Ethnicity and Social Norms in Sri Lanka

The war in Sri Lanka is over. The conflict however is not. The memories are still afresh. Has ethnicity always been a dividing factor in Sri Lankan society and politics? The relationship between ethnicity and conflict is highly complex. But how are such theoretical concepts applicable to the real lives of people in conflicts? In the first part of the book Ruveni Wijesekera provides an introduction to the ethnic conflict from an anthropological perspective. She analyzes how ethnicity has gained enormous significance over the past century compared to historical dividers such as caste, region and language. In the second part, the two novels Funny Boy by Selvadurai and Sam s Story by Jayawardene provide the framework for the analysis of the problem of social, ethnic and gender prejudice in Sri Lanka. The main focus lays on the problematic dynamics between ethnicity, social norms and gender and its roles in the identity construction of the two protagonists. Owing to its dual approach from both an anthropological and literary perspective, this book is of interest to students of English and Post-colonial Studies, Social/Cultural Anthropology and scholars and researchers.

Autorentext

Ruveni Wijesekera, Mag. phil. (MA) in English & American Studies and Social & Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna, Austria and University of Exeter, England. Ruveni Wijesekera was born and raised in Sri Lanka and has been living in Europe since 1995. She is working as a project manager for the Swiss Academy for Development - SAD.