RELINQUISHED-The Sri Lankan Malays: Islam, literature, and diaspora across the Indian Ocean

The Malays of Sri Lanka are a fascinating, little-studied community whose history bears testimony to the inter-connectedness of Asian Muslim societies past and present. This project investigates the Sri Lankan Malays' complex past by focusing on their literary culture. It considers their history and texts through the lens of mobility - via travel, translation, exile, enlistment, pilgrimage - across the Indian Ocean between the 18th and 20th centuries. Drawing on diverse known and newly discovered primary sources, it employs theoretical frameworks from Diaspora Studies, Travel Writing and Comparative Literature. The result will be the first nuanced account of a community that defies our assumptions about the Malay World.