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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
For [Redacted], Lalini Shanela Ranaraja
For [Redacted], Lalini Shanela Ranaraja
Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award
This poem was written following the attempts of a close friend and myself to create awareness for the ongoing genocide in Tigray, Ethiopia in particular, and in reaction to activism in the age of social media in general. The digital age and related phenomena, such as hashtag activism and cancel culture, has enabled certain social justice movements to gain rapid traction while other equally worthy movements struggle to find a foothold. Simultaneously, standards of accountability and ethics continue to decline among global news media, with non-Western countries such as Ethiopia and my own home country of Sri Lanka bearing the …
Treatise, Scripture, Manifesto: Reckoning With "Love Cake", Lalini Shanela Ranaraja
Treatise, Scripture, Manifesto: Reckoning With "Love Cake", Lalini Shanela Ranaraja
Audre Lorde Writing Prize
This essay was written in response to Sri Lankan-American writer and activist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha's poetry collection Love Cake, as part of a directed study I undertook in Spring 2021. A goal of the directed study, titled "The Empire Writes Back" was to engage with and build upon work by writers from South Asia and the diaspora, of which Piepzna-Samarasinha is a vocal member. In this essay, I explore not only the sense of connection I feel with this poet and her body of work as a result of shared experiences of otherness, trauma, and nationhood, but also …
Proof Positive, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja
Proof Positive, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja
Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award
This poem is an exploration of the aftermath of sexual assault and the myriad factors which determine how women, especially women of colour and Asian women, cope with that aftermath. I am particularly concerned with how the testimony and literature of Asian women can prompt other Asian women to unravel their own stories by reflecting these stories back to them and giving them a medium through which to have this confrontation. With this piece I attempt to communicate that the act of confronting and sharing trauma is a continuous and absolutely vital process for survivors of sexual assault.
Saying The Words, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja
Saying The Words, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja
Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award
This poem takes a viscerally personal approach to the "Time's Up" movement's philosophy of making revelations and facing difficult realities.
Freedom, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja
Freedom, Lalini Shanela Ranaraja
Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award
This poem explores the darker side of Facebook's role in sparking online activism and social movements.