March 4th marks three months since the passing away of Prof. Manique Gunesekera, who was  called “Prof. Manique” by most of the lecturers at the English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU)  of the University of Kelaniya in typical Sri Lankan style, or “Miss” by her former students who  are now on the staff of the ELTU, or simply “Manique” by the senior staff. Much was written  and said in the moments immediately following the shocking news that Manique was no more,  but  three  months  after  the  loss  is  a  good  time  to  make  a  (hopefully) slightly  less  emotional  appraisal of Manique’s contribution to academia in Sri Lanka. 

Manique Gunasekera joined the staff of the Department of English of the University of Kelaniya  in  1979,  immediately  after  graduating from  the same  department.  Although she rose  to  great  heights  as  an  academic  and  an  administrator  at  the  University  of  Kelaniya, she  will  be  most  fondly remembered as an outstanding lecturer. As an individual she had the priceless ability to  make the people around her feel special.  She carried this gift into the lecture­ room and delighted  in  making  her  lectures  come  alive  by  paying  attention  to  individual  students,  encouraging  a  lively  exchange  of  ideas,  and  getting  her  students  to  connect  and  apply  their  theoretical  knowledge to their lived experience. All this was coupled with her unique and bold dress sense  and  her  hallmark sense  of  humour. It  was  no small  wonder  that  even  the  worst  truant  would  unfailingly turn up at her lectures. 

Eventually, Manique moved up the ranks of academia, received her PhD from the University of  Michigan, USA, and became the Head of the Department of English and the English Language  Teaching Unit (ELTU), the latter being at that time a fledgling entity devoted to teaching English  as a Second Language (ESL) to the undergraduates of all faculties. Manique made the university  system take the teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL) seriously by instilling a sense  of professionalism in the work undertaken by the ELTU and also by ensuring that the ELTU was  housed  in  its  own  building.  In  1998,  when  all  other  universities  were  recruiting  English  Instructors  as  “academic  support  staff”,  Manique  took  the  ground-breaking  step  of  recruiting  graduates of the Department of English as lecturers of ESL. 

Although this is standard practice in  all Sri Lankan universities today, it was Manique who set the precedent and paved the way for  the recruitment of lecturers and the promotion of suitably qualified instructors to the position of  2 lecturers. This led to the professionalisation of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)  in the University of Kelaniya,  and following its  example, most of the other universities of Sri  Lanka  did  the  same.  Today  the  ELTU  of  the  University  of  Kelaniya  stands  testimony  to  Manique’s vision as it consists of highly qualified staff and has become a pioneering Teaching  English as a Second Language (TESL) degree awarding body in Sri Lanka, thus contributing its  mite by addressing the problem of the dearth of qualified English teachers in Sri Lanka. 

Manique’s contribution to the field of English in Sri Lanka largely centres on the concept of Sri  Lankan English. Calling for a questioning of the assumption that Sri Lankan speakers of English  spoke “British English” or “Queen’s English”, Manique promoted in its place the then somewhat  revolutionary  notion  that  we  become  confident  and secure  users  of  the  Sri  Lankan  variety  of  English. To further this cause, she published her book “The Post-colonial Identity of Sri Lankan  English” in 2005.  Although  other academics had engaged in studying Sri Lankan English prior to Manique’s interest in the  field,  arguably  it  was  she  who  was  responsible  for  it  becoming  a  trendy  topic  of  academic  interest  among  postgraduate  and  undergraduate  students  throughout  the  country. 

Today  Sri  Lankan  English  is  a  robust  field  of study,  with  many  academics  both  local  and  international  contributing to its growth, but Manique’s contribution to this process is enormously significant. Manique’s  commitment  to  popularising  the  notion  of  a Sri Lankan  brand  of English  and thus  democratizing access to English in Sri Lanka made her take her message of Sri Lankan English  to the larger populace through the Sri Lanka English Language Teachers’ Association (SLELTA). At that  time  SLELTA was still  under the sway  of the British Council which  provided the  bulk  of its  funding. But Manique bravely questioned SLELTA’s dependent relationship, recognizing that it  was impossible for SLELTA to commit fully to Sri Lankan English from such a position. Under  her intrepid stewardship, SLELTA stepped out of the shadow of the British Council and became  an  independent  service  organization,  self-­reliant  for  funding  and  therefore  able  to  take  an  independent stand regarding which variety of English it  chose to promote. Manique  embraced  SLELTA’s  mandate  of  teacher  training  with  her  customary  gusto  and  combined  her  love  of  travelling and meeting people with her commitment to improving the standard of English in Sri Lanka by travelling to many parts of the country as part of SLELTA.  

At the University of Kelaniya, in 2011 Manique was appointed Dean of the Faculty  of Graduate Studies (FGS).  She adorned this office with her signature style and went about her  task  of  managing  the  faculty  with  her  indefatigable  enthusiasm.  The Annual Research Symposium organized by the Faculty of Graduate Studies became a  scintillating exchange of academic debate with Manique at the helm of the FGS.  Manique  also  served  on  the  academic  staff  of  universities  overseas  –  she  was  a  lecturer  in  Business Communication  at the Michigan Business School  and  at the Nanyang Technological  University in Singapore. Her interest in Business Communication and the development of soft  skills led her to take a keen interest in preparing the undergraduates of the Department of English  of  the  University  of  Kelaniya  
for  employment.  

Her  workshops  on  Business  Etiquette  were  extremely  popular  among the students  as she would share  her insights  on topics  as  diverse  as  how to speak and write effectively as well as how to dress to impress in a professional setting. 

Manique’s final engagement with the University of Kelaniya was through the Documentation of  the Discourse Communities of Sri Lanka project which can be considered her contribution to the  Faculty of Humanities. The project was enabled by winning a  competitive research grant offered by the Higher Education for the Twenty first Century (HETC)  project  of  the  World  Bank  to  identify,  map  and  collect  evidence  of  the  different  discourse  communities  of  Sri  Lanka.  

This  project  was  conducted  under  the  guidance  of  Professor John  Swales,  Manique’s  PhD  advisor  and  the  academic  who  coined  the  term  “Discourse  Communities”.   The fully­ equipped research centre of the Discourse Communities project is another legacy that  Manique left behind for the graduate students of the University.  Identity was a singularly important concept to Manique and she wore two badges of identity with  immense pride: being a product of the University of Kelaniya and being 
Sri Lankan. 

Her pride in  being  a  product  of the University  of Kelaniya was  conveyed  in  no  uncertain  terms  to  her  4 students and junior colleagues if they had “the audacity” to introduce themselves as belonging to  a university they studied  at subsequent to obtaining their undergraduate degree  at Kelaniya. If  they had graduated from Kelaniya, Manique wanted them to wear the Kelaniya badge with pride.  She was equally proud of being Sri Lankan. While she encouraged all her students to go overseas  for their postgraduate studies, she always reminded them of their duty to serve Sri Lanka. Manique’s contribution to the development of the ELTU and the Department of English will be  remembered with gratitude. She was in many ways a unique blend of contrasts – westernized to the  extreme but deeply rooted in Sri Lanka, unconventional and unafraid to challenge the status quo but somewhat surprisingly conventional in her commitment to traditional family values, loud in  her protests against injustice and bigotry but quiet and humble in her generosity and caring for  people less fortunate than she. 

For Manique, as for many of us, the University of Kelaniya, with  all  its  idiosyncrasies,  was  “home”.  We  hope  she  found  a  kinder  and  more  lasting  “home”  elsewhere. She will be forever missed by us at the ELTU. The 
ELTU Family.