An exemplary man from whom we learnt so much

Dr. S.P.F Senaratne, Social Anthropologist, passed away at the age of 87 years on August 31, 2019. I first worked with Dr. Senaratne in November 1972 as Survey Assistant at the Marga Institute (Sri Lanka Centre for Development Studies) which was established in April 1972, to conduct research studies on social and economic problems and communicate its findings to the government and general public. He was then the Acting Director, Museum and joined the Institute as its first Director of Urban and Rural Studies. He was one of the original subscribers to the formation of the institute and also, the elected member of its first Board of Management.

Dr. Senaratne developed and presented a new approach and a conceptual framework as a Social Anthropologist to identify, formulate and analyse development problems in the country. For example, his approach to the first study of “work motivation” in business organisations (1972 to 1982) was quite different from traditional organisation studies. The study was to examine the roles and relationships of personnel at all levels of the organisational structure and its linkages with the society within which it functions. The relation between the business organisation and the ethos in which it functions was the central problem. The business organisation was considered as a social system, characterised by its roles, relationships between roles, norms originating from both within and outside the organization bearing upon relationships, and actual behaviour which either conforms to or deviates from these norms. With this understanding it is possible to examine the distribution of power and the ideology in the organization which upholds the system. Using this framework the next step was to identify differences among organizations and to identify key variables for detailed studies.

We used this framework to study 13 organisations in the private and public sector as an exploratory study using participant observation, in- depth interviews, case studies etc. The similar framework was used in the second study to examine the linking mechanism between the villages and the capital city and how the intermediate centres link the areas of trade and commerce, politics, administration etc. in the two major settlement areas in Anuradhapura and Ampara district.

During this period under the guidance of Dr. Senaratne we learnt basic sociology, social anthropology and more importantly qualitative research methods such as participant observations, case studies, in- depth interviews, and analytical framework in research studies. He conducted informal training sessions on Social Anthropology, research methodology and the research framework to be used in anthropological/sociological research and field studies. I worked under his guidance as a young graduate with no previous research experience to do social research and field studies.

We encountered Dr. Senaratne for the first time in our career in development, working with him with his background of academic studies and international research experience at a foreign university. He was not a boss as such and always very friendly and commanded high respect from all of us in the division. He was not interested in undertaking and making money in research studies and was only content in doing indepth and analytical research studies at the institute.

Although Dr. Senaratne left the Marga Institute in the late 1970’s we had contacts occasionally and I nominated Dr. Senaratne as the elected member of the Faculty Board of Humanities and Social Sciences, Open University from 1996 to 1999 when I was the Head of the Department of Social Studies. He was the advisor to some academic staff members to develop their research proposals and field studies.

After retirement I met Dr. Senaratne again at the evening discussions on development problems, organised by Lalitha, his beloved wife, and daughter, Dr. Sunari at his home at Nawala. Our former colleagues at the Marga Institute organised a get- together in November 2017 and 2018 and he participated at both events with his wife and daughter who were always behind the success of his career and also were there all the way, supporting him in all his endeavours. We all miss him. Dr. Senaratne lived such a good exemplary life and always expended his knowledge in support of and for the benefit of others. Dr. Amarasena Gamaathige