The F'ragmented Island: Ethnic Conflict and the Politics of Culture in Sujata Ramachandran

This article examines the role of culture revolutionary struggle for Tamil na- votion. It can have the character of a reli- in the ethnic conflict and strife in Sri tionalliberation, demandingthe creation gious fetish, an idol, a thing that has self- hh.The general aim is to achieve an of a separate state of Tamil . contained magical properties (Kapferer understanding of the nationalist process, The role of culture and its effective- 1988,4). the force of nationalist ideas and tradi- ness in legitimizing the rival national- Culture in nationalism becomes the tions in motivating action-action that is isms in Sri Lanka remains largely focus of this article and is seen in a par- often violent and intolerant-and to unacknowledged. This article attempts ticular way here. The dramaturgic ap- demonstrate the value of a cultural ap- to examine the function or the politics of proach has been adopted relating to the proach to the understanding of modem culture in this ethnic conflict pertaining expressive or communicative properties societies. Culture has been examined in to the generation of opposing ethnic of culture(Wuthnowl987,13). Cultureis two ways here, namely, the dramaturgic identities, the role of the historical past, identifiable as the symbolic-expressive approach to culture which emphasizes political myths and elite1interest groups dimension of social culture and social the expressive dimensions of culture, in symbolic construction, and the mean- relations that communicates informa- and the politics of culture or the political ings these provide for the groups inques- tion about morally binding obligations culture approach, whereby cultural tion. and is, in tum, influenced by the struc- manifestations are utilized effectively to ture of these obligations. Culture, in this maintain power between groups. The The Culture of Nationalism and the approach, consists of utterances, acts, ob- article concludes that the Sinhalese- Politics of Culture jects and events-all of which are ob- Tamil conflict is a product of modem To inquire into the truth of the political servable. What is significant is the politics, and culture has been used effec- myths is, therefore as meaninglessand capacity of the various elements of cul- tively to legitimate rival nationalisms in ridiculous as to ask for the truth of the ture, including rituals, ideologies and Sri Lanka. machine gun or a fighter plane. Both other symbolic acts, to dramatize the na- are weapons and weapons prove their ture of social relations. Symbolic acts are Introduction truth by their efficiency. If political myths could stand this test they need likely to be meaningful if they articulate For nearly a decade, the island of Sri no other or better proof. In this respect, the nature of social relations. Lanka hasbeen involved in the" continu- the theory was beyond attack and in- Political culture "consists of the sys- ing hemorrhage of a Lebanon-or-Ul- vulnerable. All it had to do was to put tem of empirical beliefs, expressive sym- ster-style internecine civil war" (Wilson the political myths into action and to bols, and values which defines the 1982,295), where the Sinhalese majority show their constructive and destruc- situation in which political action takes and the Tamil minority are in violent tive power. place" (Pye and Verba 1965, 9). In this conflict. This opposition is often por- - Emst Cassirer, "Judaismand article, I refer to the importance of poli- trayed as a product of ancient or Modem Political Myths" tics as an independent variable shaping the outcome of animosity that has alleg- Culture has assumed a place of pride in ethnicity, one that pits ethnic entities edly existed unchanged for centuries. the litany of nationalisms everywhere. against one another and offers ethnic en- The majority has turned to the elements Almost universally the culture that na- trepreneurs high incentive for the cul- of culture and cultural symbols, includ- tionalists worship include the founding tural mobilization of their groups. ing religion, language and the historical myths, legends, customs, traditions and Ethnicity has been highly politicized in past, to justify their actions of subordi- language of the nation. These are at once Sri Lanka, and cultural mobilization is nating the minority. The eventu- constituted within the nation and consti- used effectively in the competitive pur- ally retaliated by engaging in a armed tute the nation. They are integral to na- suit of wealth, status or power. Political tional sovereignty and are made sacred culture refers not to what is happening in in the nation as the nation is made sacred the world of politics and society per se, in them. Culture in nationalism becomes but what peoplebelieveabout these hap- Supfa Ramachandran,from New Delhi, , has an object, a reified thing, something that can recently completed her postgraduate work at the penings. And these beliefs be of sev- Centre for South Asian Studies, University of can be separated or abstracted from the eral kinds: they can be empirical beliefs Toronto.An earlier draft of this article was deliv- flow of social life. Made into a religious about the actual state of political and so- ered at the centre's symposium in October 1992. object, culture becomes the focus of de- cial life; they can be beliefs as to the goals

Refuge, Vol. 13, No. 3 (June 1993) and values that ought to be pursued; and they?" These questions involve the basic 1981 census was the first to treat they may have an important expressive processes of cognition, perception and as a unity. Although re- and emotional dimension. People re- symbol formation. This identity can be spondents had been classified in spond to what they perceive of politics an individual phenomena, but is also separate Up Country and Low and its use of culture and they interpret applicable within the social grouping to Country categories by the enumera- what they see. From the cultural point of which the individual belongs. Indeed, tors, this division was not main- view, for instance, we would look at identity "is a process located in the core tained in the published records. these events in the political history of Sri of the individual and yet also in the core Interestingly, no such unification of Lanka, not so much as a series of objec- of his communalculture:a process which the Tamil population was effected in tive events but as a series of events that establishes, in fact, the identity of these this census. may be interpreted quite differently by two identities" (Young 1976,20). One manifestation of this biological different people, and whose effects on The basis of these solidarity group community is the sharing of a com- future events depend on their interpreta- ings are commonalities or affinities of mon language. tions. The terms, "meaning" and "inter- ethniaty, language, race, caste, assumed pretation", here, are relational terns. blood tie, custom andlor territory "True Sinhalese" also share a com- They refer to the interaction between (Young 1976,12). The main formal crite- mon religion: i.e., they areBuddhists. what exists in the mind of the individual rion of membership of the rival Sinhalese Sri Lanka is in its entirety the land of or collectivityand to what happensin the and Tamil collectivities today appear to Sinhala and of : it is the outside world. be linguistic, religious and historical an- Sinhalese-Buddhistnation. The peo- Ethnic conflict is, therefore, related tecedents. Although four different ple, language, religion, culture and primarily and sometimes solely to the ethno-religious-linguistic collectivities territory are all intimately linked. problems of social organization that are reside in Sri Lanka, more than 92 percent conceived in terms of politics and the of the inhabitants idenhfy themselves These ideas are paralleled among the allocation of scarce resources. More spe- with one of the two distinct groups, Tamil community (Nissan and Stirrat cifically, ethniaty is said to be inherently Sinhalese and Tamil. In 1981, the esti- 1990,30). related to competition and conflict. Eth- mated population of the island was 14.85 The groups involved here are not nic actions are actions in which a claim to million, of which the Sinhalese andTamil necessarily permanent, frozen common provenance (or origin), ances- communities account for 74 and 18.2 per- collectivities, but are in a state of flux in try or culture are potent (Shlomo 1974, cent, respectively. The Tamils them- response to long-term forces of social 281-84). In the case of Sri Lanka, ethnic- selves have been divided into Sri Lankan change and shorter-term alterations in cultural symbols are activated or ma- Tamils and Indian Tamils which form political context. For example, the nipulated in the framework of political 12.6 and 5.5 percent of the total popula- Sinhalese themselves were a divided conflict. tion, respectively. The other group, i.e., group not long ago and the development the Muslims (Moors)form 7.1 percent of of a common Sinhalese identity took Who Is Tamil? Who Is a Sinhalese? a the total population. The last three cat- time. In the 1920~~there was still a sizable The Question of Collective Identity egories are all speakers of Tamil, but are number of Kandyan Sinhalese who de- All nice people like Us, are We, differentiated by religion and/or puta- manded separate representation from And everybody else is They. tive origin. Indigenous Sri Lankan Low-Country Sinhalese and who also -Rudyard Kipling (Ceylon) Tamils are settled in the north favoured a federal system of government and the east; Indian Tamils are the de- (Nissan and Stirrat 1990,45). Similarly, The emergent nationalities in Sri Lanka scendants of estate workers brought in the Tamils themselves were divided into indicate the tendency of individuals to from during the British pe- the SriLankanTamils and IndianTamils, identify with particular collectivesor eth- riod (Spencer 1990, 14). [Also see as described earlier. But Tamil and nic groups such as Tamils or Sinhalese. Manogaran in this issue ] Sinhalese nationalisms today tend to This is based on the principle of inclusion Of importance in the long run is how overlook these differences. or exclusion (Breton 1988, 1992). These the political identities of the Sinhalese The main criterion of membership of include the conditions for becoming or and Tamils came into being, how these the rival Sinhalese and Tamil communi- ceasing to be a member; and the circum- groups came to represent the differences ties today is linguistic, but in the colonial stances under which one can be expelled themselves, and how these ideas were period the most salient identities-at (Breton 1992,4). Identity is a subjective, used. Today these ideas about "Sinhala- least as far as riots and disturbanceswere individual phenomenon; it is shaped ness" centre around four themes: concerned-were religious. Catholics, through the constantly recurring ques- The Sinhalese share a certain biologi- who were pitted against the Buddhists tion, "Who am I?" with the inevitable cal nature; that they are a race. The and Hindus in colonial conflicts, are now corollary, "Who is he?" or "Who is she?" unity of the Sinhalese is asserted over divided into Sinhalese Catholics and Generalized to the collectivity, these be- and above Low Country1Up Coun- Tamil Catholics. Yet Muslims, who are come, "Who are we?" and "Who are try or caste differences. Indeed, the predominantly Tamil-speaking and as

-- - - 10 I Refuge, Vol. 13, No. 3 (June 1993) such might to be thought to have suf- the , and his followers habitants of &,anka were really Tamil; fered as much as anyone from linguistic are said to have arrived on the shores of that the Sinhabese were originally Tamil discrimination since 1956, have stub- Lanka on the day of Buddha's death; but who converted to Buddhism and bornly maintained their ethnic separate- even before Vijaya's arrival, Lanka adopted Sinhala, a language based on ness from their fellow Tamil speakers claims to have had a close relationship , the language of Buddhist texts; and and have pursued their own political with the Buddha. According to the is- much of what the Sinhalese uphold as course in recent years while remaining land's ancient chronicle , the monuments of their past greatness was aloof until very recently from the central Buddha visited the island on several oc- actually produced by Tamil ancestry. ethnic conflict. In fact, the particular as- casions and announced that in Lanka his The historical arguments are numer- sembly of "races" identifiedinthe census "doctrine should ... shine in glory" ous, but as it is the Sinhalese who are of Sri Lanka, based on the mklange of (Nissan and Stirrat 1990,20). However, politically and numerically dominant in religious, linguistic and geographical ai- the Sinhalese were only converted to the island, so it is Sinhalese history, to a teria, can only be explained through a Buddhism in the third century B.C. by great extent, that sets the terms of the detailed account of the politics of identity Mahinda, son of the great Indian em- debate. Despite the fact that these two (Spencer 1990,8). peror, , during the reign of King histories are opposing versions of the Devanarnpiyatissa. Since then, so it is past, each stressingthe claims of the com- The Power of the Past claimed, they have with few exceptions munity that generatesit,they sharemany The use of history is no longer inciden- always been Buddhist. During the features in common. Both present the tal with interesting snippets being period (circa third cen- past in terms of the interaction of two taken to bolster an argument, but it is tury B.C. to ninth century A.D.), a great opposed entities, the Sinhalese and fashioned and streamlined to serve a Buddhist civilization flourished in Sri Tamils, who have always been as sepa- purpose, and contradictory details are blacked out. - Anon Lanka. This state was continually under rate as they are today. Secondly, they Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka tend to view their relationships in Despite the fact that these two histories are opposing versions of terms of histories that stretch back for at the past, each stressing the claims of the community that least 2,500 years. These historiesbuttress the opposing territorial claims of the two generates it, they share muny features in common. communities and make the conflict be- tween them seem inevitable. For the pressure from the South Indian kings; consist of arguments over events that Sinhalese, history justifies their claim to one in particular, Elara, ruled allegedly occurred between the fourth impose their rule all over Sri Lanka. For Anuradhapura for over forty years in the century B.C. and the tenth century A.D. Tamils, too, history is used to justlfy de second century B.C. until he was de- Thirdly, they present the two comrnuni- mands, in the past for a degree of au- feated by the heroic Sinhalese-Buddhist ties as historically and continuously op- tonomy in Tamil-dominated areas, and king, . Eventually, the posed through warfare, joining an today for total separation from the Sinhalese were forced to retreat south- ancient past to the present withno regard Sinhalese-dominated parts of the coun- wards, first toPolonnaruwa, then tovari- for the hiatus of centuries. Fourthly, the try (Nissan and Stirrat 1990,19).Histori- ous other capitals until the last phase of histories are both concerned with a "na- cal myths and legends are recreated to Sinhalese independence, which centred tional people's" claim to its own terri- reinforce the idea. Just as the Sinhalese on . The Kandyan kingdom was tory. Finally, each side presents the other Buddhist ethnic majority seeks to review eventually ceded to the British in 1815. as little more than barbarians (Nissan the past in modem garments, so the The Sinhalese claim is that these Tamil and Stirrat 1990). Both sides in the Tamil minority in its turn has begun to communities never, or only rarely, present political context back up their takerefuge in the fact that inCeylon there formed separatepolitical entities. Rather, respective claims through the selective was once a separate Tamil kingdom once settled in Lanka they accepted the and competitive use of archaeological (Wilson 1988,22). suzerainty of the Sinhalese kings (Nissan evidence. Factions on each side have The Sinhalese people claim that even and Stirrat 1990,20). been willing to destroy or reinterpret if they were not the first inhabitants of the Not surprisingly, the Tamil version evidence that would support the other island, a status they allow to the "prirni- of the past is somewhat different (Nissan party. Differing maps are produced that tive ," they were at least the first and Stirrat 1990).In its "soft" version, it is purport to show the distribution of "civilized" settlers of Sri Lanka (Nissan argued, Tamils have lived in Sri Lanka Sinhalese and Tamils in Lanka in the and Stirrat 1990). They claim to be de- for at least 2,000 years (from the Elara past, In this context S.J. Tambiah writes: scended from north Indian Aryan ances- period) and formed their own autono- Although the major identity compo- tors who spoke an Indo-European mous political units independent of nent of the Sinhalese are their Sinhalese language that developei into Sinhala. Sinhalese control. Satchi Ponnambalam, language and Buddhist religion, and Vijaya, the mythical ancestor of for example, claims that the original in- of the Tamils, their Hindu religion,

Refuge,Vol. 13, No. 3 (June 1993) 11 both these populations share many manipulated, consciously or uncon- collective behaviour. They provide a parallel features of traditional caste, sciously, in the strugglefor and the main- manipulative dimension to social rela- kinship, popular religious cult, cus- tenance of power between individuals tions because they are created precisely toms and so on. But they have come to and groups. Political myths or symbols for establishingand maintaining advan- be dividedby their mythic chartersand tendentious historical understanding have distinctivecharacteristicsthat make tage. Cohen terms this "cultural exten- of their past (Tambiah 1986,5). them dynamically different from other sion," in which myth refers to some prior perceptions. They develop and are mu- point in the society's history, the rooting Another aspect that has been conven- tually reinforced by large collectivities of of the present in the past and in so doing iently werlwked is that the Tamil and people, evoking intense hopes and fears, legitimizing the present by investing it Sinhalese identities are largely created threats and reassurances (Edelman 1971, with the values that have become sacred since "it seems that neither the Sinhalese 2). In other words, myths and symbols by their very historical or traditional nor the Tamils have remained racially are objects, acts, concepts or linguistic nature. pure" @e et al. 198& 13), and that formations that stand ambiguously for a The point has been made succinctly intennixing has taken place, as revealed multiplicity of disparate meanings, by Worsley, "Men ransack the past to by the following statement: evoke sentiments and emotions, and find legitimations for the present: they impel men to action (Cohen 1974, ix). discover precursors, trace intellectual Aside from its plethora of faiths, Sri In the following discussion of sym- pedigrees, rewrite history" (Cohen 1975, Lanka is also a country of racial diver- sity revealed in the frequency of eyes bolic forms, a distinction is thus made 15). coloured from brown to blue, crinkly between the kinds of meanings. The de- The great myth of origin of the and smooth hair, flat and hooked notation of symbolismisthat it stands for Sinhalese people, as given in the reli- noses. Proof enough that no racial something else, but the meanings de- gious chronicles, especially the stockhasescapedmixturtwithseveral rived from these symbols are not the Mahavamsa, of the foundation of their others (Ram 1989,31). same-they provide different meanings state and of the triumphant reconquest to different individuals or groups. by a Sinhalese Buddhist king of Sri Power Relations and Symbolic First, collectives generally have a Lanka, creates a divinely sanctioned so- Action: The Role of '6Political "myth of origin" that entails the recon- cial order in which Sri Lanka becomes Myths" struction of the past and/or creation of a the land of the Sinhalese Buddhists and myhcal past. It includes views about which legitimizes the right of the But meanings and symbols are not de- the present's continuity or rupture with Sinhalese majority to subordinate the pendent on things as context; they are the past, as well as the expectations and/ Tamil minority. The Buddhism of relations, not objects. Ignoring this or desiderata for the future (Breton 1992, Sinhalese nationalism is one of national- point, seeing meanings and symbols 6). Two significant dimensionsof the past ist practice and interpretation, a Bud- as things, has allowed cultural ana- lysts to erect a distinction between include the symbolically constructed dhism reconstituted in the religion of symbolic structures and concrete past in which the past is the overflow of nationalism. It creates the vision of a structures; to differentiate religion, the present. It is oriented from the myth of symbiotic social order in myth, art-held to be "essentially" present. It is akin on one side to our es- which Tamils have a subordinate role symbolic forms-from economics, cape fancies, those in which we rebuild and Sinhalese-Buddhists a super- politics, kinship, or everyday living. the world according to our heart's de- ordinate one based on the divinely This is a position we reject. sires, and on the other to the selection of ordained order. It validates the domi- -Dolgin et al. quoted in Gusfield what is significant that must be held or nant status of the Sinhalese and also con- and Michalowia 1984. reconstructed. Its decisive character vinces them of their "right" to their The myth, an unquestionedbelief held in pushes back conditioning continuities of superior position in society. common by a large group of people that the present (Maines et al. 1983,163). The On the other hand, detection of gives events and actions a particular other dimension includes the "mythical threats to the collectivity becomes a meaning, is a particularly relevant form past," which refers solely to symbolic potent factor in cultural mobilization; of symbol in the emergence of mass po- creations that are used to manipulate anxietiesandinsecurities dictate solidary litical movements. When we recognize social relationships. These pasts are crea- responses. Crises engender acute anxie- the functions it serves for the group and tions rather than re-creations because ties and highly polarized perceptions. its individual adherents, we can define they are not empirically grounded. They Not surprisingly, the Tamils denounce the systematic ties between individual are fictitious. However, they are empiri- the established practice of Sinhalese na- role attachment and common adherence cal in their consequences because they tionalism and claim that this conflicts to a controversial political movement can materially affect relationships with the manner in which their members (Edelman 1971,53). (Maines et al. 1983,164).In Sri Lanka, the live or ought to live. They feel that society While myths or symbols exist in their myths of origin form the complex of the frustrates their aspirations and denies own right and are observed for their in- above and can be conceived as purpose- them the kind of life they feel is rightly trinsic values, they are nearly always ful creations which control and shape theirs.

12 Refwge, Vol. 13, No. 3 (June 1993) I 9 When cultural communities collec- mogeneous, highly potent or omnipo- which pawl, inconvenient facts are tively perceive serious threats to tent group that conspires to harm the in- excluded, conveniently ignored and in communal status in the political group, i.e., the Sinhalese. The actions are which self-serving courses of action are environment, group solidarity tends to dictated by fear, signed by distrust or justified. Because the myth is a means of increase, as in the case of Tamils. Thus, executed by emotions. Each group has a succour against severe anxiety or vice counterstate of a nation of Tamils is generalized perception of the other, versa, it is strongly embraced and de- created to prove their stake to the claim. clothed in insecurity and hostility, which fended, and in doing so becomes the They suggest collective course of action swiftly imputesaggressive and threaten- mould into which perceptions of politi- to allay their anxiety. ing intent and intense fervour in the re- cal developments are organized The significance of the political myths sponse of the other to each stage of the (Edelman 1971,74). Political leaders can is through their power to merge diverse unfolding crisis (Young 1976,161). thus rely on the ubiquity of anxiety and perceptions and beliefs into a new and A political myth tells the story of a its extemalization in the mythsas an ever unified perspective that symbols affect political society; it is the story of a politi- present base for a following. By the same what men want, what they do, and the cal society that was supposedly created token, anxiety readily converts even im- identity they create for themselves in the past and that must now be restored plicit and metaphorical references to (Edelman 1971, 6). Further, a political or preserved. In reality, it concerns a po- mytluc themes into vivid and intensely myth is always the myth of a particular liticalsoaetydestined tobecreated in the held beliefs (Edelman 1971,80). The Role of the Elite in Cultural In symbolic tmnsformah'ons such as those recounted earlier, Symbolic Constructions the ethnicpohiution of the present is defined in terms of past Cultural symbolic constructions can be conceived as being deliberately built by rivalries, and, in that process, the past itself is rearranged in social and institutionalelites and more or terms of the policies of the present. less successfully imposed on members. As such, they are part of the exercise of power through which elites maintain the group. It has as its hero not an individual future and it is told for the purpose of institutional order of society or ethnic but a tribe, a race, a class, an ethnic group encouraging men to hasten its advent. community and their place in it. The or collectivity, as in the case of Sri Lanka. Today, both Tamil and Sinhalese strive symbolic universe is thus consciously Evocation of the cultural map of real- to create two different nations; Sinhalese created from "above" (Breton 1992,15). ity depends on the reception of social nationalism attempts to establish Interest groups like the elite exploit the cues that prompt this response. Very of- Sinhalese hegemony on the entire island symbolic forms to shape power relations ten, the cues are supplied by messages- and Tamil nationalism demands the in society. In this respect, the two orders, communication face to face or through creation of a separate state of Tamil symbolic as manifestation of culture and interpersonal media-which have al- Eelam in the northern and eastern part of political as relations of power between ready processed reality through a cul- the island. groups and/or individuals, are interde- tural symbol system and transmit In symbolic transformations such as pendent or to some extent causally re- information in a communal structure those recounted earlier, the ethnic polari- lated and imply a competition between (Young 1976, 143). Riots by Sinhalese zation of the present is defined in terms groups for resources and/or power. thugs onTamils and their property, mak- of past rivalries, and, in that process, the In the context of Sri Lanka, govem- ing Sinhala the national language in the past itself is rearranged in terms of the ment leaders, politicians or even aca- "Sinhala only" policy, disenfranchise- policies of the present. History/ myth is demics compose the important ment of the Indian Tamils, the use of a of the past but not in that past; it is rooted constituencies of mythic acceptance, in- Sinhalese cultural symbolon the national and flourishes in the present. fuse their rhetorics with references toleg- flag--all these actions have different Thus, political myths or metaphors ends. The legends of the religious meanings for the different communities. create and filter value premises. These chronicles Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa, The Tamils feel that the status and ben- myths can be termed "political" because their stories of ~rigin,amedstruggleand efits due them are being denied or threat- they serve as a means of establishing heroic resurgence, are woven into the ened. It also evokes the feeling that the power relationships in society that are fabric of Sinhalese religious and ritual superordinate group, the Sinhalese, in the basis of politics. The political myths life. The president of Sri Lanka, this case, maintain and enjoy the privi- highlight the benefits that flow from a Ranasinghe Prernadasa [whowas assas- leges unfairly or unjustly. On the other course of action and erase its unfortunate sinated on May 1, 19931 was popular hand, the Sinhalese majority registers concomitants, helping speakers and lis- among the urban and rural poor. He pub- these actions as the expected order of teners to conceal disturbing implications lished a short novel in Sinhala and in things. For them, the out-group, the from themselves. Ambiguous terms in a English that presents the heroic progress Tamils are perceived as a different, ho- threatening context create a world in of Dutugamunu. The tone of the novel wge,Vol. 13, No. 3 (June 1993) 13 aligned the president with widespread bols of the traditional culture are used to Kapferer, Bruce. 1988. Iigmds ofpeople: Myths Sinhalese populist sentiment (Kapferer articulate political alignments and of State. Washington: Smithsonian 1988,42). emerging ethnic cleavages. Cultural Institution Press. Kemper, Steven. 1990. "J.R. Jeyawardene: Public eventsare often the occasion of symbols, including history, lend signifi- Righteousness and Realpolitik." In Sri ideological recharging by politicians at cance to the collective violence of nation- Lanka:HistoryandWs ofconflict, editedby all levels within the government. At the alism in Sri Lanka. But, the "myths" Jonathan Spencer, 187-204. London: opening of a small deity shrine in being used to legitimize the rival nation- Routledge. Panadura, a town just south of , alism arebeingworkedanew in the mod- Maines, David R, Noreen Sufrue and Michael Cyril Matthew, then the minister of in- em situation of ethnic conflict and relate Katovich. 1983.'TheSociologicalImport of G.H. Mead's Theory of the Past." American dustries and scientific affairs, stated that to present political and social realities in Sociological Review 48: 161-73. "74 percent of the Sinhalese race should Sri Lanka. Manogaran, Chelvadurai. 1987. Ethnic Conflict not be dominated by 12 percent of the References and Reamciliation in Sri Lanka. Honolulu: minority community." At the same time, University of Hawaii Press. he announced that nationals in Sri kuzka, Barth, Frederick. 1969. Ethnic Groups and Nissan, Elizabeth and R.L. Stirrat. 1990. "The whatwer their community, had the right Boundaries. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. Generation of CommunalIdentities."In Sri to live anywhere in Sri Lanka, and that Breton, Raymond. 1988. "From Ethnic to Civic Lanh: History and Roots ofconflict, editedby Nationalism." Ethnic and Racial Studies 11: Jonathan Spencer, 19-44. London: "300 Buddhist temples had been 85-102. Routledge. excavated by the archaeological depart- -. 1992. "Collective Dimensions of the Ponnambalam, Satchi. 1983. Sri Lanka: The ment in the north and in the east." These Cultural Transformation of Ethnic National Question and the Tamil Liberation areas are dominatedby the Tamil minor- Communities and the Larger Society." In Struggle. London: Zed Books. ity. The program of the sedamation of Migration and the Transformatwn ofcultures, Pye, Lucian W., and Sidney Verba, eds. 1%5. temples was also announced on radio edited by Jean Bumet. Political Culture and Political Development. Cohen, Abner. 1974. Two Dimensional Man. Princeton: F'rinceton University Press. and television. Such statements are com- London: Routledge dr Kegan Paul. Ram, Mohan. 1989. Sri Lanka: The Fractured pletely consistent with Sinhalese claims Cohen, Anthony P. 1975. The Management of State. Delhi: Penguin Books. to territorial hegemony that are sup- Myths: The Politics of Legitimation in a Roberts, Wchael ed. 1979. Collectiw Identities, ported by a reading of the ancient chroni- Newfoundland Community. Manchester: Nationalisms and Protests in Modern Sri cles. They are also consistent with Manchester University Press. Lanka. Colombo: Margo Institute. schemes of Sinhalese cobnization and Daniel, Valentine E. 1990. "Afterword: Scared Shlomo, Deshen. 1974. "Political Ethniaty and resettlement and with the practice of Places, Violent Spaces." In SriLanka: History Cultural Ethnicity in Israel During the and Roots of Conflict, edited- by Jonathan 1%0s." In Urban Ethnicity, editedby Abner building replicas of ancient monuments, Spencer, 227-46.London: Routledge. Cohen, 281-310.London: Tavistodc such as the Ruwaveliseya of De Silva C.R. 1982."TheSinhalese-Tamil Rift in Spencer, Jonathan. 1990 "Introduction." In Sri Dutugamunu, around the island Sri Lanka." In The States of : The Lanka:Historyand Rootsofconflict, editedby (Kapferer 1988,43). Problems of National Integration, edited by Jonathan Spencer, 1-8.London: Routledge. Similarly, academics have been no A.J. Wilson and D. Dalton, 155-74.New Tambiah, SJ. 1986. Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide exception to the rule. A scholar from Sri Delhi: Vikas. and the Dismantling of Democracy. Chicago: De Silva, K.M. 1986.Managing Ethnic Tensions University of Chicago Press. Lanka claimed that Sri Lanka or in Multi-Ethnic Societies: Sri Lanka 1880- Tennekoon, Serena. 1990. "Newspaper Sinhaladip(Island of the where the 1985. New York: University Press of Nationalism: Sinhala Identity as Political lion is a Sinhalese cultural symbol) is the America. Discourse." 1nSriLanka:HistoryandRootsof land of the Sinhalese (People of the Lion) De Silva, KM., Pensi Duke, Ellen Goldberg and Conflict, edited by Jonathan Spencer, 205- when she wrote: Nathan Katz, eds. 1988. Ethnic Conflict in 26. London: Routledge. Buddhist Societies: Sri Lanka, Thailand and Tudor, Henry. 1972.PoliticalMyth. London: Pall Sri Lanka was the land of the Sinhalese Burma. Boulder: Westview Press. Mall. and ... nonSinhalese who resided De Vos, George, and Lola Romannuci-Ross, Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam. 1982."Sri Lanka andits there were allowed to do so by grace eds. 1975. Ethnic Identity: Cultural Future: Sinhalese and Tamils." In The States and favour of the Sinhalese "master Continuitiesandchange. Palo Alto: Mayfield of South Asia: The Problems of National race" who had prior rights of posses- Publishing. Integration, edited by A.J. Winand D. sion and were the exclusive sons of the Edelman, Murray. 1971. Politics as Symbolic Dalton, 295-312.New Delhi: Vikas. soil (Tennekoon 1990,216). Action: Mass Arousal and Quiescence. -. 1988. The Breakup of Sri Lunka: The Chicago: Markham Publishing. Sinhalese Tamil Conflict. London: C. Hurst. Gusfield, Joseph, and JerzyMichalowicz. 1984. Wuthnow, Robert. 1987. Meaning and Moral Conclusion "Secular Symbolism: Studies in Ritual, Order: Explorations in Cultural Analysis. Ceremony and the Symbolic Order in Berkeley: University of California. In Sri Lanka, both Sinhalese and Tamils Modem Life." Annual Review of Sociology Wuthnow, Robert, and Marsha Witten. 1988. are engaged in a modem battle fought 10: 417-35. "New Directions in the Exploration of with traditional slogans and/or weap- Hellman-Rajanayagam, Dagmar. 1990. "The Culture." Annual Review of Sociology 14: 49- ons. Ethnicity and nationalism in this Politics of the Tamil Past." In Sri Lanka: 67. History and Roots of Conflict, edited by Young, Crawford. 1976. The Politics of Cultural context are thus seen to be fundamen- Jonathan Spencer, 107-24.. London: Pluralism. Madison: The University of tally, political phenomena as the sym- Routledge. Wisconsin Press.

Wge,Vol. 13, No. 3 (June 1993)