language of the Maldives. The main income generator for the Maldives is tourism. The Maldives had trading relationships with Persians, Arabs, Malays, Indonesians, Indians and Sri Lankans. The Maldives became established as a place for repairing ships, as the coir in the Maldives was of good quality. Cowrie shells were ta…
Uncovering the History of Africans in Asia
Chapter Two. Identifying Africans In Asia
The Portuguese in the East
Vasco da Gama's voyage to India in the late 15th Century opened up new economic and cultural horizons for the Portuguese. At the height of Portugal's maritime influence, it had created an oceanic state ranging from the Cape of Good Hope to China. While Portugal's direct political influence in Asia was comparatively short-lived, its linguistic influence remains. Here Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya charts the influences of the Portuguese in more than f…
Indian Oceanic Crossings
African movement in the Indian Ocean is a centuries old phenomenon. The better-known transatlantic migration to the Americas has gripped scholars and the public imagination particularly due to the commemorations, in 2007, of the bicentennial of Britain abolishing the slave trade. Archival and oral accounts are complementary in investigating the silent history of the Indian Ocean involuntary migrants. Through case studies, assimilation, social mob…
Uncovering the History of Africans in Asia
The presence of Africans in Asia has been overshadowed by the tragedy of Atlantic slavery. Identifying Africans in Asia therefore challenges contemporary scholarship. Within this context, the processes of assimilation and marginalisation hinder identification of African migrants. This book demonstrates the multiplicity of roles performed by Africans and the heights that a few of them reached, even in a single generation. Drawing on a variety of s…
A Forgotten Minority
This paper seeks to understand why people of African descent in Sri Lanka have a low profile. Drawing attention to cultural retentions and transformations, it examines the process of their assimilation within post-independent Sri Lanka. It argues that the fate of today's Afro-Sri Lankans was shaped during the British era. The prestige of Afro-Sri Lankans rested on their military abilities. Turning to their contemporary status, it appears that the…
Invisible Africans
Uncovering the History of Africans in Asia
The presence of Africans in Asia has been overshadowed by the tragedy of Atlantic slavery. Identifying Africans in Asia therefore challenges contemporary scholarship. Within this context, the processes of assimilation and marginalisation hinder identification of African migrants. This book demonstrates the multiplicity of roles performed by Africans and the heights that a few of them reached, even in a single generation. Drawing on a variety of s…
Identifying Africans in Asia
This chapter draws attention to the different terms used for Africans in Asia. In the Middle East, Africans were referred to as Takruni, Sambo, Abid and Mawalid . Africans in Asia have also been known as Cafre, Caffre, Caffree, Kafara, Kafra, Kaphirs, Khafris, Kafirs, Kaffrs, Kapiris, Kapilis and Hapris . Seedee, Seede, Scidee, Scidy, Sciddee, Seydee, Sheedi, Sidi, Sidy, Siddi, Siddy and Sidhi are terms used for Afro-Indians and Afro-Pakistanis. …
Trading on a thalassic network
African migration eastwards has received far less academic attention than that across the Atlantic. While westwards migration was concentrated over a few centuries, migration across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean has been continuing for over a millennium. Migration eastwards was both free and forced. Nevertheless, slavery and the slave trade were a major force in this phenomenon. Displaced Africans found themselves amongst people who had divers…
Recruiting Africans to the British Regiments in Ceylon
This paper focuses on the displacement of Africans, spurred by the tradition of recruiting soldiers to serve in both Asian and European armies. It considers the pressure to recruit Africans to the British regiments in Ceylon (called Sri Lanka since 1971) as documented in historical records in the National Archives and how this process was affected by Abolition in the Atlantic. It highlights the spillover effects, of abolishing the transatlantic s…
The African Diaspora in Asia
A Hybrid Performance
The encounter of people from across the Indian Ocean was spurred by the growth of trade leading to colonisation. Enslaved Africans fell victim to the slave trade but held onto their cultural memories and religious practices. I theorise on the religious and spiritual aspects of the musical practices of an Afro–Sri Lankan community
East India Company in Sumatra
For scholars concerned with historical studies of cross-continental movement, migration from Africa to Asia poses challenges. Administrative records of the East India Company reveal the multi-ethnicity of slaves, trends of slavery, resistance to slavery and the circumstances that led to emancipation of the slaves. Through a case study on Sumatra, this paper considers how transition from British to Dutch control affected the emancipated slaves, wh…
Africa in South Asia
As public spaces become arenas to display cultural memories, Afrodescendants in South Asia become more visible. Emerging local histories further complement the trajectories of Africans and facilitate recognition of Afrodescendants. This paper explores the connections of Africa and Asia through a genre of music and dance called kaffrinha which enriched the colonial Sri Lankan musicscape and continues in the postcolonial period. Song texts, music s…
Cross-Cultural Influences on the Language of the Sri Lankan Malays
Although Sri Lanka has had links with the Malays from ancient times, the Sri Lankan Malays trace their ancestry only from the mid-seventeenth century. Taking into account the process of global commercial interactions and territorial expansion, this paper demonstrates the effects of cross-cultural contact in the language of the Sri Lanka Malays illustrated through typological alterations and lexical changes in a multilingual and multicultural sett…
Indian Oceanic Crossings
African movement in the Indian Ocean is a centuries old phenomenon. The better-known transatlantic migration to the Americas has gripped scholars and the public imagination particularly due to the commemorations, in 2007, of the bicentennial of Britain abolishing the slave trade. Archival and oral accounts are complementary in investigating the silent history of the Indian Ocean involuntary migrants. Through case studies, assimilation, social mob…
Invisible Africans
The Portuguese Identity of the Afro-Sri Lankans
The Afro-Sri Lankans are an ethnic minority who have long been overlooked and have received little academic attention. They are a marginalised group, part of a culture which is undergoing rapid assimilation, and any information that we have at present about them may be lost if it is not recorded. There is as yet no adequate history of the Afro-Sri Lankans. The three waves of European colonisers (Portuguese, Dutch and British) that came to the sho…
Portuguese in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole is considered to fall within the group of Indo-Portuguese Creoles, which were Portuguese-based Creoles that once flourished around coastal India and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole arose when the Portuguese established trading posts and fortresses in Sri Lanka from 1517 onwards. The purpose of this paper is to examine critically the influence of substratum (indigenous) languages on Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole
Indo-Portuguese Songs of Sri Lanka
The Portuguese presence in Sri Lanka dates back to the early sixteenth century and lasted some hundred and fifty years. It gave rise to a Creole language based on Portuguese, Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole (SLPC), which Dalgado (1936) considered to be the most vigorous of the Portuguese Creoles
Indo-Portuguese Songs of Sri Lanka
The Portuguese presence in Sri Lanka dates back to the early sixteenth century and lasted some hundred and fifty years. It gave rise to a Creole language based on Portuguese, Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole (SLPC), which Dalgado (1936) considered to be the most vigorous of the Portuguese Creoles
Portuguese in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole is considered to fall within the group of Indo-Portuguese Creoles, which were Portuguese-based Creoles that once flourished around coastal India and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole arose when the Portuguese established trading posts and fortresses in Sri Lanka from 1517 onwards. The purpose of this paper is to examine critically the influence of substratum (indigenous) languages on Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole
The Portuguese Identity of the Afro-Sri Lankans
The Afro-Sri Lankans are an ethnic minority who have long been overlooked and have received little academic attention. They are a marginalised group, part of a culture which is undergoing rapid assimilation, and any information that we have at present about them may be lost if it is not recorded. There is as yet no adequate history of the Afro-Sri Lankans. The three waves of European colonisers (Portuguese, Dutch and British) that came to the sho…
The African Diaspora in Asia
Identifying Africans in Asia
This chapter draws attention to the different terms used for Africans in Asia. In the Middle East, Africans were referred to as Takruni, Sambo, Abid and Mawalid . Africans in Asia have also been known as Cafre, Caffre, Caffree, Kafara, Kafra, Kaphirs, Khafris, Kafirs, Kaffrs, Kapiris, Kapilis and Hapris . Seedee, Seede, Scidee, Scidy, Sciddee, Seydee, Sheedi, Sidi, Sidy, Siddi, Siddy and Sidhi are terms used for Afro-Indians and Afro-Pakistanis. …
Trading on a thalassic network
African migration eastwards has received far less academic attention than that across the Atlantic. While westwards migration was concentrated over a few centuries, migration across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean has been continuing for over a millennium. Migration eastwards was both free and forced. Nevertheless, slavery and the slave trade were a major force in this phenomenon. Displaced Africans found themselves amongst people who had divers…
A Forgotten Minority
This paper seeks to understand why people of African descent in Sri Lanka have a low profile. Drawing attention to cultural retentions and transformations, it examines the process of their assimilation within post-independent Sri Lanka. It argues that the fate of today's Afro-Sri Lankans was shaped during the British era. The prestige of Afro-Sri Lankans rested on their military abilities. Turning to their contemporary status, it appears that the…
Invisible Africans
Preliminary Materials
Chapter One. General Introduction
Index
Chapter Eight. Migrants And The Maldives
This chapter demonstrates how African culture spilt into Maldives. Asian migrants have left an indelible imprint on Divēhi, the language of the Maldives. The main income generator for the Maldives is tourism. The Maldives had trading relationships with Persians, Arabs, Malays, Indonesians, Indians and Sri Lankans. The Maldives became established as a place for repairing ships, as the coir in the Maldives was of good quality. Cowrie shells were ta…
Uncovering the History of Africans in Asia
Chapter Two. Identifying Africans In Asia
The Portuguese in the East
Vasco da Gama's voyage to India in the late 15th Century opened up new economic and cultural horizons for the Portuguese. At the height of Portugal's maritime influence, it had created an oceanic state ranging from the Cape of Good Hope to China. While Portugal's direct political influence in Asia was comparatively short-lived, its linguistic influence remains. Here Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya charts the influences of the Portuguese in more than f…
Indian Oceanic Crossings
African movement in the Indian Ocean is a centuries old phenomenon. The better-known transatlantic migration to the Americas has gripped scholars and the public imagination particularly due to the commemorations, in 2007, of the bicentennial of Britain abolishing the slave trade. Archival and oral accounts are complementary in investigating the silent history of the Indian Ocean involuntary migrants. Through case studies, assimilation, social mob…
Uncovering the History of Africans in Asia
The presence of Africans in Asia has been overshadowed by the tragedy of Atlantic slavery. Identifying Africans in Asia therefore challenges contemporary scholarship. Within this context, the processes of assimilation and marginalisation hinder identification of African migrants. This book demonstrates the multiplicity of roles performed by Africans and the heights that a few of them reached, even in a single generation. Drawing on a variety of s…
Cross-Cultural Influences on the Language of the Sri Lankan Malays
Although Sri Lanka has had links with the Malays from ancient times, the Sri Lankan Malays trace their ancestry only from the mid-seventeenth century. Taking into account the process of global commercial interactions and territorial expansion, this paper demonstrates the effects of cross-cultural contact in the language of the Sri Lanka Malays illustrated through typological alterations and lexical changes in a multilingual and multicultural sett…
Migrants and the Making of Indian Ocean Cultures
East India Company in Sumatra
For scholars concerned with historical studies of cross-continental movement, migration from Africa to Asia poses challenges. Administrative records of the East India Company reveal the multi-ethnicity of slaves, trends of slavery, resistance to slavery and the circumstances that led to emancipation of the slaves. Through a case study on Sumatra, this paper considers how transition from British to Dutch control affected the emancipated slaves, wh…
The African Diaspora in Asian Trade Routes and Cultural Memories
Foreword by Professor Richard Pankhurst, OBE 1. Movements of Africans in the Indian Ocean World 2. Africans in Japan and China 3. A Slave Route to Southeast Asia 4. Emancipation of the East India Company 5. Africans in Sri Lanka 6. Africans as People-In-Between 7. Cultural Memories 8. Crossing Borders Bibliography Index
Introduction African Migration
Recruiting Africans to the British Regiments in Ceylon
This paper focuses on the displacement of Africans, spurred by the tradition of recruiting soldiers to serve in both Asian and European armies. It considers the pressure to recruit Africans to the British regiments in Ceylon (called Sri Lanka since 1971) as documented in historical records in the National Archives and how this process was affected by Abolition in the Atlantic. It highlights the spillover effects, of abolishing the transatlantic s…
Indians of African Descent
The trans-Atlantic slave trade with its forced migrations of millions overwhelms the subjects of African and African-diaspora histories. In contrast to closely studied Atlantic migrations, far less attention has been given to Africans' eastward movements and their tasks, enterprises, achievements, and contributions to societies east of Africa. Empowered through elite military slavery, some Africans reached prominent positions in India. The fate o…
A Hybrid Performance
The encounter of people from across the Indian Ocean was spurred by the growth of trade leading to colonisation. Enslaved Africans fell victim to the slave trade but held onto their cultural memories and religious practices. I theorise on the religious and spiritual aspects of the musical practices of an Afro–Sri Lankan community
Geography (24 works) · History (23 works) · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories (22 works) · History (20 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Anthropology (16 works) · Ethnology (16 works) · South asia (16 works) · Archaeology (14 works) · Sri lanka (12 works)