Towards inclusive heritage digitisation in Sri Lanka : overcoming socio-cultural impediments

Abstract

Addressing the socio-cultural impediments that influence the development of inclusive heritage digitisation in Sri Lanka constitutes the primary aim of this research. While global digitisation initiatives have demonstrated the technological potential to document, interpret, and preserve heritage assets, Sri Lanka’s progress in this field remains fragmented and inconsistent. The study seeks to understand not merely the technical feasibility of digitisation, but the deeper cultural, institutional, and ideological factors that influence its acceptance, resistance, and sustainability within the Sri Lankan context. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, the research integrates a thematic inquiry into community and stakeholder perceptions with a qualitative project analysis of selected digitisation initiatives undertaken between 2015 and 2024. Semi-structured interviews with heritage professionals, digital strategists, architects, and conservation practitioners are analysed using content analysis to identify recurring themes and sub-themes. These are complemented by survey findings and a review of project documentation, enabling a layered understanding of how digitisation unfolds both discursively and practically. The findings reveal that resistance to digitisation in Sri Lanka is less a matter of technological incapacity and more a reflection of socio-cultural sensitivities, institutional inertia, fragmented governance, and ambiguities surrounding ownership, access, and custodianship. Religious authority, fears of misuse, concerns about commercial exploitation, and weak regulatory frameworks emerge as key impediments. There also exists a parallel recognition of digitisation’s potential for education, repatriation, climate resilience, and global collaboration. The collapse of national-scale initiatives such as the E-Heritage platform further highlights the critical importance of long-term infrastructural planning, transparency, and institutional accountability. v Ultimately, this dissertation demonstrates that the digitisation of Sri Lankan heritage buildings is both feasible and necessary, but cannot succeed through technology alone. It requires a culturally sensitive, legally structured, and institutionally coordinated framework that recognises the layered meanings of heritage within Sri Lankan society. By situating digitisation within broader debates on sacredness, power, ownership, and narrative control, the study contributes a context-specific understanding of how digital heritage initiatives may be responsibly developed in postcolonial settings.