How Colonial History Continues: Considerations for Decolonisation Project

We had the pleasure of welcoming Professor Chandana Alawattage, of the University of Glasgow, who delivered our final external seminar in the series Business History of the present through the looking glass of [De]colonisation. He provided a rich “bottom-up” account of the intricate details involved in the “tea business”, with a particular focus on the production in Sri Lanka of what is still for marketing purposes known by the old name of the British island colony, as “Ceylon” tea.

Chandana took us through the dramatic journey, focussing on the hard work and low pay of the work-force, contrasted with the huge revenues and wealth generated for the colonial and now post-colonial elites. He also took us through the integrated intertwining of practices, and how in the post-colonial era one great transformation took place in working conditions, as the ‘imperial preference’ system of low tariffs for goods produced in British colonies came suddenly to an end, and Ceylon tea had to compete in a ‘free market’ economy.

Professor Chandana Alawattage has experience of teaching and research in accounting and related subjects for more than 20 years now. Chandana is internationally known as a critical accounting scholar through his publications in leading accounting journals, such as: Accounting, Organisations, and Society (AOS), Critical perspectives on Accounting (CPA) and Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ).