PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIOLOGICAL, AND POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF RAGGING IN SRI LANKAN UNIVERSITIES
Journal Title: Social Affairs - Year 2017, Vol 1, Issue 7
Abstract
Ragging is interpreted as a phenomenon that has arisen in the university mainly as a result of the sexual and romantic deprivations of male students who are away from their usual places of residence or birthplaces. This paper provides insights into ragging as a sociological phenomenon while discussing its psychological and political dimensions, and suggests a different approach to tackling the issue in the contemporary context. Ragging is an activity that reinforces the seniority of the second and potentially third year students over frst year students before the latter sets their foot on the ground and establishes old college, locality, class, caste and other linkages with those who are working or learning on campus. The paper outlines different forms of ragging, its positive aspects such as helping students from rural backgrounds break out of their shyness, and suggests various hypotheses that can be tested through systematic research such as class jealousy as a potent incentive for ragging. In spite of its positive functions, severe forms of ragging have concerned many within and outside of universities due to its physical and psychological consequences. In this light, the paper provides a series of strategies that can be used by University authorities to control severe forms of ragging in Sri Lanka.
Authors and Affiliations
Siri Gamage
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP31438
- DOI -
- Views 420
- Downloads 1
THE ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT, AND CURRENT PERSPECTIVES ON ARCHAEOLOGY
In the early decades of the 20th century, archaeology was introduced as a subject in Pirivena education which mainly consisted of a segment of epigraphy. In the 1950s, the Department of History, University of Ceylon of...
Is VIolence JustIfIed In theraVada BuddhIsm?
Focusing on three kinds of textual sources of Theravada Buddhism (the Pali canon, postcanonical Pali chronicles and medieval Sinhala literature), this paper examines whether there is any justifcation of violence in Ther...
EXPANSION OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION, GRADUATE UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE KNOWLEDGE HUB IN SRI LANKA
The main objective of this paper is to examine the nexus between the existing university education system and graduate unemployment, and to explore the responses of successive governments to address this issue. It also...
INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF THE VICE-CHANCELLOR ON 14TH JULY, 1942
The following speech by Sir Ivor Jennings, frst Vice Chancellor of the University of Ceylon, delivered at the inauguration of the University of Peradeniya as the new main campus of the University of Ceylon in July 1942...
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PERADENIYA
These recollections have been drawn from adaptations of two types of material: 1) Speeches delivered at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the University of Peradeniya held at the University of Peradeniya on January 1...