Cornell: Global leader in Sri Lanka studies

Located in the rural and picturesque Finger Lakes Region of New York State in the US, Cornell University seems an unlikely site for an academic centre focused on the study of historical and contemporary Sri Lanka. Yet one unique feature of this Ivy League university often overlooked is that it is the only institution outside of Sri Lanka to offer a full curriculum for the study of Sinhala. Moreover, Cornellians have the opportunity to study Tamil, plus Sanskrit and Pali, all languages central to Sri Lanka’s rich literary and ritual histories. 

This emphasis on the languages of Sri Lanka has ensured a solid foundation for Cornell’s ongoing scholarship and applied research at the global heart of Sri Lanka Studies. Cornell’s involvement with Sri Lanka has a deep history, dating back to the 1960s and 1970s when Cornell dons and post-graduate students began to take an active interest in Sri Lanka’s languages, literatures, agriculture and water management, architecture and anthropology.

From those days till now, Sri Lanka has been central to the university’s teaching and research missions. Cornell sends Sinhala language courses via video-conference to other US universities, while Cornell students access Tamil language classes from Columbia University by video-conference, thanks to a Mellon Foundation-funded collaboration. The Cornell South Asia Program remains the leading publisher of textbooks for the study of Sinhala, and the University maintains the chief US library collection related to Sri Lanka. Each year, the Cornell South Asia Program hosts distinguished visitors from Sri Lanka, who offer lectures, courses, and performances at the university. Cornell scholars working on Sri Lanka also maintain close ties with major Sri Lankan universities and research centres on the island. 

However, dark clouds loom on the horizon, threatening Cornell’s strengths in Sri Lanka Studies. The university’s Sinhala language program is now at risk. Due to changing governmental priorities, there may be little or no access to US government grants that have historically provided selected universities with partial support for language teaching. Severely compounding this threat, Cornell University’s changing budgetary policy has reduced support for the Less Commonly Taught Languages, including Sinhala. Cornell University’s unique full-time Sinhala language program may cease by July 2018.

The Cornell South Asia Program leads the campaign to save the University’s full-time Sinhala language program, using two linked strategies. First, capitalising on new teaching technology, the South Asia Program aims to increase student enrolments in Cornell’s Sinhala courses, by expanding video-conferenced classroom access to the language for students from other universities in the US This publicly affirms the Sinhala curriculum’s value and may thus help deflect university budget cuts. The second and most critical strategy aims to generate partial running costs from external funders in the short-term, and to endow the Sinhala Senior Lecturer position in the middle-term. Only substantial external funding will secure the Cornell Sinhala language curriculum for current and future generations. 

What is the return on investment? Support of Cornell’s Sinhala language program contributes to the future of Sri Lanka and our wider world in many ways. Language study enables post-graduate students (including but not limited to students of Sri Lankan heritage) to undertake substantial studies of historical and contemporary Sri Lanka. This helps develop an international community of scholars conversant in Sinhala, better able to work with colleagues in Sri Lanka on a host of issues, including social and economic development, Indian Ocean security, and environmental preservation. Scholars of literary Sinhala trained by Cornell’s Senior Lecturer in Sinhala help deepen our understanding of the island’s religious, literary, and cultural heritage. This is urgently needed, especially since so few students now pursue these areas in advanced post-graduate courses within Sri Lanka. Young people from the Sri Lankan diaspora are often eager to help build the future of Sri Lanka. Yet without training in Sinhala and Tamil languages they cannot function effectively, whether among their relatives on the island or in many wider social and professional settings. Maintaining foundational language programs at Cornell University helps the younger generations abroad reconnect to Sri Lanka at a pivotal time in the island’s history. Sri Lanka-related endowed programs at Cornell University are also symbolically important, underscoring the significance of Sri Lanka to the United States and within our rapidly changing global arena. Those interested in discussing the future of Cornell’s Sinhala language program can contact Prof. Anne M. Blackburn, Director, Cornell South Asia Program <[email protected]>.