Foreword: "Revisiting Gananath Obeyesekere"

 

In this book, Dr. Ruwan Jayatunge offers an in-depth review of some of Gananath Obeyesekere’s remarkable work in psychology, anthropology, sociology, and history. Professor Obeyesekere passed away on March 25, 2025. He was born in Sri Lanka in 1930, two years before I was born on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. At that time, both places were under British colonial rule.

Reading about Obesekare’s observations on how colonizers regarded local populations as less civilized reminded me of my own experiences growing up in Cyprus. The island’s population included Greeks, Turks, Armenians, and others—some even identified themselves as Phoenicians. At my high school, the headmaster was a British man who did not teach any classes but carried himself as “superior” to all the other teachers. Looking back, I can recall the propaganda spread by colonial powers against local populations, often directed more at the Muslim Turkish Cypriots than at the Greek Cypriots. Reading this book brought me closer to Obesekare’s perspective. Both of us eventually went on to teach at universities in the United States.

The topics studied by Obesekare and included in this book cover a wide range of themes: the evolution of culture and symbols, the relationship between culture and psychology, the interplay between folklore and social dynamics, the influence of historical figures on the formation of religious identity, psychological propaganda, beliefs about the afterlife, Indian rebirth fantasies, psychoanalytic explanations of cannibalism, and references to more psychoanalytic ideas.

This book offers a remarkable integration of these subjects in a clear and accessible style. It is an invaluable reference for students of human development, as well as for anyone interested in colonialism, ethnic and national identities, and human history. 

 

Vamık Volkan

Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry
University of Virginia