scholarly journals Tamil Identity in Sri Lanka: A Secular State of Becoming

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anushka Perinpanayagam
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Historical Discourse ◽  
Civil Unrest ◽  
The North ◽  
Growth And Change ◽  
Tamil Identity ◽  
Secular State

<p>Since the island nation of Sri Lanka attained independence in 1948, it has experienced periods of civil unrest marked by riots and government implemented curfews. In the mid-1980s this agitation erupted into civil war between two parties: the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government. Each is associated with a different ethnic group and a very particular nationalist rhetoric. Kristian Stokke and Anne Kirsti Ryntveit, "The Struggle For Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka,”Growth and Change 31 (2000): 285. The LTTE, a group of militant separatists, claims to represent the Tamil population of the north and east, while the Sri Lankan government is mostly comprised of politicians belonging to the island's ethnic majority - the Sinhalese. Serena Tennekoon, "Newspaper Nationalism: Sinhala Identity as Historical Discourse," in Sri Lanka: History and the Roots of Conflict, ed. Jonathon Spencer (London: Routledge, 1990), 205.</p>

scholarly journals Tamil Identity in Sri Lanka: A Secular State of Becoming

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anushka Perinpanayagam
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Historical Discourse ◽  
Civil Unrest ◽  
The North ◽  
Growth And Change ◽  
Tamil Identity ◽  
Secular State

<p>Since the island nation of Sri Lanka attained independence in 1948, it has experienced periods of civil unrest marked by riots and government implemented curfews. In the mid-1980s this agitation erupted into civil war between two parties: the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government. Each is associated with a different ethnic group and a very particular nationalist rhetoric. Kristian Stokke and Anne Kirsti Ryntveit, "The Struggle For Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka,”Growth and Change 31 (2000): 285. The LTTE, a group of militant separatists, claims to represent the Tamil population of the north and east, while the Sri Lankan government is mostly comprised of politicians belonging to the island's ethnic majority - the Sinhalese. Serena Tennekoon, "Newspaper Nationalism: Sinhala Identity as Historical Discourse," in Sri Lanka: History and the Roots of Conflict, ed. Jonathon Spencer (London: Routledge, 1990), 205.</p>

Managing Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka through Constitutional Arrangements

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Ilam Khan
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Political Liberalization ◽  
History Of

Marginalization causes conflicts; they may be political, social, or economic. A careful contemplation over the history of Sri Lanka reveals that the sentiments of being marginalized have been present — in one (ethnic) group or the other — in the island right from its independence. When the majority ethnic group, i.e., the Sinhala, was in a position of power, it manipulated the constitution of the country to safeguard its own interests. This widened the rift among different ethnic and religious groups, especially between the Sinhala and the Tamil. This structural marginalization resulted in a civil war, starting in 1983, that lasted for 26 years. However, the ethnic conflict did not resolve even after the end of the civil war and continues to exist in the form of a political struggle between the Tamil and Sinhala. The Tamil demand for federation, autonomy, inclusion, and self-determination can only be achieved through constitutional means. Therefore, this research evaluates the post-Civil Warconstitutional development and amendment processes that were, at a point in time, more pluralistic and liberal, and contributing well to managing the ethnic conflict in the country. It was expected that the ethnic conflict would be permanently resolved through the constitutional arrangements, which Sri Lanka was already heading. However, the majority (Sinhala) reversed the progress through a new (20th) amendment to the constitution. Against this backdrop, this article argues that all segments of the society can be accommodated in the political sphere of the state through political liberalization which is possible only through constitutional arrangements.

The Hybrid Regime in Post-Civil War Sri Lanka

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 437-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laksiri Jayasuriya
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dominant State ◽  
Hybrid Regime ◽  
Social Ethos

Following the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2010, the Sri Lankan political system has seen the rise of a ‘one-party dominant state’ and a ‘hybrid regime’. This new political order consists of a mix of democratic and authoritarian elements largely seen in countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. This essay examines the social and political changes introduced by the highly militarized regime led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, which has slanted towards a Kautilyan ideology and authoritarian constitutionalism. It is argued that Sri Lanka needs a glasnost, marking a new political and social ethos based on the principles of accountability, openness, transparency, freedom and justice.

scholarly journals Not your mother’s culture : second generation Tamil women negotiating trauma and identity through art

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Satkunam
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Tamil Diaspora ◽  
Tamil Women

This research paper focuses on the Tamil diaspora community in Canada that developed in the aftermath of the Civil War in Sri Lanka. This paper explores the impact of trauma on children of survivors, and how daughters in particular navigate these traumas. Furthermore, this paper analyzes how young women bear the trauma differently from their male counterparts, as women tend to be seen as carriers of culture. These ideas of women as carriers of culture do not afford Tamil women agency—instead they are left without choice in certain situations. Ultimately, this paper explores if art can be used as a mechanism to release the burden women feel. It uses the interview of eight Tamil women to understand their complex narratives, and to see if they use art as a means to reclaim agency. Key words: Diaspora, Sri Lankan, Art, Second-Generation Tamil Women, Identity, Cultural Purity

New insights into the identities of the elasmobranch fauna of Sri Lanka

Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4585 (2) ◽  
pp. 201
Author(s):  
DANIEL FERNANDO ◽  
ROSALIND M. K. BOWN ◽  
AKSHAY TANNA ◽  
RAMAJEYAM GOBIRAJ ◽  
HANNAH RALICKI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Neighbor Joining ◽  
Civil Unrest ◽  
The North ◽  
Landing Sites ◽  
Elasmobranch Species ◽  
The Persian Gulf ◽  
First Time ◽  
North Western

Identities of elasmobranchs from Sri Lanka encountered during collections conducted in an intensive nine-day survey of fish markets and landing sites at 11 localities in the North Western, Northern, and Eastern Provinces in March of 2018 were assessed. In total, 111 specimens representing 34 elasmobranch species were examined. Sequence data for the NADH2 gene were generated for all specimens. Independent Neighbor-Joining analyses, which included data for related taxa, were conducted for 25 subgroups of elasmobranchs to help confirm specific identifications. Five of the 34 species encountered are likely new to science. These consist of one species each of the batoid genera Brevitrygon, Narcine, and Torpedo, and the selachian genera Centrophorus, and Chiloscyllium. The specific identities of 12 species previously known to occur in Sri Lanka are updated to conform to current taxonomy; four of these (Gymnura cf. poecilura 2, Carcharhinus cf. limbatus, Echinorhinus sp. 1, and Iago cf. omanensis 1) represent what appear to be undescribed species reported previously from other localities. Three species (Maculabatis arabica, Acroteriobatus variegatus, and Centroscymnus owstonii) are reported from Sri Lanka for the first time; the latter species also represents the first documented record of this genus and family for the island nation. One of the two specimens on which the recent description of the new species of Planonasus indicus was based was also collected as part of this survey. Although some of the species confirmed to occur in Sri Lanka have also been found in India, others were previously known only from the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, or localities in Southeast Asia. The high amount of novelty discovered as a result of a survey of such short duration emphasizes the importance of more intensive survey efforts in this region now that the civil unrest that precluded such work for nearly three decades has come to an end. 

Caught In-Between: Diversifying Tamil Women’s Voices From the Sri Lankan Civil War

2021 ◽  
pp. 153270862110503
Author(s):  
V. Michelle Michael
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Standpoint Theory ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Feminist Standpoint Theory ◽  
Art And Science ◽  
Feminist Standpoint ◽  
Women's Voices ◽  
Tamil Women

This is an autoethnographic invitation to make space for different standpoints of women caught in war. This multi-genre project reflects on the standpoint of the author’s family as a female-led, female-only household in the capital of Sri Lanka amid the civil war. Grounded on the concept of ethnicity without groups and feminist standpoint theory, this piece adds to the often-homogenized voices of Tamil women. Using integrated crystallization to challenge the dichotomy of art and science, this layered piece weaves together storytelling and theory-based critique to open conversations about wholesome representation. The stories reveal the multichrome nature of ethnicities that often get painted as monochromes. The analyses highlight the intersectionality of women’s position and sound the alarm for possible marginalization within the marginalized through a unidimensional expression. The author invites more voices to diversify the standpoints of women caught in the Sri Lankan civil war and contribute to a more comprehensive reality of their experiences.

Complicating ‘Victimhood’ In Diaspora Studies: The Saga of Tamils In Exile

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-330
Author(s):  
Kamala Ganesh
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Diaspora Studies ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Innovative Strategies ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Structure And Agency ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Sri Lankan Tamils

As an interdisciplinary field, Diaspora Studies has drawn from many disciplines, including sociology, especially from its debates on migration, structure and agency. This lecture draws on my ethnographic fieldwork on the Sri Lankan Tamils in Germany. It analyses their transition following the civil war in Sri Lanka, from being refugee immigrants to becoming a successful diaspora, well integrated economically, yet holding a powerful identity as Tamil nationalists. Fuelled by political commitment and digital connectivity, their innovative strategies as a diaspora have contributed to the propagation of the Tamil cause. Their example extends and complicates the classic notion of ‘victim diaspora’, demonstrating the simultaneity of victimhood and agency.

scholarly journals Analyzing the Fragmented Sri Lankan Muslim Politics in Post-Ashraff Era

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Mohammad Agus Yusoff ◽  
Athambawa Sarjoon ◽  
Zawiyah Mohd Zain
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Minority Politics ◽  
The North ◽  
Leadership Crisis ◽  
Muslim Politics

The traditional Muslim politics in Sri Lanka transformed with the formation of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and its active communal politics under its founder-leader, M.H.M.Ashraff. While representing the interests of the Muslim community, particularly those living in the north-eastern region, SLMC through its politics of bargaining and consensus voiced and advocated for the interests, rights and privileges of the Muslim community as well as contributed to their socio-economic and cultural upliftment at the crossroad of ethnic conflict and civil war. Although SLMC received popular mandate from the Muslim community, the party fell into fragmentation with the unexpected demise of its founder-leader in 2000, and splits were instigated shortly. This fragmentation caused a severe effect in the distinct path of Muslim politics in Sri Lanka. This study examines the fragmented nature and the trends of Muslim politics, particularly the politics of SLMC in post-Ashraff era and their impact. This study reveals that the fragmentation within SLMC caused leadership crisis and emergence of many Muslim political parties that promoted ugly politics of opportunism. This trend ultimately reduced the bargaining strength of Muslim politics, negatively influenced representative politics, leading to the negligence and marginalisation of Muslims’ concerns and grievances in national politics. The leadership crisis and regionalism also negatively influenced the politics of SLMC and other Muslim parties in post-Ashraff era. This study also finds that unifying splinter-groups, reforming party structure and procedures, and redefining goals and path of achieving them would not only strengthen the politics of SLMC and other Muslim political parties but also would give a new brand for Muslim minority politics in Sri Lanka.

scholarly journals To Be or Not to Be a Hero

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-114
Author(s):  
Matti Weisdorf ◽  
Birgitte Refslund Sørensen
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Post Injury ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
The Social ◽  
Material Benefits ◽  
Struggle For Recognition ◽  
Collective Narrative

Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in and around a so-called War Hero Village (Ranavirugama) in northwestern Sri Lanka, this article traces the social (un)becomings of Sri Lankan Army veterans injured during the civil war with the Tamil liberation front. It argues that such veterans have long been able to draw on a materially rewarding narrative of sacrifice and carnal capital—epitomized in the honorific ranaviru (war hero)—in order to produce a particular kind of veteran citizenship, let alone subjectivity, and thus to pursue socially meaningful post-injury existences. In the eyes of the veterans themselves, however, this celebratory narrative is eroding and a “collective narrative” characterized by a kind of social forgetting of the injured veteran is emerging. Material benefits notwithstanding, this narrative contestation entails a “struggle for recognition” that threatens to leave them not only disabled but also with no one to be, or become.

Vijaya and Romulus: Interpreting the Origin myths of Sri Lanka and Rome

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALAN STRATHERN
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
North East ◽  
Origin Stories ◽  
The North ◽  
Origin Myths ◽  
The Stranger

AbstractThe story of Vijaya, has long been central to the Sinhalese idea of themselves as a distinct ethnic group of Aryan origin with ancient roots in the island of Lanka. The ‘national’ chronicle of the Sinhalese, the Mahāvaṃsa (circa fifth century ce) presents Vijaya, an exiled prince from India descended from a lion, as the founder hero of Sinhala civilisation. In a companion article to this, I argued that the narrative of Vijaya and other founder-heroes in the Mahāvaṃsa revolves around the theme of transgression, and that this puzzling fact can only be explained by a consideration of the symbolic logic of the ‘stranger-king’ in origin stories and kingship rituals worldwide. In the present article, I look at other ways of explaining the narrative of Sīhabāhu, Vijaya, and Paṇḍukābhaya. First I break down the narrative into four different origin stories and consider their distribution in a range of texts from South Asia in order to reflect on possible textual inspirations for them (and even consider parallels with the Greek tale of Odysseus and Circe). Second, I consider the possibility that the narrative concerning relations with Pāṇḍu royalty reflects immediate political imperatives of the fifth century ce. Do such interpretations negate the assumption that an organic communal process of mythogenesis has been at work? In the final section this methodological dilemma is approached through comparisons with the way in which scholars have looked at the origin myths of ancient Greek and particularly Roman society. Lastly, these reflections add further weight to the global comparative model of the stranger king, for the stories of Romulus and Vijaya share an emphasis on alien and transgressive beginnings.In 2009 the Sri Lankan government finally destroyed the conventional forces of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) as the civil war that had afflicted the island since 1983 was brought to a violent denouement in the north-east of the Vanni region. From some of the subsequent celebrations by the Sinhalese majority, it seemed that the President Mahinda Rajapaksa was hailed not only for having rid Sri Lanka of a violent menace, but for having, in one sense, re-created the island. The country could now attain the kind of genuine independence and wholeness that had been lacking for much of the period following decolonisation in 1948. After the victory, Rajapaksa was hailed as a ‘great king’ and his admirers were not slow to draw historical analogies with kings and founder-heroes of the past. Such heroes typically have to wade through blood to obtain political mastery; the Lankan chronicles imply that such is the price that must be paid for the re-establishment of society or civilisation itself.

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