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Community Recovery and National Narratives in Sri Lanka

Explore post-tsunami rebuilding efforts and social recovery in diverse Sri Lankan communities. Investigate the complexities of nationalism and hope in the aftermath. Discussion on localism, nationalism, and transnationalism in the formation of communities.

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Community Recovery and National Narratives in Sri Lanka

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  1. Beyond divisive nationalisms in the ‘hybrid island’ Martin Mulligan Globalism Research Centre and Community Sustainability Program of Global Cities Institute

  2. Post-tsunami rebuilding of communities and livelihoods: Post-disaster social recovery • A spectrum of case study communities: Seenigama (100% Sinhalese); Hambantota (about 50/50 Muslim Tamils and Sinhalese); Thirrukovil (100% Hindu Tamils); Sainthamaruthu (100% Muslim Tamils). • Multi-method methodology with very rich data sets: • -- Social profiles of each community • -- Community life survey (quantitative) • -- Community Member Profiles (qualitative sampling) • -- Strategic interactive interviews (qualitative) • -- Stories of relevant experience (qualitative) RMIT University

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  7. The ‘normalisation’ of violence, conflict and deep division • -- abiding by Sri Lanka in its profound ‘stuckness’ • Changes in Colombo over the last 18 years • The supposed ‘liberation’ of the eastern province • Segregation and despair in the east • The ‘securitisation’ of society (the endless ‘war on terror’) • The centralisation of political and economic power, leading to hard and soft corruption • Understanding the situation in Sainthamaruthu RMIT University

  8. The failed promise of national independence • An elite form of national ‘liberation’ (vis-à-vis India). A failure to create the nation as an ‘imagined community’ • Bandaranaike’s political opportunism and the rise of Sinhalese nationalism • Repeated ‘brinkmanship’ in regard to devolution and the creation of semi-autonomous provinces • The rise of a reactive and extreme form of Tamil nationalism; destruction of the ‘middle ground’ • The tragic misrepresentation of mythology as history RMIT University

  9. Some sources of hope • The fascinating history of a globally connected ‘hybrid society’ , eg, the story of Hambantota • The radical role of historians following in the footsteps of Leslie Gunawardena (‘The People of the Lion’, written in the 1980s); undercutting the narrow mythology of Sinhalese nationalism • A still-robust civil society (although under siege from the present government) • Some truly inspiring civic leaders, eg Kushil Gunasekera (applied Buddhism), Azmi Thassim (working against ethnic divisions), Uwais Mohammed (youth movement), Ashraff Mohammed RMIT University

  10. Localism, nationalism and transnationalism --interconneced layers of community formation • Plans for a gathering of our research network to discuss the outcomes of our research in April 2010 • Plans for a ‘writing retreat’ in Sri Lanka that will focus on a comparison of nation formation in Sri Lanka and Malaysia (with some input from India) • Project on the ‘transnational Tamil imagined community’—ie not diaspora • Plans for a comparative study on community engagement in planning for future crises, to include case studies in Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea RMIT University

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