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Social Science General

Sri Lanka

The Struggle for Peace in the Aftermath of War

edited by Amarnath Amarasingam & Daniel Bass

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Initial publish date
Jan 2017
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781849045735
    Publish Date
    Jan 2017
    List Price
    $42.50

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Description

Even though Sri Lanka's protracted civil war came to a bloody conclusion in May 2009, prospects for a sustainable peace remain uncertain. The Sri Lankan army is no longer waging military campaigns and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are no longer carrying out political assassinations and suicide attacks, yet structural violence continues, and has arguably intensified since the war's end. Anti-Tamil discrimination, anti-Muslim violence, and Sinhala Buddhist majoritarianism all increased in the war's aftermath, as President Mahinda Rajapakse's government invoked its military victory over the LTTE to silence any opposition. The election of Maithripala Sirisena as president in January 2015 began to alleviate some of the worst of these post-war abuses of power, but many long-term problems will take longer to solve.

This book brings together scholars in the fields of anthropology, sociology, history, law, religious studies and diaspora studies to critically engage issues such as post-war development, constitutional reform, ethnic and religious identity, transnational activism, and transitional justice. Through an interdisciplinary approach to post-war Sri Lanka, this volume examines the intractable and complex issues that continue to plague this war-torn island.

About the authors

Contributor Notes

Amarnath Amarasingam is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellow at Dalhousie University and the author of Pain, Pride, and Politics: Social Movement Activism and the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in Canada. Daniel Bass is the Treasurer of the American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies and the author of Everyday Ethnicity in Sri Lanka: Up-country Tamil Identity Politics.