Social Mobility, Popular Ideology, and Collective Violence in Modern Sri Lanka

Abstract

Riots, rebellions, and other disturbances have broken out periodically in most parts of South Asia in modern times. Both early resistance to British rule and the religious and nationalist violence of the later colonial period have attracted a good deal of attention from scholars. One of the general trends apparent from this research is the weakening of distinctions among “communal,” “economic,” and “political” disturbances, and detailed studies have emphasized the ambiguity of most riots. Ostensibly religious affrays often reflected more general social and economic tensions, while the expression of economic grievances was often channeled by cultural or political beliefs.

A long view of liberal peace and its crisis

“…Rejecting ethnic territoriality in favour of uniform and unitary administration, the reforms also introduced 'local' representation in the Legislative Council and civil service, and sought to dismantle mercantilism and state monopolies in the economy (Scott, 1999: 40-52;Wickramasinghe, 2006: 28-41;Rogers, 1987).…”

“…Inter-ethnic violence was minimal and important aspects of cohesion emerged with the rise of social groups with a stake in the new order, including a multi-ethnic English-speaking elite that helped run the state and economy (Horowitz, 2014: 38;Rogers, 1987: 588 Tambiah, 1992). The proximate target was liberal-secularism; resistance emerged as reaction to the perceived degeneration of (Sinhala) Buddhist religion and culture attributed to the de facto secular state's toleration of Christian education and proselytising (Tambiah, 1992: 5-6;Jayawardena 2004: 32-62;Rogers, 1987: 588-91 (Jayawardena 2004;Rogers, 1987).…”

Sri Lanka – a divided Church in a divided polity: the brokerage of a struggling institution

“…The success of the Church (as a 'state within a state') led to resentment from other groups, particularly militant Buddhists. From 1875, there were a series of violent incidents relating to religious affiliation (Rogers 1987;Stirrat 1992). In this period, religious identity united Sinhalese and Tamil Catholics against religiously defined 'others'.…”

“…By the time of the 1983, riots some of the worst violence against Tamil speakers took place on the west coast in predominantly Catholic areas where Catholics had once been majority Tamil speaking. In a matter of 100 years, the Catholic community turned from conflict with members of their own ethnicity in the name of religion, to conflict with other Catholics in the name of ethnicity (Rogers 1987). Today, the Church remains 'divided' and some Tamil Catholic leaders report feeling fundamentally betrayed and abandoned.…”

Taking liberties and making liberty: religious bounding and political violence in Sri Lanka

“…In response to the majority of interviewee's wishes and prevailing condition of insecurity in Sri Lanka, all the data is anonymous. This data is framed against the earlier example of Buddhist JVP monks, which is drawn from an existing,authoritative body of literature including Abeysekera (2002), Chandraprema (1991), Guneratna (1990), Rogers (1987), De Silva (1981, Stirrat (1992) and Tambiah (1992). The Sri Lankan Context Sri Lanka is home to several religions, but most of the 74.9% 7 Sinhalese majority community identify as Theravada Buddhists.…”