Abstract
Transborder migration from northern Sri Lanka does not only have a long history reaching back to colonial times but mounted high as ethnic relations became more tense. During the war between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), transborder migration became a viable option at least for the more affluent members of society. This resulted into the formation of strong transnational social ties, which were eventually facilitated by the Tamil Tigers but which also offered new opportunities for imagining one’s own future as well as the future of the region once the conflict had been put to a halt. Even though Sri Lanka’s (post-)conflict situation has ushered in a new area which is marked by the absence of warfare, tensions and ambiguous relationships vis-à-vis the state continue. Based on this observation, this chapter will argue that the conflict and conflict-induced migration have produced specific conditions under which mobility continues to be among the major means to achieve individual aspirations and better future. It will further show how this dynamic impinges on the local society, how it influences prospects for (re-)development and what the implications for sustainable peace might be.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
P-TOMS was an aid-sharing deal through which the government and the LTTE would jointly distribute aid in LTTE-controlled areas.
- 4.
The OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka was set up in Geneva in 2014.
- 5.
References
Amarasingham, A. (2015). Pain, pride, and politics. Sri Lankan Tamil activism in Canada. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
Arasaratnam, S. (1998). Nationalism in Sri Lanka and the Tamils. In M. Roberts (Ed.), Sri Lanka: Collective identities revisited (Vol. II, pp. 295–313). Colombo: Marga Institute (Sri Lanka Centre for Development Studies).
Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (2007 [1966]). Die gesellschaftliche Konstruktion der Wirklichkeit: Eine Theorie der Wissenssoziologie. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Verlag.
Bowden, G., & Binns, T. (2016). Youth employment and post-war development in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka. Conflict, Security & Development, 16(3), 197–218.
Brubaker, R. (2005). The ‘Diaspora’ diaspora. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 28(1), 1–19.
Chattoraj, Diotima. (2015). Ambivalent attachments: Shifting notions of home among displaced Sri Lankan Tamils. Bochum: PhD Dissertation.
Cheran, R. (2001). The sixth genre: Memory, history and the tamil diaspora imagination (Marge monograph series on ethnic reconciliation, No. 7). Colombo: Marga Institute.
Daniel, V. (1992). Three dispositions towards the past: One Sinhala, two Tamil. Colombo: Studies in Society and Culture/Sri Lanka Past and Present.
Daniel, V., & Thangaraj, Y. (1995). Forms, formation and transformations of the Tamil refugee. In e. V. Daniel & J. C. Knudsen (Eds.), Mistrusting refugees (pp. 245–256). California: University of California Press.
Fernando, L. (1999). Ethnic conflict and the state in Sri Lanka: A possible solution?. In S. Gamage & I. B. Watson (Eds.), Conflict and community in contemporary Sri Lanka. “Pearl of the East” or the “Island of Tears”? (pp. 77–88). New Delhi/Thousand Oaks/London: Sage.
Gerharz, E. (2014). The politics of reconstruction and development in Sri Lanka: Transnational commitments to social change. London: Routledge.
Gerharz, E. (2017). Towards ‘good life’: The emergence of an indigenous development vision in the CHT. In N. Uddin (Ed.), Life in peace and conflict: Indigeneity and state in the Chittagong Hill tracts (pp. 135–163). Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan.
Hellmann-Rajanayagam, D. (1989). Arumuga Navalar: Religious reformer or national leader of Eelam. Indian Economic and Social History Review, 26(2), 235–257.
Hellmann-Rajanayagam, D. (1990). The politics of the Tamil past. In J. Spencer (Ed.), Sri Lanka: History and the roots of conflict (pp. 107–122). London/New York: Routledge.
Hellmann-Rajanayagam, D. (2007). Von Jaffna nach Kilinochchi: Wandel des politischen Bewusstseins der Tamilen in Sri Lanka. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag.
Hettige, S. T. (1999). Economic liberalisation, social class and ethnicity: Emerging trends and conflicts. In S. Gamage & I. B. Watson (Eds.), Conflict and community in contemporary Sri Lanka: ‘Pearl of the East’ or the ‘Island of Tears’? (Studies on contemporary South Asia no. 3, pp. 299–323). New Delhi/Thousand Oaks/London: SAGE.
Human Rights Watch. (2006). Funding the “final war”: LTTE intimidation and extortion in the Tamil diaspora. New York: Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch. (2010). Legal limbo: The uncertain fate of detained LTTE suspects in Sri Lanka. New York: Human Rights Watch.
International Crisis Group. (2010). The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora after the LTTE (Asia report 186). Brussels: International Crisis Group.
Jayawardena, K. (2003). Nobodies to somebodies: The rise of the colonial bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka. Colombo: Social Scientists Association.
Kandel, W., & Massey, D. S. (2002). The culture of Mexican migration: A theoretical and empirical analysis. Social Forces, 80(3), 981–1004.
Nadarajah, S., & Sriskandarajah, D. (2005). Liberation struggle or terrorism? The politics of naming the LTTE. Third World Quarterly, 26(1), 87–100.
Nissan, E., & Stirrat, R. L. (1990). The generation of communal identities. In J. Spencer (Ed.), Sri Lanka: History and the roots of conflict (pp. 19–44). London/New York: Routledge.
Rajasingham-Senanayake, D. (1999). Democracy and the problem of representation: The making of bi-polar ethnic identity in post/colonial Sri Lanka. In J. Pfaff-Czarnecka, D. Rajasingham-Senanayake, A. Nandy, & E. T. Gomez (Eds.), Ethnic futures: The state and identity politics in Asia (pp. 99–134). New Delhi/Thousand Oaks/London: SAGE Publications.
Sabaratnam, L. (2001). Ethnic attachments in Sri Lanka: Social change and cultural continuity. New York: Palgrave.
Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. London: Zed Books.
Spencer, J. (2003). A nation ‘living in different places’: Notes on the impossible work of purification in postcolonial Sri Lanka. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 37(1–2), 1–23.
Tambiah, S. J. (1986). Sri Lanka: Ethnic fratricide and the dismantling of democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Thiranagama, S. (2012). ‘A railway to the moon’: The post-histories of a Sri Lankan railway line. Modern Asian Studies, 46(1), 221–248.
Uyangoda, J. (2005). Ethnic conflict, the state and the Tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka. Inter-Asian Cultural Studies, 6(3), 341–352.
Weiss, G. (2011). The cage. The fight for Sri Lanka and the last days of the Tamil tigers. London: Bodley Head.
Wickramasinghe, N. (2006). Sri Lanka in the modern age. A history of contested identities. Colombo: Vijitha Yapa.
Wilson, J. J. (2000). Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism. Its origins and development in the 19th and 20th century. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gerharz, E. (2019). Culture of Migration: State-Society Relations and Transborder Mobility in Northern Sri Lanka. In: Uddin, N., Chowdhory, N. (eds) Deterritorialised Identity and Transborder Movement in South Asia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2778-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2778-0_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-2777-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-2778-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)