The year 2021 passed in a blur. Despite many significant life milestones, it’s difficult to accept that a whole year passed. Living through a pandemic does it to you, I think. I set out to read 50 books in 2021. I managed to read 62, surpassing a goal I thought was too unrealistic. These books… Continue reading 2021: A year in books
Author: minoliwijetunga
Teaching curriculum – teaching peace?
Building peace, cohesion, and prosperous societies have often been assigned to education. However, as Bowles and Gintis (1976) put forward in Schooling in Capitalist America, there is a Correspondence between schooling and life: schooling mirrors opportunities in life. Systems, including schooling, reproduce class systems and perpetuate the status quo. There are 3C’s in education: content,… Continue reading Teaching curriculum – teaching peace?
‘Funds of knowledge’ and Education
In the foreword to Pedagogy of the Oppressed Richard Shaull writes that education is a subversive factor. Historically speaking, education has been the fundamental tool of rebellion, and in more polite terms, of upward social mobility. Education is often termed an equalizer between individuals of different backgrounds. This is in line with bell hooks’ description… Continue reading ‘Funds of knowledge’ and Education
Pandemic Ponderings I
If there is a line that separates the privileged from the not-privileged in an education setting, I've always been on the far side - the not-privileged - or right in the middle. That is, until now. Being where I am, it is easy to think that the rest of the universities are doing just as… Continue reading Pandemic Ponderings I
Write it on a postcard
I have always been fascinated with postcards. I remember going through my mother's old photo albums and finding postcards with indecipherable writing on the back. Ever curious, I would scan the writing hoping for some insight into the sender; or the receiver. I found none. It could have been anyone - a generic line on… Continue reading Write it on a postcard
Avurudu in a pandemic
Avurudu. Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Among many other things, this time used to be one of the few times of the year where I take over the kitchen. Usually my mother's domain, I take it over during Avurudu to prepare the sweets, to make lunch or dinner, and everything in between. No matter how… Continue reading Avurudu in a pandemic
Money makes money
Note: I am no economist. This is by no means an economic analysis. These lockdown days have seen many a battle erupt on Twitter: some silly, some nonsensical, some ideological, and some thought-provoking. The latest (at the point of writing this post) is on income of a middle class household, and the idea of saving… Continue reading Money makes money
Of Kitchens and Home
I want to talk about kitchens. Not the fancy kitchens with the gleaming counter tops and the latest mixer and the blender and the slicer. I want to talk about kitchens that warm the heart, kitchens where conversations begin, kitchens where dancing happens, kitchens where love happens. I want to talk about kitchens of my… Continue reading Of Kitchens and Home
Lockdown Love Stories
As Sri Lanka nears the end of its first week of recommended physical distancing, and the first day of a national curfew, Working From Home and self isolation is taking a toll on the people; at least on the millennials. Netflix watch parties have become a thing, video calls are rampant, and friends and family… Continue reading Lockdown Love Stories
Ethics of Surveillance in a time of pandemic
The first thing to see the door in times of emergencies are civil liberties. When the emergency is health related, especially a pandemic with the potential to kill millions of people, the means definitely seem to justify the ends. If one is to place privacy and civil liberty on one side of the scale, and… Continue reading Ethics of Surveillance in a time of pandemic
Minoli Wijetunga 