1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910809313203321

Autore

Thiranagama Sharika

Titolo

In my mother's house [[electronic resource] ] : civil war in Sri Lanka / / Sharika Thiranagama

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia, : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2011

ISBN

1-283-89718-0

0-8122-0511-1

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (315 p.)

Collana

The Ethnography of Political Violence

Altri autori (Persone)

ObeyesekereGananath

Disciplina

954.9303/2092

B

Soggetti

Ethnic conflict - Sri Lanka

War and society - Sri Lanka

Tamil (Indic people) - Sri Lanka - Politics and government

Sri Lanka History Civil War, 1983-2009 Personal narratives

Sri Lanka Politics and government 1978-

Sri Lanka Ethnic relations

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [273]-287) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Note on transliteration -- Foreword / Obeyesekere, Gananath -- Introduction: In My Mother's House -- Chapter one. Growing Up at War: Self-Formation, Individuality, and the LTTE -- Chapter two. The House of Secrets: Mothers, Daughters, and Inheritance -- Chapter three. From Muslims to Northern Muslims: Ethnicity, Eviction, and Displacement -- Chapter four. Becoming of This Place? Northern Muslim Futures After Eviction -- Chapter five. The Generation of Militancy: Gender Militancy, and Self-Transformation -- Chapter six. Conclusions from Tamil Colombo -- Notes -- References -- Index -- Acknowledgments

Sommario/riassunto

In May 2009, the Sri Lankan army overwhelmed the last stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam-better known as the Tamil Tigers-officially bringing an end to nearly three decades of civil war. Although the war has ended, the place of minorities in Sri Lanka remains uncertain, not least because the lengthy conflict drove entire populations from their homes. The figures are jarring: for example, all



of the roughly 80,000 Muslims in northern Sri Lanka were expelled from the Tamil Tiger-controlled north, and nearly half of all Sri Lankan Tamils were displaced during the course of the civil war. Sharika Thiranagama's In My Mother's House provides ethnographic insight into two important groups of internally displaced people: northern Sri Lankan Tamils and Sri Lankan Muslims. Through detailed engagement with ordinary people struggling to find a home in the world, Thiranagama explores the dynamics within and between these two minority communities, describing how these relations were reshaped by violence, displacement, and authoritarianism. In doing so, she illuminates an often overlooked intraminority relationship and new social forms created through protracted war. In My Mother's House revolves around three major themes: ideas of home in the midst of profound displacement; transformations of familial experience; and the impact of the political violence-carried out by both the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan state-on ordinary lives and public speech. Her rare focus on the effects and responses to LTTE political regulation and violence demonstrates that envisioning a peaceful future for post-conflict Sri Lanka requires taking stock of the new Tamil and Muslim identities forged by the civil war. These identities cannot simply be cast away with the end of the war but must be negotiated anew.