Suicide and Shame in Southern Sri Lanka

Abstract

This article shows how successful youth suicides and attempted suicides in the south of Sri Lanka are utilised as tools against an oppressive and limiting kinship structure. The majority of youth suicides in southern Sri Lanka appear to be aimed at disempowering close kin and publicly challenge the moral authority of the kin network, resulting in cleavages in the local distribution of power and status. The forms of suicide imbue the victim's family with shame, thus questioning and challenging the 'boundedness' of the family unit. Using three contrasting case studies involving a domestic argument between a young man and his spouse, a young couple from rival families, and a young woman in a post-tsunami camp, this fi eldwork-based research illustrates how youth suicides bring to the fore internal tensions in the family.

Alcohol use, self-harm and suicide: a scoping review of its portrayal in the Sri Lankan literature

“…Women were commonly mentioned to be affected by someone else's alcohol use, typically a husband or a father's, which subsequently resulted in self-harm or suicide [ 19 , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] ]. Interpersonal conflict related to alcohol use was a predominant theme [ 32 , 36 , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] ], and were often related to struggles over socio-economic issues [ 19 , 44 , 45 ]. For example, women's refusal to hand over money for alcohol to their husbands often led to conflicts resulting in suicidal behaviour [ 37 , 41 ].…”

Suicide and the ‘Poison Complex’: Toxic Relationalities, Child Development, and the Sri Lankan Self-Harm Epidemic

“…These complexes include irisiyāva (desire, envy, jealousy) and läjja (shame, shyness), which, as many social researchers have noted (e.g. Chapin 2014;Hewamanne 2008;Lynch 2007;Marecek & Senadheera 2012;Obeyesekere 1984;Said 2014;Spencer 1990;Stirrat 1987), form central concerns in the passage of Sinhala social life.…”

Suicide as a Counter-Narrative in Wayanad, Southern India

“…Suicide can be understood as a communicative act that conveys a message of despair and sometimes protest (Andriolo, 2006;Münster, 2012;Scheper-Hughes and Lock, 1986). We may understand such communication through a suicide note or observe more overt performances of protest suicide (for Sri Lankan examples, see Said, 2014). In the absence of such explicit messages, the posthumous reconstruction of suicide narratives can often be circumstantial.…”

“…Suicide as dialogue, on the other hand, becomes an expressive act directed outwards, a means of communication. It forms part of an ongoing discourse between persons, critiques their actions, or highlights failures to act (Said, 2014). Dialogical intentions, such as cases of self-harm and suicide, constitute a 'weapon of the weak' (Marecek and Senadheera, 2012).…”