We see from other contributions to this collection how issues of colonialism and
decoloniality in different societies and regions of the world shape and reshape heritage
meanings and the role that is played by differing levels of knowledge and authority—local,
communal, institutional, legal, and national—in directing and redirecting ...
We see from other contributions to this collection how issues of colonialism and
decoloniality in different societies and regions of the world shape and reshape heritage
meanings and the role that is played by differing levels of knowledge and authority—local,
communal, institutional, legal, and national—in directing and redirecting perceptions of
heritage. Many of the contributions share the backdrop of settler colonialism in the Americas
and find solidarity at the intersection of heritage, land rights, and (dis)possession. In South
Asia, it is external, or exogenous, colonialism; the exploitation of local people; and extraction
of resources by an outside power for the wealth and privilege of the colonizers (Tuck and
Yang, 2012) that characterize society and heritage. Here we deal specifically with Sri Lanka,
an island with a long, rich, and multifaceted history that has in the last half-century
experienced a brutal civil war and now lives in an uneasy and unresolved peace.
Taking inspiration from conversations that emerged during the meeting in Geneva, we have
here recorded a three-way conversation that developed its own trajectories as we explored our
own places in the heritage-coloniality dynamic of Sri Lanka and then the places where we
found the contentions of heritage-coloniality impinging on the state of the island and its
communities today. It is interesting that our conversation also alighted on the perception of a
new Chinese colonialism, unknowingly picking up threads from the contribution of Florence
Graezer Bideau and Pascale Bugnon in this special section. To retain the spontaneity and
authenticity of our conversation in December 2022, the text is largely unedited. For anyone
familiar with Sri Lanka today, the conversation as an event is as valuable as what is being
said, and we hope this opens doors to more cross-community conversations.