Research topic: Archives of Sri Lanka's Vocal Arts: The Lyrical Genres of the Nevill Collection as Refractions of Sri Lanka, Past and Present

在大英图书馆的档案中有几千份僧伽罗手稿，统称为内维尔收藏。由英国法官Hugh Nevill（1847-1897）于1865年至1897年在斯里兰卡收集，该系列以他的名字命名，Nevill collection包含数百首斯里兰卡kavi， sivupada, sindu， vannam和wandana抒情类型文本，可追溯到13世纪至1897年。我建议把重点放在内维尔选集的文本上这些文本可以追溯到16世纪以后。特别是，我将研究与1707年至1815年间康提宫廷有关的文本（从纳伦德拉西姆哈统治时期到1815年宫廷垮台到英国）和与16世纪至1897年（从一位小乘佛教僧侣创作的内维尔抒情诗的最早估计日期到内维尔去世的那一年）之间宗教背景有关的文本。这些文本将被视为追求两条主要探究线的来源：音乐性在这些背景下的角色及其社会生活。在这些时期，音乐性在宫廷和宗教环境中有什么作用，哪些人生活在音乐环境中？除了这项工作，我还将研究内维尔的收藏，作为19世纪斯里兰卡音乐性和殖民主义之间关系的一个例子。这一研究的核心将是考虑内维尔收集抒情文本的背景和推动他收集的因素。内维尔在锡兰期间一直担任公务员，他的歌词收藏与南亚其他殖民代理人的相似之处。因此，我研究他的抒情作品集的目的是建立它与十九世纪斯里兰卡的英国殖民政府的关系，以及在这种背景下殖民主义者的音乐性地位。我的项目主要是档案和历史。然而，我也将在当今这些流派的实践者中进行实地考察。首先，这将定位这两个现代生活的抒情和另类叙事细微差别，质疑或取代周围这些流派收到的叙事。这个研究领域的核心将是观察内维尔收集之前和今天之间的连续性和变化的例子。里卡多·罗克（Ricardo Roque）和金·瓦格纳（Kim Wagoner）认为，通过研究殖民档案，学者们可以确定“殖民叙事、图像和分类是如何产生的，又是如何由物质环境和身体实践产生的”。通过考虑内维尔合集中更长的文本和体裁的历史编纂，以及内维尔的收藏实践和今天的现代抒情实践，我的目标是展示殖民表现和抒情实践之间的关系和影响。在内维尔收集之前的宫廷和宗教背景是如何塑造殖民表现的，这些表现随后是如何影响当代和未来几代抒情表演者，他们的实践和叙事的？通过回答这个问题，我希望呈现斯里兰卡殖民主义和音乐性的历史，它与今天的做法和更遥远的过去的做法相互联系，追踪内维尔歌词的血统，并为其发展特征提供解释。我的研究课题有三个方面。通过内维尔收藏，我将研究斯里兰卡从16世纪到19世纪的音乐史学；十九世纪斯里兰卡的音乐性、收藏和殖民主义；以及内维尔选集的抒情风格与现代实践之间的连续性和变化。每个子主题都与内维尔收藏相连；其中的方法影响将在全文中加以审查。然而，将这个档案置于中心位置给了我必要的限制，使我的项目可行。

In the archives of the British Library are several thousand Sinhala manuscripts known collectively as the Nevill Collection. Collected in Sri Lanka between 1865 and 1897 by British judge Hugh Nevill (1847-1897), from whom this collection takes its name, the Nevill Collection contains hundreds of Sri Lankan kavi, sivupada, sindu, vannam, and wandana lyrical genre texts dating between the thirteenth century and 1897. I propose to focus on the Nevill Collection texts that date from the sixteenth century onwards. In particular, I will examine texts that relate to the Kandyan court between 1707 and 1815 (from the reign of Narendrasimha to the fall of the court to the British in 1815) and texts that relate to religious contexts between the sixteenth century and 1897 (from the earliest date estimated of a Nevill lyric composed by a Theravada monk to the year that Nevill died). These texts will be taken as sources to pursue two main lines of inquiry: the roles of musicality in these contexts and its social life. What functions did musicality have in courtly and religious contexts in these periods, and who were the people that lived their lives around it?Alongside this work, I will also research Nevill's collecting as an example of relationships between musicality and colonialism in nineteenth-century Sri Lanka. Central to this will be considering the contexts in which Nevill collected lyrical texts and the factors that drove his collecting. Nevill was employed as a Civil Servant throughout his time in Ceylon and his collection of lyrics bears similarities with those of other colonial agents in South Asia. As such, I approach his lyrical collection with a view to establish its relationships with the British colonial administration in nineteenth-century Sri Lanka and the place of musicality for colonialists in this context. My project is primarily archival and historical. However, I will also conduct fieldwork among today's practitioners of these genres. Primarily, this will be to locate both the modern life of the lyric and alternative narratives that nuance, question or supplant received narratives around these genres. Central to this research area will be to observe examples of continuity and change between the time prior to Nevill's collecting and today. Ricardo Roque and Kim Wagoner have suggested that, by examining colonial archives, scholars can ascertain 'how colonial narrations, images, and classifications generated, and were generated by, material situations and bodily practices'. By considering the longer historiography of texts and genres in the Nevill Collection alongside Nevill's collecting practices and modern lyrical practices today, I aim to demonstrate the relationships and influence between colonial representation and lyrical practices. How did the courtly and religious contexts prior to Nevill's collecting shape colonial representations, and how did these representations subsequently affect contemporary and future generations of lyrical performers, their practices and narratives? By answering this question, I hope to present a history of colonialism and musicality in Sri Lanka that interlinks with today's practices and those of the more distant past, tracing the lineage of the Nevill lyrics and offering explanations for their developing characteristics. My research topic is threefold. Through the Nevill Collection, I will examine the musical historiography of Sri Lanka from the sixteenth to nineteenth century; musicality, collecting and colonialism in nineteenth-century Sri Lanka; and continuities and change between the lyrical genres of the Nevill Collection and modern practices. Each subtopic is connected to the Nevill Collection; the methodological implications of which will be reviewed throughout. However, positioning this archive at the centre of this importantly gives me necessary limitations to make my project feasible.