Sri Lanka's Department of National Archives has won a competitive Dutch grant to lead research into the palmleaf collections in the Netherlands of Sri Lankan origin, with a view to restitution

The Dutch Research Council has awarded funding to 11 research within the call ‘Research into collections with a colonial context’

Dutch museum collections may contain looted objects with a colonial context. This programme aims to redress injustice and strengthen trust and cooperation with the countries of origin.

Under this program, Sri Lanka's Department of National Archives secured a consortium grant : Whose Knowledge, Whose Values? Palm Leaf Manuscripts and the Question of Colonial Collections in Dutch Heritage Institutions.

Dr. N. T. Rupesinghe of the National Archives of Sri Lanka is the main applicant, Consortium partners are Kurt de Belder (Leiden University), Prof. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri (Colombo University), and Dr. Tanuja Thurairajah (Collective for Historical Dialogue and Memory). 

This project addresses the questions of how to come to terms with the colonial past in the present and the role that objects can play in such reconciliation. 

Taking the Palm Leaf Manuscripts recently requested for restitution by the Sri Lankan state as a case study, the project asks what role objects collected in the colonial past can play in reconciling us to our complex and difficult history.

The Dutch Research Council is interested in how these processes of reconciliation may be different in Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, and, moreover, how they weigh the value that these objects may have for different communities across the (post)colonial divide.

Sri Lanka also secured a consortium grant under : Whose Law? Addressing Injustice in the entangled histories of Sri Lanka- the Netherlands and advancing the practices of provenance research.

Prof. Dr. N. Kamardeen (University of Colombo) is the main applicant, with Prof. Dr. Wayne Modest (Wereldmuseum), Dilip Tambyrajah (Netherlands-Sri Lanka Foundation) as the consortium partners. 

The research explores alternative viewpoints of justice and legality, as understood and applied in the Netherlands and Sri Lanka at various periods of time in relation to colonial cultural property.

It will also examine the methodology of provenance research in an attempt to advance its effectiveness in helping states to decide on matters of restitution and return. 

Additionally it will consider the possibilities for digitization of cultural objects by examining the factors that impact such an activity. 

It will propose a more inclusive framework for deciding the future of colonial cultural property, advancing provenance research and digitizing cultural objects.