Anthropologist of War and Pictures. Conflict. Politics. Resistance. Visual Culture. International Development. Sri Lanka. https://xitter.cf/t.co/f3kfu55O8r
Colombo / Jaffna / St Andrews
Joined February 2017
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‘A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka’ is out now with @UWAPress | US/North America uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295… UK/Rest of the world inc. Sri Lanka liverpooluniversitypress.co.… or do ask your favourite local book seller to order it in for you (easy!)
delighted to be collaborating with @shamara4w and Itihas itihas.lk/ on this workshop intended for those preparing to apply for a PhD. Please do share!
Dr. Vindhya Buthpitiya and I are running a workshop in Colombo in December to support prospective PhD applicants to UK institutions.
Details in the CfP below! Please share with anyone who might be interested. It is free of charge.
Apply here: forms.gle/XkzZvBVeJpHcYCDK9
@vindib_
the OMP’s records reveal thousands of missing names & unexplained discrepancies in official tallies of Sri Lanka’s disappeared: truth-seeking mechanism has become another instrument of impunity? himalmag.com/disappearances-… by @francesharris0n + Yasmin Sooka
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
Residents in Ampara District living in fear due to increase in wild elephants entering villages following the paddy harvest.
Movement of wild elephants has risen significantly in areas including Mawadippalli, Sammanthurai, Karaitivu, Nintavur, Sainthamaruthu, and Kalmunai. 👇👇
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
Two sub-inspectors and a constable have been suspended following the custodial death of a suspect at Homagama police station over the weekend. Torture in custody continues despite assurances from the authorities and repeated censure by international rights fora.
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
More than 55 Tamils including young children, women & the elderly who were killed 39 years ago by Indian 'peacekeeping' forces stormed the Kokuvil Hindu College in Jaffna, are being commemorated with flowers and oil lamps; justice for these victims has yet to be served.
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
A protest on Vap Full Moon Poya day & preceding day demanding removal of 'Tissa' Buddhist temple established through military force on land forcibly seized from Tamils.
Tamil community has held protests on 42 separate Poya days against this temple, which remains unregistered.
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
Around 40 stranded Iranian sailors aboard U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers anchored just outside #SriLanka’s territorial waters received urgent medical treatment in the island nation on Saturday (October 24, 2026)
thehindu.com/news/internatio… via @the_hindu
lowkey charmed and amused by this. | Amid economic uncertainty and intense competition, millions of young Chinese people are tuning in to 84-Year-Old Cambridge Professor Alan Macfarlane’s lo-fi answers to life’s biggest dilemmas. bloomberg.com/news/features/…
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
BREAKING: Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the presidential run-off against right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro on Sunday, the electoral authority said, securing a fourth non-consecutive term.
🟠 LIVE updates: aje.news/vs1cfu
the number of custodial deaths (invariably coupled with police brutality/ torture) should cause wider alarm & outrage. ‘Drugs’ have long been a way in which arbitrary arrests have been euphemised, alongwith the PTA which disproportionately impacts political minorities. #SriLanka
A 29-year-old man arrested in connection with a drug-related investigation has died after being held at the Homagama Police Station, with his family alleging that he was assaulted by police officers.
The deceased has been identified as Ishara Harsha Kumara, a resident of Kiriwaththuduwa.
According to his relatives, the suspect was arrested and detained at the Homagama Police Station.
Family members alleged that they learned he had been assaulted when they visited the police station to see him.
They further claimed that the suspect was unable to walk and had to be carried by several officers after being taken for questioning.
Relatives alleged that he had visible injuries and was bleeding when he was returned to the police cell.
Following requests from family members, police officers took the suspect to the Homagama Base Hospital. However, his relatives claimed that he had already died by that time.
The family has called for an impartial investigation and justice over the death.
Responding to the allegations, the Police Spokesman said the suspect had been brought to the Homagama Police Station during an operation and had subsequently developed a sudden illness.
He said the suspect died after being admitted to the hospital.
The Police Spokesman further confirmed that the Homagama Assistant Superintendent of Police has initiated a preliminary investigation into the incident. (Newswire)
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
'At Jaffna Customs office, books dealing with political subjects get singled out for scrutiny. The presence of words such as “war,” “military,” “gun,” “Tigers,” and “mass grave” is enough to detain a book.'
- A joint appeal by the Eelam Tamil writers. kirishanth.com/?p=3925
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
AI labs: building a monster
Technician looks up: "Guys, see this monster I'm building? Yeah? I’m just warning you about it, ok!?”
Technician goes back to building monster
the only thing I am thinking about right now is that with the switch to (already temperamental) e-visas, an (especially cyber) emergency is going to cause serious problems for some of us. Bring back physical IDs (and cash payments!).
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
Yatharthan's translated his post into Sinhala as well yatharthan.com/3104-2/
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
Customs said they don't have a list of confiscated books over the years when @ExaminerLK RTI'ed for them. There's effectively a set of banned books, but nobody knows for sure what they are.
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
Yatharthan has a detailed writeup of what happened on his blog at yatharthan.com/23101-2/
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
Adding further to the list of censored Tamil books, on Thursday (22), Sri Lanka custom officials in Jaffna refused to release 30 copies of the Tamil novel "Thorai" by Pradeep Kunaradnam alias Yatharthan & informed the author to obtain a "permission from the Ministry of Defence".
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
Court in Jaffna urged to reject Professor Raj Somadeva's recent report on Sri Lanka’s largest mass grave, which "appear to be inconsistent with, or materially depart from, the findings, opinions and conclusions contained in the previous reports" submitted by the same archeologist
Vindhya Buthpitiya retweeted
In the midst of violent repression of student protestors, she compared the language of campus protests to WMDs - a morally repugnant, intellectually obtuse essay.
lmao….not Zadie Smith signing this Sally Rooney letter as if we don’t all remember Smith’s 2024 @newyorker essay criticizing pro-Palestinian student protestors when it actually mattered. girl, pls, try cleansing your soul some other way🙄