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Northern Sri Lanka Jane Derges University College London Phd In Northern Sri Lanka Jane Derges University College London PhD in Social Anthropology UMI Number: U591568 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U591568 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Fig. 1. Aathumkkaavadi DECLARATION I, Jane Derges, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources I confirm that this has been indicated the thesis. ABSTRACT Following twenty-five years of civil war between the Sri Lankan government troops and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a ceasefire was called in February 2002. This truce is now on the point of collapse, due to a break down in talks over the post-war administration of the northern and eastern provinces. These instabilities have lead to conflicts within the insurgent ranks as well as political and religious factions in the south. This thesis centres on how the anguish of war and its unresolved aftermath is being communicated among Tamils living in the northern reaches of Sri Lanka. There is an atmosphere of intense mistrust where notions of loyalty and betrayal are demonstrated through speech. Articulating grief, anger and powerlessness is therefore complex within a milieu where there are high levels of both internalised and externalised despair - none more so than among the ‘war generation’. The underlying brutalisation created by the war is implicitly recognised as the root cause of much current social unrest. It is also feared that exposure to depictions of violence through access to recently imported modem cultural artefacts, such as videos, have exacerbated the problem. Within this mood of silent tension, communication seems to be taking place through existing, but adapted cultural forms. For the younger generation whose experiences included combat, arrest and torture, it has taken shape through a propitiatory ritual involving inscriptions of pain on the body - thuukkukkaavadi, which has increased exponentially in the last ten years. For others, it is through adherence to gang traditions, which have raised considerable anxieties within the local population. Both ‘performances’ can be seen as efforts to communicate and articulate the brutalising effects of war through the utilisation of bodies to convey meaning: “(Rituals)...use objects and substances as well as the bodies of the performers to transmit...meta­ messages, difficult or even impossible to convey” (Rappaport 1999:252). In this case the message seems to be one of entrapment, anger and disillusionment within a conflict that remains unresolved. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION 3 ABSTRACT 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 9 Chapter One: Introduction 12 Adapting methodologies 24 Global interactions and influences 31 Tsunami, 2004 34 Part I: ‘No war, no peace’ 36 Chapter Two: Contextualising war 36 Local geographies 40 An island fortress: militarisation and zones of insecurity 42 A community under siege 50 The losses of war 55 Environmental effects 60 Chapter Three: Discourses of war 64 Colonialism: creating a context for war 66 Post-colonialism: state politics and the case for war is made 69 5 Contested space: the rise of national militancy 73 The origins of Tamil grievances 75 Constructions of an indigenised ‘other’ 81 Explorations of the rising violence 86 Part II: Transformations 90 Chapter Four: Changing social realities 90 Native soil: transformations of home 100 Devotional practice amongst the Jaffna Tamils 107 Veera Maranam: ‘Heroic death’ 113 Caste and class: old categorisations, new social hierarchies 118 Vigilance and protection: living with the times 123 Chapter Five: “Frogs in a well”: fear and segregation 128 Tamil youths: provoked and provoking bodies 132 Power, provocation and resistance 140 The humiliations of war 145 Internalised violence and ‘cultures of fear’ 149 ‘Thick masks’ and silence 155 Ambiguity and rumour 159 Discarded childhoods 162 Chapter Six: The (dis)articulation of suffering 167 The Trauma Discourse: PTSD and social suffering 172 Pathologising suffering 175 Socio-cultural implications of PTSD diagnoses 178 Aid organisations and peace building 183 6 Part III: The articulate body 188 Chapter Seven: Mediating adversity 188 Ensuring protection from harm 191 Shanthi - vaakku cholluthal 193 Thuukkukkaavadi: the transformation of a ritual 199 ‘Lord of the Clouds’: the organiser 211 Kaavadi devotees 216 A thuukkukkaavadi performance 220 A contemporary ‘devotee’ 230 Pirathattai : rolling 235 Chapter Eight: ‘Embodied knowledge’: Endurance and survival 238 The body as site of contestation 243 The sacrificial body 248 Cathartic transformations 257 Paravasam: trance 262 Chapter Nine: War with impunity 266 Repercussions 270 ENDNOTES 274 APPENDIX I: Glossary 280 APPENDIX II: Notes on transcription 281 APPENDIX III: Acronyms for Tamil militant organisations 282 BIBLIOGRAPHY 283 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe considerable gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Roland Littlewood for his invaluable advice, support and warm generosity during this entire endeavour. The Anthropology Department at University College London has provided me with the opportunity to listen, learn and benefit from discussions during and outside seminars, and provided considerable inspiration from tutors and fellow students alike. The study was financed by a studentship from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), for which I am endebted as it has allowed me the space and freedom to pursue this project to the fullest. I would also like to thank my Tamil teacher; Mr Swaminathan at the School of Oriental and African Studies, who showed enormous tolerance and good humour over my efforts to grapple with the language, but who also provided me with the essential groundings that enabled my survival in the early days in Jaffna. In Sri Lanka, I express my deepest gratitude and regard to Professor Daya Somasundaram for providing access, critical and unbiased support. ‘Shanthiam’ and the Wholistic Health Centre in Jaffna provided me not only with encouragement, but also with many enjoyable and memorable experiences. There are many more individuals who should be mentioned as pivotal to this work, but who cannot be openly recognised despite their hospitality and willingness to share their time and energy with such abundant thoughtfulness and warmth. The current instabilities and ongoing security concerns unfortunately make this impossible. They are the individuals and families who welcomed me into their homes, bravely bestowed their trust and thereby showed me the open-heartedness of the Tamil people. This was a priviledge and went beyond all my expectations. Many thanks also to the Institute for Cultural and Ethnic Studies in Colombo; to Michael Roberts, Patricia Lawrence, Margaret Trawick, Kate Melhopt and Rachel Tribe for interesting and helpful discussions. 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Photographs Page 1. Aathumkkaavadi 2 2. Thuukkukkaavadi 15 3. Catholic shrine 109 4. LTTE Cemetery 115 5. A village ( Naga) shrine 195 6. 108 velkal (spears) 202 7. Thullakkaavadi 203 8. Arm velkal 213 9. Aathumkaavadi 218 10. Paravaikkaavadi - Father and son 226 11. Paravaikkaavadi 235 12. Pirathattai 237 13. Trance dancers 265 14. Thondamanaaru temple: theetham ceremony 267 Maps 1. Sri Lanka 9 2. Research area: the Jaffna peninsula 10 9 n*r ~TT o m t <* i t . JAFFNA PENINSULA a^kesantun, ,_.point Pedro ^ a kachch e ri B a y o / KUXD. ^ H jn o c h c h i B e n g a l ilOrtut ' .Mullaittivu b u n d ? w,]fts*.ywK,MUai • iANCTJAhfC T JAfUjtapwn n K X a L i r :’’V » r\ n Munnat 'Trincomalee WILPATTU NATIONAL PAR A n J 'j 3 li ap». r§L a ' ^ | utur Puttalum m * . i• SJLsdmawLiOMAWATHIYA CHAITtYA . Logo or* I o ^.^•■^TIONALPARK - • Puftal ^ n a n n iran fepiflUWA la ru w a MAnONALjp E ra v i^ j Qatticaloa M a d a ' jfk rf0 U ?J RIVER* LACCALitVE \ f^WATlttNMPARK INDIAN N eqom b n?V 1 rV . ri,,.flilALC<4 OCEAN Colombo v-Kotu an ^MA~15 WLPARK D ehiw ala^f ar-p Efiya M ount Lavi n i a* M Ofa;u vv a Kalutaratf^“~v ft at™ >ufcj YAlA NATIONAL PARK Beruwala* SiMfcUyfA.A*;' u •Yala Am ba I an god a ■■ «/% _.*Hambantota Gal e« , *Tangalla W eligam a Dondrn Mead 50 1CO mi C‘2QQ1. EncyclupawdMi Brii-Minic*. Ire 50 10Q km Map 1. Sri Lanka 10 Karaitivu KILALI THANA1IKILLAPPU NAVATK ARIYALAI MAR COLUMBUTHURAI KOVI LA KANDY Palaitivu ELI Map 2. Research area: the Jaffna peninsula 11 Chapter 1 Introduction This is a study of the consequences of intercommunal violence and its impact on micro- communities. It is located within a small Tamil1 community in the northern Jaffna11 peninsula of Sri Lanka; an area geographically isolated since the onset of war some twenty years previously and which, along with the eastern region has borne the brunt of much of the fighting. Most anthropological investigations have taken place in and around Batticaloa in the east, as well as the south; less was known about the experiences of the Tamils living in this relatively homogenised northern region of the country. My initial intention was to explore the narrative structures of post-war reconstruction and recovery, from the particular orientation of ‘traditional healing’ practices. I soon realised that focussing exclusively on identifying ‘healing rituals’ and their role in post-war111 recovery would be an exercise in limitation rather than explication, as well as ignore the fact that talking of recovery was premature to say the least.
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