FFWD Weekly
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| BOOKS Shyam Selvadurai is familiar with cultural and personal conflict. He came to Canada from Sri Lanka with his family in 1984 at the age of 19, settling in Toronto. Although cultural and legal sanctions are still in place against homosexuality in Sri Lanka, his liberal family accepted his "coming out" with equanimity. Author of the acclaimed 1994 novel Funny Boy, which received both the W. H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the U.S. Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Men's Fiction, Selvadurai's latest novel, Cinnamon Gardens, examines the conflicting ideals of two generations within two Tamil families - and the coming to terms with one's culture and oneself - against a backdrop of shifting colonial influence and the ebbing of the British Empire in 1920s Ceylon. The story is set in Cinnamon Gardens, a comfortable enclave of gentility and colonial wealth in Colomobo, Sri Lanka (formerly the Crown Colony of Ceylon). In Sri Lanka, same-sex sexual activity is a criminal offence punishable by 12 years imprisonment. Of course, this technicality and day-to-day life are often at odds. Selvadurai describes life for Sri Lankan gay men as similar to that of North American gay men prior to The Stonewall Riots - authorities routinely conduct "sweeps" of homosexual areas, clubs and cruising parks, rounding up gay men and imprisoning them for a night or two, releasing them with a fine. The sodomy laws are rarely, if ever, invoked. The use of the terms "gay" and "homosexual" as they apply to the Tamil and Sinhalese is, as Selvadurai points out, problematic. Same-sex behavior occurs, but within a cultural and community context. The concept of "gay" is very much a Western concept. He explains that given the Hindu and Muslim ethic pervading Sri Lanka, as well as Anglican influences inherited from the Crown Colony era, heterosexual sex for single males is generally unavailable. Many men, therefore, do engage in same-sex activity, but this is often couched in strict gender roles. It is the passive or receptive partner who is perceived as "the faggot," says Selvadurai, while the insertive partner retains his masculinity and his heterosexual identity and status. Ceylon, located at the crossroads of ancient trading routes through the Indian Ocean, has a centuries-long tradition of cultural borrowing that is now ingrained in the Sri Lankan cultural ethic, an amalgamation of the two dominant ethnic groups - the Tamil and the Sinhalese, according to Selvadurai. This borrowing is reflected in the architecture, food, music and religion. Devout Hindus, as Selvadurai writes in Cinnamon Gardens, believe divine favor exists in all faiths. They may well see no conflict in placing an offering in the offerings box of the local Anglican church, appealing to a Catholic saint, or making an offering at a Buddhist shrine while at the same time performing the daily pooja to Ganesh. This cultural borrowing carries over into the sexual realm as well. Many Sri Lankans who are involved in same-sex activity are beginning to form a gay identity and are adopting the Western concept of sex-role equality - a cornerstone of gay sexual politics. He adds that since obtaining universal franchise and emancipation from British colonial rule in 1948, the idea of cultural borrowing, especially as it pertained to British influences, has become much more of a contentious issue on the island. Selvadurai perceives this rejection of such cultural adoptions as selective. "[We] certainly haven't rejected the use of computers, or television and radio," he states. He refers to the influence of Gandhi and Indian Prime Minister Nehru, and their philosophy of non-violence to bring about social change. "That idea is a Western concept. Gandhi adopted that idea. But what I find so exciting is the borrowing of cultural concepts and making them our own," says Selvadurai, adding, "Yes, gay is a Western concept - so? We take what we need from outside influences and don't bother ourselves about the rest." He suggests that the danger in rejecting all Western influences as somehow corrupt leads to the excesses of terrorist groups like the Taliban in Afghanistan. Such groups, he explains, pose as revolutionary when in actual fact they are reactionary and often totalitarian. With 1998 marking the 50th anniversary of self-rule, Selvadurai believes the celebrations commemorating the decision call into question the whole idea of independence. He says a key question facing Sri Lanka is: "Independence from what and independence to what?". Given the current persecution of the Tamil, the question is a provocative one. |