Wimal Dissanayake

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Wimal Dissanayake
BornSeptember 6, 1939
Kurunegala, North Western Province, Sri Lanka
NationalitySri Lankan
EducationNikaveva Vidyalaya
Trinity College, Kandy
Alma mater University of Peradeniya
University of Pennsylvania
University of Cambridge
Occupation(s)writer, academic, university professor and film critic
AwardsThe Sahithya Rathna Award (The Government of Sri Lanka), Honorary Doctor of Letters (University of Kelaniya), The Deshabandu Title (The Government of Sri Lanka), Asian Communication Award (Asian Media Information and Communication Centre)

Wimal Dissanayake (born September 6, 1939 [1] ) is a Sri Lankan creative writer, literary critic, and leading scholar in Asian cinema and Asian communication theory. [2] He was a Senior Fellow and an Assistant Director of the Institute of Culture and Communication at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was the Founding Editor of the East-West Film Journal.

Contents

Education

Dissanayake is from Nikaveva, a village about 35 kilometers away from Kurunegala town. Both of his parents were school teachers. He attended high school at Trinity College, Kandy. [3] He studied with an eminent dramatist, Ediriweera Sarachchandra. [3] Dissanayake graduated from the University of Peradeniya with a B.A. degree upon graduating from the university, which merged while he was there with the University of Ceylon. [3] He then earned an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania [3] and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He received Fulbright and Rockefeller Fellowships.

Career

Dissanayake was a Research Associate at the East-West Communication Institute and then a Senior Fellow and an Assistant Director of the Institute of Culture and Communication at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. [4] He later became Wei Lun Distinguished Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong [5] and a Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Hong Kong. [3] [6] He returned to Hawaii and served as the Director of the International Cultural Studies Graduate Certificate Program jointly sponsored by the East-West Center and the University of Hawaii from 2008 to 2011.

Dissanayake is considered as an early pioneer in the field of Asian communication theory. He criticised the wholesale adoption of Western communication theories and research methods in the Asian region. [7] [8] [9] He studied Asian classical teachings, examined Asian rituals, beliefs, and norms, and developed Asian communication theories. [3] He is also considered as a progressive public intellectual who early on introduced postmodernism to Sinhalese readers. He began publishing columns on postmodern thought in Sinhalese newspapers in the 1990s. [3]

Dissanayake's scholarly books in English were published by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Duke University Press, Indiana University Press, University of Minnesota Press, Routledge, and Penguin Books. Wong Kar-wai’sAshes of Time (2003), [10] Raj Kapoor's Films: Harmony of Discourses (1988), [11] Sinhala Novel and the Public Sphere (2009), [12] Self and Colonial Desire: Travel Writings of V. S. Naipaul (1993) [13] [14] and Sholay, A Cultural Reading (1992) are regarded as some of his most notable works. [15]

In 2000, Dissanayake co-authored a book titled, Profiling Sri Lankan Cinema, with Ashley Ratnavibhushana. [16] [17] The book focused on the growth trajectory of the Sri Lankan cinema. [6] In 2004, Dissanayake also published Indian Popular Cinema: A Narrative of Cultural Change with K. Moti Goulsing based on their analysis of the nine decades of Indian cinema, which had seen its own fair share of lows and highs. [18] The book examined the impact of Indian popular cinema on Indians on the continent and in the diaspora and discussed how Indian cinema captured international attention beyond the Indian audience. [19] [20] The book highlighted six major influences that have shaped Indian popular cinema. [21]

Dissanayake was the Editor-in-Chief of the East-West Film Journal, published by the Institute of Culture and Communication at the East-West Center, from 1986 to 1994. He also maintained a very close association with the Hawaii International Film Festival since its inception in 1981, and the longstanding association was ended in 1995 after 14 years. [3]

Awards

Dissanayake received the Sahithya Rathna Award from the Government of Sri Lanka at the 2012 State Literary Festival. [22] He was conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Kelaniya. [22] He was conferred with the prestigious Deshabandu title during the 2019 Sri Lankan national honours. [23] [24]

On December 4, 2021, Dissanayake was conferred with the Asian Communication Award for Disruptive Inquiry by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC). [2] [3] He received the award in the virtual edition of the 28th AMIC Annual Conference, where the award winners were officially announced. [2] [3] [25]

References

  1. ↑ Le Roy Robinson, "An Interview with Wimal Dissanayake on Aspects of Culture in Sri Lanka," Annual Review of Southeast Asian Studies, Nagasaki University, 26 (1984), pp. 103–114. https://nagasaki-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/12347
  2. 1 2 3 "Prof. Wimal Dissanayake wins AMIC Asia Communication Award - Front Page | Daily Mirror". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Prof. Wimal Dissanayake conferred AMIC Asia Communication Award". Sunday Observer. 2021-12-31. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  4. ↑ Le Roy Robinson, "An Interview with Wimal Dissanayake on Aspects of Culture in Sri Lanka," Annual Review of Southeast Asian Studies, Nagasaki University, 26 (1984), pp. 103–114. https://nagasaki-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/12347
  5. ↑ "Prof. Wimal Dissanayake". Department of Mass Communication. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  6. 1 2 "Contribution of Prof. Wimal Dissanayake". www.sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  7. ↑ Wimal Dissanayake, "Towards Asian Theories of Communications," Communicator: Journal of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Vol. 16, No. 4 (October 1981), pp. 13–18.
  8. ↑ Wimal Dissanayake, "The Need for Asian Approaches to Communication," in Wimal Dissanayake (Ed.), Communication Theory: The Asian Perspective (Singapore: Asian Mass Communication Research and Information Center, 1988), pp. 1–19
  9. ↑ Wimal Dissanayake, "Toward Asian Communication Theory: An Intellectual Journey," in Yoshitaka Miike and Jing Yin (Eds.), The Handbook of Global Interventions in Communication Theory (New York: Routledge, 2022), pp. 74–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003043348-6
  10. ↑ Dissanayake, Wimal (2003-06-10). Wong Kar-wai's Ashes of Time (1st ed.). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN   978-962-209-585-4.
  11. ↑ Dissanayake, Wimal; Sahai, Malti (1988-05-01). Raj Kapoors Films: Harmony of Discourses. New Delhi: Stosius Inc/Advent Books Division. ISBN   978-0-7069-4040-4.
  12. ↑ "Sinhala novel and the public sphere". Sunday Observer. 2021-10-29. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  13. ↑ "Self And Colonial Desire: Travel Writings Of V.S. Naipa…". Goodreads. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  14. ↑ Dissanayake, Wimal; Wickramagamage, Carmen (1993). Self and Colonial Desire: Travel Writings of V.S. Naipaul (New ed.). New York: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers. p. 1. ISBN   978-0-8204-1975-6.
  15. ↑ "Books by Wimal Dissanayake (Author of Wong Kar-wai's Ashes of Time)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  16. ↑ Dissanayake, Wimal; Ratnavibhushana, Ashley (2000-01-01). Profiling Sri Lankan Cinema. Asian Film Centre. ISBN   978-955-8008-00-3.
  17. ↑ Dissanayake, Wimal; Ratnavibhushana, Ashley (2000). Profiling Sri Lankan Cinema. Asian Film Centre. ISBN   978-955-8008-00-3.
  18. ↑ Ranjith Krishnan K. R., Review of the book, Indian Popular Cinema: A Narrative of Cultural Change, www.ranjithsliterature.com.
  19. ↑ Gokulsing, K. Moti; Dissanayake, Wimal (2004). Indian Popular Cinema: A Narrative of Cultural Change (2nd ed.). Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books. ISBN   978-1-85856-329-9.
  20. ↑ Gokulsing, K. Moti; Dissanayake, Wimal (2004). Indian Popular Cinema: A Narrative of Cultural Change. Trentham. ISBN   978-1-85856-329-9.
  21. ↑ Gokulsing, K. Moti; Dissanayake, Wimal (2004). Indian Popular Cinema: A Narrative of Cultural Change. Trentham Books. pp. 98–99. ISBN   1-85856-329-1.
  22. 1 2 "Wimal Dissanayake – The School of Cinematic Arts" . Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  23. ↑ "President honours outstanding citizens at National Awards ceremony". Sri Lanka News - Newsfirst. 2019-08-19. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  24. ↑ "National honours conferred on 66 Sri Lankan citizens". The Sunday Times Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  25. ↑ Weerasooriya, Sahan (2021-12-06). "Prof. Dissanayake receives Asian Communication Award" . Retrieved 2023-11-12.
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