Does The Feeling Of Belonging To An Ethnic Community Make One A Mental Patient?
Dr. EW Adikaram
Does the feeling of belonging to an ethnic community make one a mental patient? - A heretical reading of Dr. E. W. Adikaram’s article “Isn’t the Nationalist a Mental Patient?”
Dr. E. W. Adikaram is a much respected humanist and the article under discussion is one of his most famous ones with a wide appeal to both the English and Sinhala reader. It has been pointed out that Dr. Adikaram’s “hallmark was the spirit of inquiry and courteous engagement” (Nalaka Gunawardene, Groundviews). The following comments are made in the same spirit.
In this article, Dr. Adikaram uses the term nationality to mean the national identity of Sinhalese, Tamils, and Telegus etc., in the old usage of the term which read ජාතිය (jāthiya) in Sinhala. Today, in the scholarly discourse at least, the term used for these categories is ethnicity.
Challenging the argument that “[A] person is Sinhalese because he speaks the Sinhalese language,” Adikaram points out that “there are people of other nationalities who speak only Sinhalese because they happen to be brought up from early childhood in homes where only Sinhalese is spoken. “ What does he mean here by ‘other nationalities’? Apparently the fact that they are called as such by themselves or others, not that Adikaram believes that there is something called nationality (read: ethnicity) as such. What he attempts in this article to begin with is to challenge the usage of the terms Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu etc. to denote a person’s identity. When he refers to “non-Sinhalese homes,” he is referring to homes in which children are brought up mainly speaking non-Sinhala languages. Does he mean a Tamil or a Telugu who happens to be brought up from early childhood in a home where only Sinhalese is spoken? Why would someone be called a Tamil or a Telugu if s/he speaks only Sinhalese? That person must have attributes other than the fact that s/he speaks only Sinhalese. But Tamil is a language. So is Telugu. A Tamil is someone whose mother tongue is Tamil. The same goes for a Telugu. In this sense, someone who speaks only Sinhalese cannot be called a Tamil or a Telugu.
Isn’t The Nationalist A Mental Patient?
By EW Adikaram -December 28, 2013
Dr. EW Adikaram
Are you a Sinhalese? If you are a Sinhalese, how do you know that? I have asked this question from many who call themselves Sinhalese. I have so far never received a satisfactory reply from any of them.
I have also asked those who say that they are Tamils, Telegus, etc., as to how they know that they are Tamils, Telegus and so on. From them too, I have never received a satisfactory reply.
When this question is asked, some get annoyed. Some ask back why I should ask this question when the reply is so obvious, some consider that the question is asked merely for fun. Still others reply that they have never given thought to this question. Anyway a satisfactory, a logical and an acceptable reply does not come forth from any of them.
“I am a Sinhalese because my parents are Sinhalese.” This is the argument of many. This surely is not a reply but only shifting the question a little further, as the next immediate question would then be “How do you know that your parents are Sinhalese?” This shifting can go on further and further, but the question will not thereby be solved.
“A person is Sinhalese because he speaks the Sinhalese language.” This is another argument that is usually adduced. But there are people of other nationalities who speak only Sinhalese because they happen to be brought up from early childhood in homes where only Sinhalese is spoken. Simply because they speak the Sinhalese language they do not thereby become Sinhalese. And also there are Sinhalese people who speak a language other than Sinhalese because they were brought up in non-Sinhalese homes. They are not considered non-Sinhalese simply because they cannot speak Sinhalese. It is therefore clear that one is not a Sinhalese just because he speaks Sinhalese. Similarly a person does not become an Englishman simply because he speaks English. Read More
