Colonial and Decolonial Thinking and Indigenous Marketing: The Case of Sri Lanka
View(s):A number of new approaches to teaching, learning and education were introduced to Sri Lanka post-independence; however, the country can be observed to still (consciously or unconsciously) employ the same system of education as was implemented in the colonial era. Hence, one may argue that the education systems currently in practice in formerly colonised countries, such as Sri Lanka, can still be labeled: “independent, but colonized”. Just a few years prior to obtaining independence from the British Empire (1942), the University of Ceylon was established as the first university in Sri Lanka entitled to grant its own degrees. This university can be branded as a “colonial university”, which was “-expected to fulfill the colonial objectives in colonial administration, into which they wanted to recruit local personnel… administrative services had been the chief source of employment in the colonial territories and the higher educational institutions primarily catered to this demand.” (Warnapala 2011, p. 117)
More importantly, Golding (2018, p.145 ) argued, “While Sri Lankan education finds new purpose in preparing students for employment in the globalising economy, it also risks reproducing colonial educational modalities by marginalizing local knowledge”. This can be seen in many disciplines across the country; where the education system is still in a “stuck in the middle” state, with several education reforms being introduced in the last six to seven decades after independence.
Therefore, this study is going to focus on the subject of marketing, while identifying the effects of “Colonial and Decolonial Thinking and Indigenous Marketing” in Sri Lanka. The subject of marketing is a popular one among the general public of Sri Lanka. Usually, many theories and concepts in use are those learned from Western textbooks; thus, there exists a need to explore the best practices that align with the culture of a given country. There can be many examples to be explored, such as the below, extracted from a book review from the South Asian Journal of Marketing;
“…Furthermore, there is an interesting observation in Marketing 3.0 where, according to Marketing 3.0, instead of treating people as consumers, marketers must approach them as whole human beings with minds, hearts and spirit. This argument goes hand in hand in line with Buddhist philosophy as well. Matsuoka (2005) discusses this very point in an article titled “The Buddhist concept of a Human Being”. The article explains how Shakyamuni (Buddha’s religious) movement attempted to realise a moralistic revolution of society by reforming the hearts and minds of the individuals in that society. Buddhism offers methods to clarify the mind, open the heart, and face the realities of human life. One can see evidence of this in the history of countries in which Buddhism is practiced and in their civilisations. One can also witness the same “humane” approach to relationships in business practices in these countries. I recently read the success story of Maliban Biscuit Company which is led by Angulugaha Gamage Hinniappuhamy, from Akmeemana, in Galle District, Sri Lanka which solidified these points. It went this way – Hinniappuhamy arrived in Colombo (more than 125 kilometres from the rural, 50 years back). He was given sound advice by his mother before he left his village. His mother reportedly said “Son, you may leave the village and go to Colombo, but remember that whatever you do, it must be in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha and has the blessings of the gods”. Taking this advice to heart, Angulugaha Gamage Hinniappuhamy and his brothers started their business in biscuits. The sons also treasured the advice to give consumers only products that could be safely given to their own family and children. They tasted the biscuits first before giving them to customers. An argument could be made that it is through applying the teachings of basic principles in their culture and traditions that they understood the heart, the values and the minds of their customers. This means that marketing 3.0 was implemented in Sri Lanka way back in the 1940s. This is one of the indications that there is a need for scholars and practitioners to study people’s value systems and traditions in (the) past to read different perspectives which is essential to add new knowledge to the existing domain of subjects such as marketing” (Abeysekera, 2020, pp.179-180).
It is important to learn a subject such as marketing with some understanding of indigenous practices; because conventional marketing itself discusses many theories that can be seen as disconnected from the day-to-day practices of people, and alienated from the reality on the ground. This disconnect is mostly visible in the small and medium-scale enterprise (SME) sector in Sri Lanka, which is dominated by entrepreneurs who only use the native languages (Sinhala or Tamil) in their communication. The author has done several studies on this subject in the last couple of decades and has observed that if certain best practices in marketing are explained, with examples that clarify “their basis”, to these entrepreneurs, they willingly catch on. We can elaborate this with an example of a practice that can be seen in Kataragama, a pilgrimage town sacred to Buddhist, Hindu and indigenous Vedda people, located towards the south of Sri Lanka; upon visiting a shop selling kalu dodol–a sweet, jaggery-based confection popular in Sri Lanka–the owner of the shop (called a mudalali in Sri Lanka) always offers a piece of kalu dodol to the visitor as a sample, to taste free of charge. The visitor may then decide whether to buy the confection or not. This indigenous practice originates in the signature Sri Lankan culture of hospitality. In Western theories, this sort of practice is discussed under integrated marketing communication (IMC) as a strategy of sales promotion. Nevertheless, if one learns and conducts such practices based on a “book”, one cannot experience “innate happiness”; this needs to be critically evaluated further. In fact, in applying theories learned in subjects such as marketing, it is better to first learn the culture of the region in context, and then to learn pertinent theories to get a real sense of “marketing and best practices”. However, these need to be further examined; and it is the author’s belief that for a country like Sri Lanka, in which small and medium scale enterprises (SME) are important for sustainable development, there is a need to equip entrepreneurs with sound knowledge. The combination of indigenous and Western knowledge in this context is really important. And also, in this context, the medium of instruction cannot be overlooked. One may argue that the dominating role of “English” as the language of instruction in developing countries like Sri Lanka (Liyanage, 2019) undermines the study of some indigenous practices. Nevertheless, a strong and sound justification is required on this matter and future researchers may further explore the same in their studies.
Conclusion
There is a need for scholars in subject domains in management to investigate “Indigenous Marketing” in Sri Lanka, this could be one way in which we may learn the best practices in Sri Lankan culture as well. This study sheds light on how further exploring indigenous practices and combining them with certain Western theories and implications can be considered as the best way to explore the given subject aligned with “higher-order thinking”. There should be a proper collaboration between the groups who study indigenous practices in management, and scholars who explore historical and present-day colonial formations to bring to light the “multiple realities” in the given problem. This would help to enrich multidisciplinary studies in the long run as well.
References
Abeysekera, N. (2020) Book Review: Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital by Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya, Iwan Setiawan, South Asian Journal of Marketing, Volume 1, Issue 1, PP178-181
Golding, D. (2018) The colonial and neoliberal roots of the public-private education debate in Sri Lanka. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies,16(1), 145–174
Liyanage, I. (2019) Language education policy in Sri Lanka. In A. Kirkpatrick & A. J. Liddicoat (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of language education policy in Asia (pp. 399-413). Abingdon and New York: Routledge
Warnapala, W. A. W. (2011) The Making of the System of Higher Education in Sri Lanka: An Evaluative Study. Colombo, Sri Lanka: Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited.
(This article is based on the presentation done at the 12th International Critical Management Studies (ICMS) conference (Under the subtheme of Engaging with Decolonial Thinking: Pedagogic and Classroom Perspectives) held at BML Munjal University, India 16-18th December 2021)
Professor Nalin Abeysekera
(The writer is a Professor in Management Studies, Faculty of Management, Management Studies, The Open University of Sri Lanka. You can reach Professor Abeysekera on nabey@ou.ac.lk )
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