The Power Dynamics and Anonymous Communication in Sri Lankan Universities

Abstract

This study is a psycho-sociological inquiry into anonymous communication/letters (Kellapattara in Sinhala) circulated in Sri Lankan state universities which has recently become an increasingly common phenomenon. The research question of this study: ‘What are the power dynamics of anonymous communication in Sri Lankan universities?’ is also the knowledge gap in the literature. The research was principally guided by the inductive approach and both primary and secondary data were examined using thematic and explanatory analysis methods. Based on the text content, anonymous letters were categorized into 15, yet interrelated themes and two main thematic clusters were clearly identified: (1) Role of sexuality in new recruitments to academic staff by administrative body; (2) Corruption and fraud in research publishing, and financial matters. An integrated model incorporating both social and psychobiological approaches was used to carry out the psycho-sociological inquiry into the text. In pure sociological terms, anonymous letter writing could be identified as a product of writer/s’ hatred towards the object of others’ desire: the desire of the writer for the desire of what s/he fantasizes the other desires for, such as ‘sexual pleasure’, ‘power’, ‘rank’, ‘promotion’ ‘status’, or ‘income’. Capitalism which promotes individualism and competition leads to social jealousy in feudal-capitalist bourgeois in which many Sri Lankan university academics are members. Social jealousy generated by comparison and desire for upward mobility motivates an individual to write anonymous letters to defile the public image of ‘the other’. A bio-evolutionary analysis of this particular use of language indicates an attempt to increase one’s fitness by a dissocial use of language as an informational warfare to shock the system to obtain access or prevent others getting access to limited resources.