Some Critical Notes on Sri Lankan Muslim Religious Identity Formation, Conservatism, and Violent Extremism

2022 ◽  
pp. 002190962110696
Author(s):  
A.R.M. Imtiyaz ◽  
Amjad Mohamed Saleem
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Eastern Province ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Violent Extremism

A new wave of attacks by Sinhala-Buddhist extremist elements against the Muslim community in Sri Lanka started following the brutal end of the ethnic civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sinhala-Buddhist-dominated Sri Lanka security forces in 2009. Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in 2019 by some Muslims polarized Sri Lanka and contributed to the compromise of the country’s security. Sri Lankan Muslims often claim they are a peaceful community and thus have no serious interests in violent mobilization. But the evidence would basically contradict Muslims’ claim of a peace-loving community. The Easter Sunday terrorist attacks did not take place in any vacuum. This paper will situate some key developments in the violent mobilization of Sri Lanka during the war against the LTTE. The primary goal of such an attempt is to read the growing religious conservative and violent trends among Muslims between 1977 and 2009. In understanding the growing religious conservative trends, an understanding is attempted to situate a later propensity for violence within the community that would manifest itself with the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. Interviews were conducted with members of the Islamic Dawah organizations and Muslim youth who were formerly associated with violent groups in the Eastern Province to understand the ground reality. The period of 1977–2009 is important as the rise of religious conservatist influences in Sri Lanka mirrors the global transnational influences of Iran and Middle East Petro Dollars, especially Saudi Arabia. The article draws mainly on secondary sources. But to gain a better understanding of the ground reality, we spoke to a few Eastern Muslims between July 2016 and September 2021 at regular intervals.

Sri Lanka in 2008: Waging War for Peace

Asian Survey ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nira Wickramasinghe
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Eastern Province ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
The North ◽  
High Inflation ◽  
The Government ◽  
Military Campaign ◽  
Government Security

The year 2008 saw a successful military campaign by government security forces against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the North. Elections to the Eastern Province resulted in a break away faction of the LTTE sharing power with the government. People continued to endure high inflation in the price of essential goods and services, and the country's human rights record remained dismal.

Sri Lanka: testimony to state terror

Race & Class ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
South Asia ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The South ◽  
Military Dictatorship ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
State Terror ◽  
Authoritarian State

There are two nations in Sri Lanka, both ruled by the Sri Lankan government - one, the Sinhala/Buddhist South, under civilian rule, and the other, the Tamil North (and increasingly the East), under a military dictatorship. Ironically enough, the cause of this separate dispensation is alleged by the Sri Lankan government to be the figirt for a separate state by the Northern (and Eastern) Tamils. That story however, has been told at length in the special issue of Race & Class ('Sri Lanka: racism and the authoritarian state') which appeared in Ju ly 1984 on the anniversary of the '83 pogroms. Here we wish to record a few of the 200 affidavits (sworn before justices of the peace) from witnesses testifying to the atrocities of the security forces in Jaffna in the period March November 1984. (A fuller dossier, from which these documents have been excerpted, is published by the South Asia Bureau. *)

scholarly journals Minorities, Territoriality and Politics for Autonomy: An Analysis of Competing Ethnic Politics in Eastern Sri Lanka

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-82
Author(s):  
Mohammad Agus Yusoff ◽  
Athambawa Sarjoon ◽  
Zawiyah Mohd Zain
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Ethnic Politics ◽  
Ethnic Composition ◽  
Eastern Province ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Civil War Era

Abstract Regional politics play a decisive role in national politics when region poses ethnic groups in competing manner. Sri Lanka’s Eastern province has been a contested region in terms of ethnic and territorial integration as well as the integration of majority and minorities from the independence of the country, during civil war, and in the post-civil war era. This study explores the ethnic groups’ competition for political control and autonomy, as well as its impact in Eastern Sri Lanka. This study has employed both qualitative and quantitative data, collected mainly through secondary sources such as literary books, book chapters, journal articles, newspaper cuttings, and government documents, which are analyzed and presented through interpretive and descriptive manners. The study has found that the Eastern province has been a contested choice for the ethnic majority to extend their ethnic domination, and to implement ethno-centric development-cum settlement policies and programs, all of which are ultimately induced to change the ethnic composition of the region and pushed ethnic minorities to mobilize and demand for more decentralized power and autonomy in the region. The thirty-year prolonged civil war made the region not only a war-torn, but also let to undermining regional democratic principles, including minorities’ rights for autonomy. The study also reveals that the new emerging post-war political context at the provincial and national levels continues to undermine the minorities’ hopes for autonomy in the region. Nevertheless, the region has emerged as ‘role-model’ for ethnic cohesive politics.

Theoretical Approaches to Sri Lankan History and the Early Portuguese Period

2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Strathern
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Ethnic Conflict ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
The Past ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theoretical Thinking ◽  
A Site

In the past twenty years or so the history of Sri Lanka has become a site of vibrant controversy, largely because the current ethnic conflict has loaded any kind of reflection on the historical boundaries of political, ethnic or religious identity with an immediate emotional charge. The intellectual reverberations of post-colonialism and the vigorous contributions of anthropologists have added rich strata of theoretical thinking. However, despite one or two calls to the contrary, the periods of Portuguese (1505-1658) and Dutch influence (1658-1796) in the island have tended to moulder on the periphery of these debates. The purpose of this article is to bring some of this thinking to bear on the evidence from the sixteenth century in order to stimulate fresh perspectives on both the events of that time and the models themselves. With the arrival of the Portuguese and their increasing involvement in the affairs of the island during the long reign of Bhuvanekabahu VII (1521-51), the darkness of the Kotte period is suddenly illuminated by wonderfully detailed flashes of events. The flurry of letters written by contemporary Portuguese settlers, officials and missionaries, and the attentions of Portuguese chroniclers such as João de Barros, Diogo do Couto, Gaspar Correia and Fernão de Queirós bring quite new forms of evidence into the historian's purview.

scholarly journals Human Capital and Business Growth among Muslim Women Entrepreneurs in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3S3) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Business Education ◽  
Women Entrepreneurs ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Business Growth ◽  
Eastern Province ◽  
Business Skills ◽  
Business Experience

Human capital (HC) is regarded as an essential resource in predicting the growth of any business venture, which encompasses the continued existence of women owned or led business entities. Researching on the capability of HC of Muslim women entrepreneurs (MWEs)has since become a topic for discussion as Muslim women face inimitable challenges than the non-MWEs. This study aims to look at the impact of HC on business growth of MWEs in the Eastern region of Sri Lanka (EPSL). HC was measured using the dimensions of business education, business experience and business skills. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 280 MWEs who are engaged with their district chamber of commerce in the Eastern province using simple random sampling technique. Structural Equation Modeling with AMOS and SPSS 23.0 was used as the data analysis technique. The structural model showed that business experience and business skills had significant and positive relationships with business growth of MWEs, whereas business education did not significantly influence their business growth. In most of the families in the conservative Muslim community, females are often not permitted go out themselves alone and mix with their counterparts alone. Further, many families even do not allow their female children to pursue higher education and prefer them to go for early marriage instead. This situation can be observed in Sri Lankan Muslim families especially in the Eastern Province where the majority come from rural areas. MWEs, trade chambers and decision-making authorities may use this finding to gain insights and to develop strategies on HC to facilitate business growth of Sri Lankan MWEs.

scholarly journals Nature of Prehistoric Archaeological Investigation and Research in Sri Lanka (1992 – 2019)

2021 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 128-143
Author(s):  
D.S.A. Munasinghe ◽  
H.A.S.N. Hanchapola ◽  
N.A.D.M. Nissanka ◽  
A.H.M.J.M. Athapathtu
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Early Research ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Chronological Order ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Research Findings

Sri Lankan prehistoric investigations can be divided into several phases. Identifying the nature of prehistoric archaeological investigation and research in Sri Lanka between 1992 – 2018 is the research problem of this paper. The main objective of the research is to collect data and information of Prehistoric Archaeological Investigation and Research (Exploration and Excavation) in Sri Lanka between 1992 – 2018 and arrange them in chronological order. In this process data and information were collected using primary and secondary sources through library survey, Field study, web survey and interviews were conducted to obtain more quantitative data The key research findings of the research are based on the identified several extraordinary features of this period compared to the early research periods such as systematic excavations, chronological methods, multidisciplinary approach, researches in associated with new scientific methodologies and innovative scientific methodologies including genealogical experiments.

Sri Lankan Tamil Musical Giving

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Sykes
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Musical Drama ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
Musical Genres

This chapter is a musical cartography of Sri Lankan Tamil traditional musics: through interviews in the Tamil-dominated north and east and the capital Colombo, archival research, and consultation of Tamil and English secondary sources, the chapter provides the first consideration in English of which musical genres and styles are prevalent in which regions of the Tamil heartland of northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The chapter focuses particularly on the musical drama form called kooththu and its revival in the twentieth-century through the efforts of Suppiramaniam Vithiananthan and his student Sinniah Maunaguru. The chapter discusses their play Ravanesan (staged in 1961–1962) and Maunaguru’s later revival of it as a commentary on Sri Lanka’s civil war and the tragic role of women in the conflict.

scholarly journals Post-War Conflict in Sri Lanka: Violence against Sri Lankan Muslims and Buddhist Hegemony

2015 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 109-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.M. Aliff
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Post War

Following the end of the thirty years old civil war in Sri Lanka, there were expectations that the post‐war period would usher in peace, development and reconciliation. The last four years have witnessed several positive developments including resettlement of people and rehabilitation of infrastructure. Nonetheless there are range of problems and policy gaps that have hindered the transition from war to sustainable peace. A key post-war challenge is that of violence against religious sites and members of religious communities. More recently, from last year, there has been an unprecedented level of violent attacks, demonstrations and hate speech targeting Sri Lanka’s Muslim population. It noted a ‘sharp uptick’ in religiously-motivated violence and said the authorities are ‘passively and sometimes actively’ condoning extremist Buddhist groups, Mainly perpetrated by Buddhist-fascist fundamentalist groups, such as the ‘Bodu Bala Sena’ or ‘Buddhist power force’ and the Hela Urmaya or Sinhala Heritage Party are the main groups behind these targeting of Muslims.The events have left the country’s second largest minority community - the Muslims feeling afraid and vulnerable which forcing a concerted campaign against them. In addition to attacks on places of religious worship there are calls to boycott Muslim shops and establishments, all of which is increasing tensions, particularly in areas where Muslims and Sinhalese live close to each other. These were virtually programmed by some prominent and influential personalities in governing circles, besides others who had a vested interest in seeing Sri Lanka imploding amid heightening ‘communal tensions.’On this context, this study focuses on the recent incident of violence against Muslims in Sri Lanka. The primary objective of this study is to examine the motive for violence against Muslims as well as impact of the violence. The fundamental questions of this research are the following: why does post-war violence and hate propaganda arise against Muslim in Sri Lanka? In which ways the violence against minorities, particularly Muslims impact on reconciliation process? And why does Buddhist nationalist hegemony arise soon after civil war in Sri Lanka? This study is based on an interpretive approach. The data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. In addition to primary sources, qualitative interviews were conducted with selected specialist on this particular research area. I conclude that after end of war against LTTE by government of Sri Lanka, religious tension has been increased in the recent past and the government’s reluctance even to take firm action against to perpetrators which would be helpful in restoring the rule of law and security of Sri Lankan minorities has been a big hurdle in the post-conflict situation and government are perceived to serve only the Buddhist side and to marginalize those holding legitimate grievances.

scholarly journals "Child's Play"; Pestering Power Influencing a Parent's Purchasing Behavior in Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
W. M. A. S. M. Wasala ◽  
N. Ravindran ◽  
W. A. S. C. Bandara ◽  
T. Pratheepan ◽  
N. A. Jayasuriya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Purchasing Behavior ◽  
Consumer Decisions ◽  
Concept Model ◽  
Child's Play

Aims: For years, there has been extensive attention in both theoretical and sociological literature regarding a child's ability to exert influence on behavior; in both developed and developing countries, a child's pester power has well recognized by interested parties. Pester Power, often known as the 'nag factor,' refers to adolescent shopping requests directed at their parents. Methodology: Due to the scarcity of information available on this social phenomenon in Sri Lanka, this paper focuses on conceptualizing a consistent set of factors and determinants discovered after an extensive literature review from a large number of sources and providing a foundation for future research that addresses an empirical and practical gap. Results: This paper presents a concept model that can be used by Sri Lankan sociological as well as theoretical academicians and researchers to predict the pester power of Sri Lankan youth and adolescents. The model includes demographic, socio-psychographic, and informative factors that could influence the pester power of Sri Lankan youth and adolescents. Originality: Because this is the first study of its kind in Sri Lanka, marketers and academics will be able to focus their attention on the growing behavior of young consumers in Sri Lanka in relation to the FMCG market by using this consistent set of factors. Conclusion: Despite the fact that Sri Lanka has a very traditional culture that places a premium on conformity to group norms and social acceptance and thus confirms a collectivistic culture in which children are expected to be subservient, there is this new wave of incredibly energetic, more informed young children who make their own consumer decisions. Empirical evidence on the increasing participation of children in family purchasing and their conversion into active consumers in a rapidly expanding market in south east Asian countries is predominant.

The Role of Music and Allied Arts in Public Writings on Cultural Diversity: “People of Sri Lanka”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Gisa Jähnichen
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
The World ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
The Way

The Sri Lankan Ministry of National Coexistence, Dialogue, and Official Languages published the work “People of Sri Lanka” in 2017. In this comprehensive publication, 21 invited Sri Lankan scholars introduced 19 different people’s groups to public readers in English, mainly targeted at a growing number of foreign visitors in need of understanding the cultural diversity Sri Lanka has to offer. This paper will observe the presentation of these different groups of people, the role music and allied arts play in this context. Considering the non-scholarly design of the publication, a discussion of the role of music and allied arts has to be supplemented through additional analyses based on sources mentioned by the 21 participating scholars and their fragmented application of available knowledge. In result, this paper might help improve the way facts about groups of people, the way of grouping people, and the way of presenting these groupings are displayed to the world beyond South Asia. This fieldwork and literature guided investigation should also lead to suggestions for ethical principles in teaching and presenting of culturally different music practices within Sri Lanka, thus adding an example for other case studies.

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