Dilushi Himesha Prasanna Kadawath Pedige

Kotthu From Down Under: Sri Lankan Diaspora of Melbourne

Abstract

This exegesis explores the Sri Lankan diaspora in Melbourne through the lens of food. It examines how community-led insights can generate new understandings of belonging, memory, and cultural continuity among underrepresented communities. Through intimate conversations with multi-ethnic Sri Lankans, the publication investigates how food reveals both the connections and tensions that exist within a diaspora living far from its roots. The research also traces a personal journey of decolonising the self, reflecting on ethnic tensions between Tamil and Sinhalese communities in relation to Sri Lanka’s 30-year civil war. Grounded in practice-based research and community-led frameworks, this project contributes to BIPOC studies in communication design by exploring how design can create space, visibility, and respect for the complex realities of diasporic life in Australia.

The initial phase of the research focused on exploring how the Sri Lankan diaspora contributes to Melbourne’s social fabric through food and culture. However, this approach felt too broad and disconnected from people's lived experiences. Given the limited timeframe, it was essential to narrow the focus and engage thoughtfully with hidden identities within the community.

The purpose of this phase was to engage the Sri Lankan diaspora through community outreach, during a period where the project picked up momentum, failed in key ways, and ultimately strengthened. This phase revealed how authentic connection comes from cultural recognition and familiarity rather than formality, and how meaningful engagement requires listening to voices that challenge exclusion, particularly from Tamil community members. This was important to reshaping my practice from representation toward ethical facilitation, aligning with literature that emphasises positionality, accountability, and relational methods in design research.

Sri Lanka may be officially trilingual, but Sinhala dominates public and visual spaces, reinforcing linguistic hierarchy. In response, I developed a trilingual typographic system that centres each individual’s dominant identity, using type to challenge hierarchy and restore dignity, authorship, and cultural presence.

Artefacts

Select Bibliography

Smith, LT 2021, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, 3rd edn, Bloomsbury Publishing, London.
Official Languages Commission (Sri Lanka) 2017, Guidelines for Public Name Boards in Official Languages, Colombo, viewed 1 June 2025.
Rambutan Recipes from Sri Lanka: Cynthia Shanmugalingam (2022)