Nationalistic Authorship and Resistance in Northeastern Sri Lanka

Abstract

Post-war Sri Lanka is defined by the logic of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism, glorification and expansion of the military, and the exponential growth of state-corporate economic projects. This article examines the performative politics of the state in mass ritual discourse and spatial domination while acknowledging the various ways in which elements of the Northeastern Tamil community in Sri Lanka are mobilising as an activist community in the post-war period, including political agitation and emancipatory initiatives that respond to social justice issues, such as land grabs. Offering an analysis premised on the concept of performative politics, this article interrogates the process by which the state defines itself, while the Tamil community has used performative politics to communicate the unacceptability of the post-war performance of power. A framework of performative politics in post-war Sri Lanka, I argue, introduces a new grammar of politics more responsive to the nationalistic Sinhala-Buddhist settler-colonial tendencies of the state and to the polyvalent nature of Tamil resistance. On the international level, the state performatively complies with international demands for accountability and reconciliation while continuing to oppress the Tamil minority and undertake nationalistic authorship of post-war space.

Diasporic mobilization and post-war uplift: an inquiry into the global Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora's influence in post-war Sri Lanka

“…Nandakumar (2018) states that, "genocide doesn't necessarily involve the mass killing of hundreds of thousands of people…when they talk about genocide in the [Sri] Lankan definition, it talks about actually tearing away at the social fabric of the nation and of the people and this is kind of what's happening." Furthermore, this exemplifies the longterm effects of cultural genocide and the colonial ideological dominance of an internally militarized and an externally Sinhala-Buddhist nationalistic social order that exists in Sri Lanka's post-war environment (Seoighe, 2016b;Rampton, 2011).…”

Diasporic mobilization and post-war uplift: an inquiry into the global Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora's influence in post-war Sri Lanka

“…While spending most of my time in Jaffna, the presence of the military occupying civilian spaces was very visible, whether that be at church festivities such as their involvement in the St. Anthony's festival, where jets flew above and released petals across the church facility, or amongst civilian administrative arenas. As acknowledged by many of my research participants and various scholars (Seoighe, 2016b;Widger, 2016;Rampton, 2011;Gaul, 2017;Satkunanathan, 2016;Goodhand, 2010;Hyndman & Amarasingam, 2014), the army has in fact infiltrated employment, social and educational spaces specifically in the North-East of Sri Lanka. However, much of this militarization is not found within the South of Sri Lanka, in addition to many other regions where most of the population identifies as Sinhalese.…”

“…Militarization as a theory seeks to investigate the institutional and ideological naturalization of the armed forces in Sri Lanka, how their presence influences and shapes Sri Lankan civilian affairs in the post-war context, as well as how their post-war presence responds to the Tamil diaspora's involvement in homeland politics. Subsequently, militarized nationalism reflects the level of militarization of the state; therefore, the state's national identity and society has increased military involvement in civilian affairs, while also glorifying Sri Lankan armed forces and their unyielding power (Seoighe, 2016b). Militarized masculinity is then strengthened by the day-to-day operations of the heightened militarization of the state.…”

“…The island of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, was granted independence from Britain in 1948. Since the country reached independence, the Tamil minority populace felt increasingly segregated from civil society and alienated from the political processes of the state (Seoighe, 2016b). Through the Sinhala Only policy and the widespread anti-Tamil riots that swept the island, in addition to other exclusionary and violent practices of nationalism, Tamils continued to feel othered within the borders of their own state (Nadarajah & Sriskandarajah, 2005).…”

“…Through the Sinhala Only policy and the widespread anti-Tamil riots that swept the island, in addition to other exclusionary and violent practices of nationalism, Tamils continued to feel othered within the borders of their own state (Nadarajah & Sriskandarajah, 2005). It was due to the institutionalized Sinhalization of the island that led to the ensuing formation of the LTTE, as a response to the oppression of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka committed by state actors, laws and governance (Seoighe, 2016b).…”