Peyton Rohlfs Email & Phone Number

United States

United States

I aim to expand on South Asian research by surveying how mainstream Sri Lankan ideologies have transnationally been assimilated to mediate parameters and artifacts around “authentic” Sri Lankan-ness in western spaces. Thus, my contribution will be immense to understanding how “authentic” Sri Lankan identity is formed and established in Sri Lankan coded spaces such as Lakruwana the restaurant or the Sri Lankan Arts and Culture Museum (SLAC) in Staten Island that legitimizes authority to Sri Lankan national (transnational) and religious consciousness that is limited to the dominant experience and identity in Sri Lanka: Sinhalese Buddhist. As revealed by observations and interviews conducted in the summer of 2022 with an extensive literature background, this research has yielded an explorative conversation into identity formation, sense of belonging, and the connection of these two for the Sri Lankan diaspora in giving ownership to an idealized “authentic” Sri Lankan identity in American coded spaces. Through performance and narration, Sri Lankan identity is embedded within communal spaces such as the SLAC museum or Lakruwana restaurant as artifacts to memorialize nationalism, religious iconography, and traditions that authorize Sinhalese Buddhist Sri Lankan Identity. As a result, these narratives limit the acceptance of who counts as Sri Lankan thus furthering ethnic hierarchy relationships transplanted from Sri Lanka and the erasure of experiences or narratives in Sri Lankan culture that differ than the dominant experience.

Certificate, Paralegal

Religion, Religion/Religious Studies

Activities and Societies: MultiFaith Scholars

English- Literature, English Language And Literature, General

Activities and Societies: Sigma Tau Delta