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The Entrenchment of Sinhalese Nationalism in Post-War Sri Lanka by Anne Gaul

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The Entrenchment of Sinhalese Nationalism in Post-War Sri Lanka by Anne Gaul An Opportunity Lost The Entrenchment of Sinhalese Nationalism in Post-war Sri Lanka by Anne Gaul Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervised by: Dr. Andrew Shorten Submitted to the University of Limerick, November 2016 Abstract This research studies the trajectory of Sinhalese nationalism during the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa from 2005 to 2015. The role of nationalism in the protracted conflict between Sinhalese and Tamils is well understood, but the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009 has changed the framework within which both Sinhalese and Tamil nationalism operated. With speculations about the future of nationalism abound, this research set out to address the question of how the end of the war has affected Sinhalese nationalism, which remains closely linked to politics in the country. It employs a discourse analytical framework to compare the construction of Sinhalese nationalism in official documents produced by Rajapaksa and his government before and after 2009. A special focus of this research is how through their particular constructions and representations of Sinhalese nationalism these discourses help to reproduce power relations before and after the end of the war. It argues that, despite Rajapaksa’s vociferous proclamations of a ‘new patriotism’ promising a united nation without minorities, he and his government have used the momentum of the defeat of the Tamil Tigers to entrench their position by continuing to mobilise an exclusive nationalism and promoting the revival of a Sinhalese-dominated nation. The analysis of history textbooks, presidential rhetoric and documentary films provides a contemporary empirical account of the discursive construction of the core dimensions of Sinhalese nationalist ideology. It explores how the end of the war has affected the myth-symbol complex underlying national identity as well as the motives and rationales of nationalist politics. The research identifies continuities and changes in the content and use of these dimensions as a response to the transition from war to peace. These shifts, however, do not signify a challenge to the traditional hierarchical framework of Sinhalese nationalism. Instead, post-war triumphalism has reinvigorated its ethnic core that places the Sinhalese, their culture and religion, above other communities in Sri Lanka. The military victory has reaffirmed the link between the Sinhalese nation, Buddhism and the state that has traditionally been used to legitimise Sinhalese claims to a Sri Lankan nationalism. Furthermore, developments, such as the victory itself and growing international criticism, are incorporated within traditional nationalist frames and, in turn, help to reinvigorate them. Overall, this research demonstrates implicit and explicit discursive modes of how the Rajapaksa regime continued to perpetuate an exclusive Sinhalese nationalism, marginalising minority communities, their long-standing grievances and the crucial issue of reconciliation after the end of the war in 2009. iii Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis is the original work of the author and has not been submitted previously to any other academic institution. Where use has been made of the works of others it has been duly acknowledged and referenced. Material from chapter four has been published under the following citations: Gaul, A. (2014) ‘Where Are the Minorities? The Elusiveness of Multiculturalism and Positive Recognition in Sri Lankan History Textbooks’, Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society, 6(2): 87-105. Gaul, A. (forthcoming) ‘Security, Sovereignty, Patriotism – Sinhalese Nationalism and the State in Sri Lankan History Textbooks’, Ethnopolitics, 1- 18. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/17449057.2015.1041834 Signed: Date: iv Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Andrew Shorten, my supervisor and guide on this long journey. It was his unwavering support, patience and thorough feedback that enabled me to grow as a person and researcher, provided invaluable advice for putting this project together, and kept me sane whenever the situation seemed particularly desperate. Further I wish to thank Prof. Tom Lodge and Dr. Swati Parashar for their interest in my work and their thoughtful comments on the full draft and parts of this thesis. The Department of Politics and Public Administration, which provided funding for fieldwork and conference participation, and its staff and students, who provided valuable feedback and raised insightful questions at crucial junctures of this project. The Centre for Regional and Strategic Studies in Colombo, which hosted my fieldwork, and its staff, who welcomed me and supported my work at every turn. It was the experiences and encounters during my time in Sri Lanka that shaped this project and deepened my understanding of the country and its people beyond what any book could teach. The Georg Eckert Institut in Braunschweig, which facilitated my textbook research, and the DAAD for funding this stay. The many conversations with Dr. Georg Stöber in particular provided invaluable advice and guidance during these early stages of data analysis. The publishers of Ethnopolitics and the Journal of Educational Media, Memory and Society for granting permission to reprint material from my published work, as well as their anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. My close friends, acquaintances, coffee and running buddies, as well as random strangers who gracefully endured my frequent tirades about life as a PhD student in the final months of this project. I would also like to thank my family for their continuing love, support and encouragement. This project would not have been possible without my parents, who always believed in me and lent me their unconditional support; my sister, who is an inspiration in her own right; and my grandparents, who provided much appreciated kind and generous support for my seemingly never-ending academic exploits. ~ Danke für alles. Es ist schön, daß es Euch gibt. Finally, a huge thanks is due to my husband, who went above and beyond in the final days. There are no words to express the gratitude I feel for his support and limitless belief in me, as he shared with me the ups and downs of this journey. Brian, without you by my side, and the occasional not so gentle push, I could not have done it. v Table of Contents ABSTRACT III DECLARATION IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V TABLE OF CONTENTS VI CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1 LOCATING THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 1 THE RESEARCH PROJECT 4 A HISTORIC MOMENT FOR SINHALESE NATIONALISM 7 CHAPTER OUTLINE 11 CHAPTER 2 - SINHALESE NATIONALISM: FROM MYTHS AND LEGENDS TO DECADES OF CONFLICT AND WAR 15 NATIONS AND NATIONALISM 16 Debating the Origins of Nations 17 Primordialism 17 Modernism 18 Perennialism and ethno-symbolism 19 A brief interlude: Voices from the East 21 Rethinking Nationalism: Towards a Constructionist Account 22 Nationalism as ideology 23 Imagining national identities 25 Locating Sinhalese Nationalism 26 Between continuity and change 26 The ethnic dimensions of nationhood 29 THE ORIGINS OF SINHALESE NATIONALISM 32 The Colonial Intervention: Becoming ‘Sinhalese’ and ‘Tamil’ 32 Unification, centralisation and enumeration 32 The making of national minds 34 The Buddhist Core of Sinhalese Nationalism 36 The cosmology of Buddhism 37 The Asokan Persona 39 The transformation of Buddhism 41 Myths and legends 42 Modern Sinhalese nationalist ideology 44 FROM INDEPENDENCE TO WAR 45 The Sinhalisation of Sri Lanka 46 The failure of an all-Ceylonese nationalism 46 The path to institutional decay: Elites, Sinhalese nationalism and the state 48 From Tamil Counter-mobilisation to the Outbreak of War 51 THE VIOLENT CONSEQUENCES OF NATIONALIST MOBILISATION 53 The Civil War 54 The Tamil separatist threat 54 Sinhalese responses between decisiveness and internal turmoil 56 Rise of the new Dutugemunu? 58 The Transition from War to Peace 61 Regime consolidation 61 The limits of triumphalism 63 vi CONCLUSION 65 CHAPTER 3 - THE STUDY OF SINHALESE NATIONALIST IDEOLOGY 67 POST-WAR SINHALESE NATIONALISM: IDENTIFYING THE GAP 67 Locating Grounds for Speculation 68 The Emerging Post-war Realities 70 CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 72 Utilising Critical Discourse Analysis 73 The discourse-historical approach 74 Discourse, power and ideology 75 Nationalism as ideology 76 A Critical Position 77 The matter of the ‘I’ 79 EXPLORING NATIONALISM WITH OFFICIAL DISCOURSES 81 An Introduction to the Data 81 The role of official discourses 83 The data sets 84 Working with the data 87 The analytical framework 88 History Textbooks 90 The corpus 91 Story-line analysis 92 Political Speeches 93 The corpus 94 Authors & translators 95 Audiences 96 Rhetorical political analysis 98 Documentary Films 100 The corpus 101 Analysing documentaries 103 CONCLUSION 103 CHAPTER 4 - NATION AND NATIONALISM IN HISTORY TEXTBOOKS 105 THE NATION 106 The Sinhalese as the Nation of Sri Lanka 107 Naming the nation 107 Selective story-lines 109 Ethnic Dimensions of Nationhood 111 The ancient nation 111 The beginning of history 113 Buddhism and the nation 115 Threats to the Nation from Near and Far 119 Traitors and foreigners: Portraying Tamils throughout history 120 European colonisers and the downfall of the nation 125 THE POLITICS OF NATIONHOOD IN THE PAST AND PRESENT 128 Nation, State and Religion 129 Educating Citizens 132 CONCLUSION 137 CHAPTER 5 - SPEAKING OF THE NATION: ‘US’ AND ‘THEM’ CAUGHT BETWEEN THE NATIONALIST PAST AND PATRIOTIC PRESENT 139 SITUATING RAJAPAKSA’S
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