21 January was a sad day for Sri Lanka as we mourned the loss of Dr. Malathi de Alwis. Fondly known as Mala de Alwis, she was a famed anthropologist who taught at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) and the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Colombo. Dr. de Alwis touched the hearts of many before her untimely passing and was loved by all she had encountered.
Sharing a few words about her impact, The Morning Brunch spoke to some of her closest companies.
She was not just a mentor: Vraie Balthazaar
Researcher and activist Vraie Balthazaar was not just a student of Dr. de Alwis – they shared many memories and moments that Balthazar told us are irreplaceable. “Dr. Malathi had this beautiful way of making everyone that was a part of her life feel very special.”
She said that Dr. de Alwis gave her the confidence to get through her academics and helped her through many complex processes in her studies, and also made sure she made everyone know she was there for all of them in any other way too.
In a touching description of Dr. de Alwis, Balthazaar said: “She’s a giant, but she never made us feel any less. She treated all of us with the same respect and love that she would show any famous academic.”
Balthazaar shared with us a fond memory of Dr. de Alwis. “I have kids, and Dr. de Alwis used to send me videos to share with them. She would take time off her day to check on how I am.”
She also shared how Dr. de Alwis was so committed that even after a hard day of treatment, she would ask her how everything was going and check up on whether she had read the latest article Dr. de Alwis had found interesting.
“She was constantly present; the most incredible thing about her was that she was rich to everyone, not just me. I think the fact that there’s such an outpouring of love from a diverse variety of people is the greatest way for her to be honoured. It shows the number of people she has touched in so many ways, across the world.”
She was a real activist: Shadi Kaluarachchi
Athula Caterers (Pvt.) Ltd. Director Shadi Kaluarachchi commented that she saw Dr. de Alwis as not just a professor, but as a real activist who would “help students who are quite underprivileged and give them an extra hand”.
Talking about her experience as a student of Dr. de Alwis, she said: “She showed feminism for what it was; she was trying to teach her students to do research the proper way in order to become a grassrooted researcher and to understand people’s difficulties while attempting not look at them in a complete western ideology.”
Noting that this really helped Sri Lankan women because there are certain classes in feminism as well, she said: “She made all these students from different areas – be it Batticaloa, Matale, Colombo, or wherever they came from. She made them feel very comfortable and welcome to this new way of life and seeing the world.”
She said Dr. de Alwis also taught them to explore their own selves and supported them. “There were eight students in our batch, and all eight of us had different stories, thanks to her.”
I was amazed at how much she knew: Senel Wanniarachchi
Talking about how he became acquainted with Dr. de Alwis, Hashtag Generation Co-founder and Director Senel Wanniarachchi shared: “I first met Dr. Malathi (who many of us called Dr. M) at one of the many ‘Memory Walks’ she did around Colombo city four or five years ago.”
Reminiscing following her around the streets of Colombo, he said he remembers being amazed at how much she knew and how much he didn’t know. “She’d point at some road that I aimlessly take everyday and explain how it was named after some white colonial administrator who’s responsible for doing so and so, and renamed on such and such a year by some politician or the other. Then she’d point at an adjacent roundabout and talk about some significant event that happened there.”
He added that every building, every bridge, and every yellow crossing seemed to have a story, and Dr. de Alwis was the keeper and sharer of these stories.
Recently, with the events of iconoclasm happening in the North, Senel said he had been thinking to himself what would Dr. M have said or written about these developments. “I rewatched a talk she delivered at York University on Trauma, Memory, and Forgetting. I managed to keep in touch with Dr. M a bit and had the opportunity of working together on something a few months back, but the relationship I had with her, above all, was being – due to the lack of a better word – a fan and an admirer of her work.”
He stated that her work on memory, gender, and historiography are tackling some of the most urgent issues of our times, but what’s most striking is how she manages to do so with so much empathy and kindness.
“The last public talk she delivered, that I know of, was titled ‘An Archaeology of Absence’. Dr. M’s absence will be felt ever so much, but I know her criticality and wisdom will continue to inspire generations to come.”
She was always present: Sharanya Sekeram
Feminist activist, researcher, and writer Sharanya Sekeram shared what made Dr. de Alwis so special to her. “For me, it was always about how Dr. Malathi taught and mentored without even realising she was mentoring at the time. She had this generosity with how she responded to her students.”
She shared that Dr. de Alwis only taught her one particular course, but she connected with her. “Whether you reached her on email or in real life, she always remembered you – and that is very rare.”
Academia can feel exclusive; the language is complicated and it takes a long time to grasp what is going on. Dr. de Alwis, Sekeram noted, was very patient with her students. She said that every time you were with her, you never felt like her attention was elsewhere, and that she was always present.
Sekeram added that the most redeeming quality she learned from Dr. de Alwis was how generously she gave her time as a teacher, mentor, academic, activist, and feminist. “Because of women like her, the current generation has been exposed to these spaces in terms of academics, and that is why those spaces continue to grow. That is a remarkable thing.”
