Tamils' Quest for Well-Being

Tamils’ Quest for Well-Being: Moving as a Success or Failure?

Anne Sigfrid Grønseth

ABSTRACT: During a period of about 15 years, Tamil refugees have resided in the small fishing villages along the arctic coast of northern Norway. Employing an ethnographic approach that emphasizes agency and experience in everyday life, this study describes how Tamils face a lack of crucial social and religious relationships and arenas that provide recognition and meaning to their daily lives. Not being able to give voice to their social experiences, the Tamils suffer from bodily aches and pains. As part of the Tamils’ search for recognition, community and quest for well-being, they have relo- cated to places that provide a more complete Tamil community. To assess whether the Tamils’ choice of leaving the fishing villages is a success or failure is a complex matter. Exploring the intricacies of this decision, this article discusses the links between the ‘narrative of suffering’ and the Tamils’ decision to move.

KEYWORDS: embodiment, medical anthropology, Tamil refugees

Introduction: Suffering as Experiences pain and illness, we study identity and soci- of Everyday Life ety. Suffering and pain are seen as part of how the body perceives and contains every- This article is based on a study of Tamil ref- day social processes, rather than the dramatic ugees who have resettled in Norway (Grøn- and traumatic experiences that have been seth 2006c). The investigation focused on highlighted in the literature on social suffer- Tamils living in a small fishing village along ing, violence and torture (Scarry 1985; Jen- the northern coast of Norway and considers kins 1994; Kleinman et al. 1997). More subtly, their experiences of pain and illness. During embodiment also refers to daily practices and the period of fieldwork and the following skills that are not activated at a level of dis- year, most of these Tamils moved to Oslo, course. Throughout childhood, socialization the capitol. Whereas their relocation to Oslo patterns for everyday practices are learnt and was not a focus of the investigation here, I embodied through, for instance, bodily imi- draw on relevant issues that elucidate how tation and experiences. As Bourdieu (1989) suffering and well-being relate to the ques- points out, this kind of learning is made pos- tion of staying or leaving. sible by the existence of structural consis- Underlying this article is an assumption tency in patterns of knowledge that are not that pain and suffering involve both experi- only mental (as Le`vi-Strauss’ [1966] struc- ence and knowledge. Being in and having tures) but also spatially embodied. pain are part of one’s body, self and per- Furthermore, when studying pain and ill- sonhood. Considering that body, person and ness, we also address questions about the self are constituted in a social process, pain creation and experience of well-being (see is therefore also social. Thus, when we study also Das 1990). The combined study of suffer-

Anthropology in Action, 14, 1 & 2 (2007): 28–40 © Berghahn Books and the Association for Anthropology in Action doi:10.3167/aia.2007.14010204 Tamils’ Quest for Well-Being AiA

ing and well-being cannot be perceived as the civil war in Sri Lanka and re-established processes taking place within an individual themselves in Arctic Harbor (a pseudonym), vacuum. Who is suffering and how they suf- a fishing village along the arctic coast of Nor- fer are part of an intricate flow of power and way. The Tamil refugees came from the resistance in social relations. As Leslie Butt northern area of Jaffna, the eastern parts of (2002) points out, using the ‘suffering Batticola and Trincomalee, as well as the stranger’ as iconic figures can easily obscure Mid-Highlands surrounding Candy. Bring- the real absence of the voices of the poor ing together Tamils from various geographi- and marginalized, and their suffering on the cal areas, castes, kin-groups and political world stage. Rather than listening to their involvement added tensions to social rela- voices, their stories are used to make claims tions that were already fragmented and vul- about social justice and human rights, which nerable as a result of living in exile and are also rooted in cultural values and woven diaspora (see also Fuglerud 1999, Grønseth into global capital. Presenting the suffering 2006c). After waiting for often months and stranger to awaken an immediate and emo- sometimes years in reception centres for asy- tional involvement also runs the risk of si- lum-seekers, many of the Tamils were multaneously constructing a distance to the granted residence on humanitarian grounds pain through a focus on disaster and horrors. and moved to the northern coast of Norway, Furthermore, when the experience of suffer- where they were offered jobs in the fishing ing is used to explain structural conditions, industry. Arctic Harbor was one of several there is an increased peril that the conditions coastal fishing communities with a substan- and suffering are de-contextualized and, by tial settlement of Tamils—about 200 Tamils consequence, also reduced. By not high- with a total of approximately 2500 inhabit- lighting the dreadful tragedies of the Tamils’ ants in the period of 1999–2000. The numbers pain and instead exploring their suffering as vary with shifts in the local population and experiences contextualized in everyday life, fluctuations in the labor demand within the I reveal a range of meaning interwoven with fishing industry. Tamils’ aches and pains (see also Das 1995b). The Tamil population in Arctic Harbor Thus, this article does not explicitly contrib- was offered safety, well-paid jobs and good ute to social criticism, but seeks to bring forth housing. They were all employed as ‘cutters’ the Tamils’ stories in a way that can create in the fishing industry, a job that was usually a sense of solidarity and common humanity. viewed as a low-status job for local women. I will introduce a brief context of fieldwork The Tamils established a well-functioning lo- followed by a case study. Then I present three cal Tamil Association that arranged a variety sections, interpretations of Tamils’ suffering of activities, including sports, religious cere- and their quest for well-being. By way of monies, and a Saturday Tamil School that conclusion I return to the question of how offers culture, language and other social to understand Tamils’ choice of moving. gatherings for the children. Despite many successful aspects of their resettlement, the Tamils frequently visited the local health centre for consultations about various diffuse Context of Fieldwork: Tamil Refugees aches and pains, which are the scope of in Arctic Harbor this study. Exploring Tamils’ suffering exposes how This case is based on one year of fieldwork1 their pains express embodied social experi- among Tamils who have sought refuge from ences. However, the study does not reject the

29 AiA Anne Sigfrid Grønseth

idea that many Tamils’ illness and pains may roads are closed and covered by snow and be symptoms of post-traumatic stress syn- ice. There are also times when even the small drome (PTSD) related to war, ensuing losses2 aircrafts specially built for the tough climate or the Tamils’ strenuous and monotonous and short airstrips are grounded. In such pe- work at the fish plants.3 Nevertheless, the riods, people in Arctic Harbor are left rather Tamils’ experience of resettlement in Arctic isolated; this means that in emergency situa- Harbor challenged and confronted their fa- tions there is no transportation to hospital miliar and accepted social relations and iden- services. tity, which the body and self living in a new The northernmost county in Norway has and unknown social world and physical a sparse population that lives mostly in small surroundings perceived and expressed fishing villages along the coast or on the in- (Grønseth 2001, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c). land plains, a region mainly populated by From national and political perspectives, the indigenous Sami, traditional reindeer the fishing communities in Finnmark the herdsmen. In spite of a general underpopula- northernmost province of Norway are re- tion and the rough climatic conditions, the garded as isolated, marginal, and dependent fishing industry is crucial for the inclusion on the whims of nature and the fishing indus- of these marginal places into the modern in- try. Nevertheless, the settlements are consid- frastructure and social welfare system of ered to be of great importance to the national Norway. economy and social structure (Brox 1987), Although the Tamil population is well in- a fact that provides arguments for national tegrated into the local (and national) econ- subsidies to the fishing industry, the estab- omy, they are socially and culturally lishment of a modern infrastructure, and a segregated. To explore the complex nexus minimum of social welfare. between their health and social life, I employ Arctic Harbor sits along a small fjord near perspectives of embodiment to focus on is- the Barents Ocean and the open sea near the sues of practical life and somatization. In re- North Pole. The buildings and houses sur- sponse to questions of change and agency, I round the interior of the fjord and are mainly suggest turning the analysis towards phe- stretched along one main road and several nomenological concepts of “self as orienting side streets. The village extends approxi- capacity” (Jackson 1989; Csordas 1990, 1994) mately three kilometers. The great flat wind- and ‘being-in-the-world’ (Merleau-Ponty swept mountains rise along the shore behind 1962). In addition, I adopt a semiotic ap- the settlements leading to the Finnmarksvidda proach (Peirce 1932; Colapietro 1989) that plateau.4 There are no trees in sight, only a allows an understanding of signs as ‘expres- few bushes firmly secured between cracks sions of the moment’. The emphasis here is providing shelter from the storms that sweep on how at an existential level individuals the area. On a lovely summer day it is still perceive, position and integrate (incorpo- twenty degrees below Celsius and the air rate) themselves in everyday life experiences may be thick with swarms of mosquitoes. of their wider social and cultural environ- The sun shines both day and night, never ment. The following study illustrates how dipping below the horizon from May until many Tamils experience a loss of crucial so- July. Then between November and February, cial and religious relations and a deep sense the sun gradually descends and disappears of “aloneness” (see also Daniel 1989), insecu- altogether. During the winter blizzards, the rity and various defuse illnesses.

30 Tamils’ Quest for Well-Being AiA

Case: Geetha: “I am all alone, my sleep or did not eat. The public health nurse heart is aching”5 told Geetha that her baby was doing fine, that she did not need to worry. They tried to assure her that the baby needed nothing Aranthan and Geetha had already married more than her breast milk for the first few when Aranthan fled Sri Lanka.6 Not long months. To Geetha’s dismay, the nurses did after Geetha’s re-union with her husband in not give her concrete instructions, rather, Arctic Harbor, Geetha was happy to learn they said that she should “trust herself and that she was pregnant. During the preg- find her own way.” Regarding childcare, nancy, Geetha felt deeply insecure about her Geetha was told to “find out for herself what situation and longed for her mother and fam- was best for her and her child.” Geetha felt ily. Also, she missed the temples in Sri Lanka. even more confused. How could she know In Arctic Harbor she had to manage with what was best? She was not used to this way only her modest household shrine. But, as of thinking. She was used to doctors who Geetha expressed with great sorrow, the pic- guided and informed their patients about tures of the Gods that she had brought with what to do. She expected specific advice and her did not have the same force and ability prescriptions, for example, a specific diet, to comfort her: ‘I pray and offer ritual foods ointments, herbs, a particular massage or to the gods at my home-altar, but I long to other medical remedies. She was accustomed visit the temples. It is not the same. There to a Tamil world in which one was not en- are so many things missing. There comes no couraged to make one’s own decisions and peace to my heart’. find individual solutions. Instead, Geetha During her pregnancy Geetha was uncom- was used to being coached by her family fortable about going to work and worried and by social customs that regulated one’s about the effects on the baby. There was so behaviour. After staying at home with her much that she did not know; and she did baby for one year, Geetha went back to work not find anyone to consult. She visited the at the fish plant. She felt very uncomfortable. local health care centre and explained her In Arctic Harbor, she struggled with the so- various symptoms, such as sleeplessness, cial stigma related to having a low-social sta- hair loss, headaches, dizziness and fatigue. tus job and being a dark-skinned Tamil. She Geetha told me that the doctors had behaved had concluded that local Norwegians did not impatiently and showed no interest in her consider Tamils worthy of jobs other than situation. They measured her blood pressure the low-social-status job of fish ‘cutter’. and took blood tests to rule out an inflamma- Geetha described how she stood in the cold tion. Geetha repeated her visits hoping that noisy room at the fish plant all day long, not the doctor would see her despair and loneli- able to talk to anyone except during the few ness. Nevertheless, the doctors only an- minutes of regulated breaks. Her thoughts swered her complaints with reference to her kept wandering back to her home and her blood and body and could not determine a family. Furthermore, her back and shoulders cause for her symptoms. ached from the monotonous work. One eve- The first year Geetha stayed at home with ning she came down the stairs after her two their little son about whom she was con- children had fallen asleep; she seemed to be stantly worried. She visited the health care in despair.7 Geetha stood in the doorway and centre when her baby had a rash, did not pointed to her growing stomach, to her hair-

31 AiA Anne Sigfrid Grønseth

less spots and said: ‘Look at me, what is left? Tamils’ Pain: A Disease or a Struggle I stand still all day, I gain weight, my back for Well-Being aches, I lose my hair, I have no one to talk to, I am all alone, it is only my small family. As illustrated in Geetha’s case, to explore I never find rest. There is no peace in my Tamil suffering and sense of ‘aloneness’, I heart. It only aches’. first discuss pain as part of a medical and Geetha decided for herself that her hair social context. Each epoch can be associated loss must be caused by the cold climate in with a distinctive illness that defines or influ- Arctic Harbor. She knew that many Tamil ences it. In the Middle Ages, the bubonic women had lost their hair. When the women plague was a social catastrophe. In the mod- first arrived in Arctic Harbor, they had thick ern era, adults died from pneumonia, influ- hair, but after a year or two their hair was enza, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and only half as rich. She and the other Tamil dysentery. Today adults die from cancer, women believed that the climate was an ex- heart disease and stroke. The infectious dis- planation for many of their problems and eases of the postmodern era are replaced by woes. They had many different bodily pains, chronic and gradually debilitating illnesses, such as stomachaches and headaches, dizzi- such as arthritis, diabetes and multiple scle- ness, sleeplessness and light fevers, all of rosis (Morris 1998). Explaining such changes which they attributed to the cold climate. is complex and difficult. According to the Geetha and other women also blamed their historian McKeown, the causes of sickness in new unfamiliar diet for bringing aches to every era are determined by ‘the prevailing their souls and bodies. Talking among them- conditions of life’ (1988: 91). Gadamer takes selves about the food, cold weather, wind, a similar position when he states that illness snow and the darkness,8 they verbalized their is always ‘a social state of affairs’ (1996: 20). pains in a manner that simultaneously ad- Thus, illness involves not only the hospitals dressed and concealed their loneliness, inse- and doctors but also social practices and curity and longing. In this implicit manner, they found ways to discuss their feelings of meanings (see also Sontag 2002). aloneness and degradation—in relation to Biomedicine is no exception; studies of Norwegians and in relation to the insuffi- symbolic uses of the body reveal differences ciency of wider the Tamil community. For in cultural contexts. For instance, Haraway Geetha and other Tamils, expressing such describes the immune system as ‘an elaborate experiences openly was psychologically dif- icon for principle systems of symbolic and ficult. Socially, it made them vulnerable to material “difference” in late capitalism’ and the stigma of disgrace and even loss of re- a ‘mythic object in high-technology culture’ spect. (1992: 366). Martin’s studies of the body dem- Geetha was on sick leave for a long period. onstrate how people in the United States tend Her body ached and she felt terrible. She had to change perceptions and conceptualiza- no chance for rest, as her heart always beat tions of their bodies and immune systems in too fast. Geetha said she wanted to move to response to changing social and economic Oslo. She thought that her hair loss would structures (1992, 1994). According to Martin, cease and re-growth was possible. Geetha the earlier ‘Fordist body’9 related to princi- believed that if she moved to Oslo, she would ples of centralized control and factory-based feel less lonely. Maybe she could focus on production. Furthermore, Martin explores advancing her education, or at least she could how the ‘fordist body’ changed into a ‘flexi- get another job. ble body’ attuned to changing global produc-

32 Tamils’ Quest for Well-Being AiA

tion, consumption and market needs that experience that ‘Norwegian health workers demand flexible responses to fearful biologi- do not understand our problems’. One could cal threats and flexibility as a requirement ask if there is a contradiction: Tamils seek of employment and the ability to earn a wage medicine to restore well-being rather than to (Martin 1992). cure disease. As biomedicine focuses on how When considering Tamil encounters with to cure a disease, one could say that the Nor- Norwegian health care workers, it is helpful wegian physicians have unrealistic expecta- to bear in mind that Tamil patients describe tions of medicine’s influence on their Tamil their condition using symbols, meanings and patients. Thus, Tamils perceive and learn that details drawn from their culture. The healer the Norwegian medical professionals ideally or doctor’s queries will draw out salient char- should be able to cure any discomfort or acteristics that fit his or her conceptualization disease. of medical problems. From a cultural and The way that a society handles ‘mental comparative standpoint, one might say that illness’ or medical problems in general does sickness has little shape or content other than not fully account for the diversity of somato- that provided by culturally specific models psychic disorders such as depression. There (Fabrega 1997). Consequently, one could say are many disorders that exist ‘untreated’ (Fa- that pain provides a certain knowledge and brega 1997: 160). One variety of ‘untreated’ voice to culture as it transgresses culturally disorders is understood not as a medical constructed diagnoses (see Nussbaum 1986; problem but as a social, legal, moral or spiri- Das 1995a). Tamils in Arctic Harbor struggle tual problem. Behavioral disturbances or af- to express their pain with words; instead they flictions, such as divorce or resettlement, are resign themselves to a desperate reference to seen as relevant to other spheres of social and practice of the aching body. Considering decisions and resolutions. Thus, they are not Tamils’ pain as a postmodern illness, one incorporated in the idea of sickness and, could understand how Tamils express the much less, ‘mental illness’. Regarding Tamil experiences of everyday social life in Arctic refugees and the immense changes and chal- Harbor with their bodies. lenges of resettlement, one might find that The realities of anatomy, physiology, and some of the painful experiences that Tamils neurobiology also shape images of sickness bring to the health centre are related to social, in relation to neurological and anatomical legal, moral or spiritual problems. In the fa- configurations. Fabrega (1997) argues that 10 somato-psychic disorders share a general miliar Tamil ‘home-world’ , family, neigh- pathology that embraces different systems of bors, religious rituals, and other social the body and the person. Furthermore, the elements might have addressed such diffi- manifestations of the disorders are easily culties and discomforts within the commu- changeable and are culturally conditioned by nity. Given the lack of significant com- how they are expressed and formulated. In ponents of a Tamil home-world, such prob- this view, somato-psychic disorders could lems may be adapted to a modern and Nor- suggest a general impairment of well-being. wegian culture of medicalisation. Tamils Generally, one might say that in non-modern bring these concerns to the health centre and societies, medical problems are interpreted expect to receive a cure. One can then ask: as a departure from health, rather than as Do the Tamil refugee patients represent a the result of a specific disease that requires kind of ‘untreated’ disorder that health specific expertise (Fabrega 1997). Such a per- workers try to solve by (unknowingly) re- spective might illuminate Tamils’ persistent classifying and devaluing their symptoms?

33 AiA Anne Sigfrid Grønseth

Researchers find that among the vast vari- Suffering: A Gateway to Knowledge ety of medical conditions, chronic pain bene- and Agency fits from an approach that recognizes subjective experiences of suffering (McElroy Exploring Tamils’ pains in relation to suffer- and Townsend 2004: 72). Ordinary tests and ing, meaning and creativity provides insight treatment developed within objective science into processes of identity and belonging. The do not sufficiently capture such experiences. study suggests that some of the refugees’ Rather, the suffering persons who carry the illnesses and pains are related to a lack of pain tend to convey their experiences mirroring and recognition in their surround- through illness narratives (Kleinman 1988). ings. One could say that the Tamils exist in My previous (Grønseth 2006c) investigation a kind of ‘cultural hell’ when they are unable of Tamils’ pain cannot be categorised as a to live in accordance with habituated (Bour- study of chronic conditions, but nevertheless dieu 1989) expectations and practices. Sartre many of the aches have similar features of refers to the lack of adequate and sufficient chronic conditions. For instance, in the study resonance, echo or mirroring of one’s self in of Brian’s narrative about his painful TMJ ‘the other’ (people, gods, material objects and (temporomandibular joint), Good finds that physical environment in Arctic Harbor), as it is more helpful to analyse Brian’s pain us- hell is the eyes of the other (1957). Hell is ing interpretive and humanistic approaches thus described as the feeling and experience 11 than to use objective science (1996). of being a person and self that is not recog- Though Tamils’ pains are not generally di- nized and reflected by the others. In other agnosed as chronic, many of the pains and words, hell is not being connected to others. distresses that Tamils experience are simi- For the Tamil refugees in Arctic Harbor larly best captured through an interpretive the experience of pain, ‘losing one’s self’ or approach. Although Good analysed Brian’s ‘being in hell’, corresponds to the process of pain using the interpretation of narratives, losing their reflections because they long for this approach is not adequate for exploring vital elements (such as kin, caste, temples, Tamils’ illness, since Tamils live within a so- specific objects and foods) of a Tamil home- cial context that does not allow narratives world. In the case of Geetha and others, this about the self. In contrast to Brian who can pain expresses how Tamils’ experienced narrate his pain, the Tamils are left without their sense of belonging, identity, person and a space for expressing themselves and receiv- self, challenged and on the verge of falling ing recognition. apart. The case of Geetha accentuates this Considering that biomedical approaches lonely and inadequate sense of being, which are not adequate or sufficient for understand- is reflected in the social world. As a response, ing many of Tamils’ aches and pains, I have Geetha and other Tamils withdrew from so- pursued perspectives and terms that recon- cial life in Arctic Harbor. Metaphorically cile the dichotomy between psyche and speaking, Tamils in Arctic Harbor lived in a soma, mind and body. Further, I sought to border zone between two life-worlds. This capture how Tamils experience their pain zone is the space between the rupture of the and the health consultations, as well as how Tamil life-world—with its principles for reg- they create meaning and wholeness in their ulating social and religious relations, as well radical new life-world. The next section fur- as the sense of personhood and self—and the ther explores these issues as they relate to confrontation with the new local Norwegian aspects of identity and belonging. home-world. Living on the edge or the bor-

34 Tamils’ Quest for Well-Being AiA

der between two different life-worlds, Tam- and individualistic approach to being a per- ils experienced a confusion that imperiled son and self, created uncertainty and confu- their sense of personhood and body. In a sion for Geetha and other local Tamils. sense, Tamils also challenged the Norwegian Moreover, when challenged and struggling (local) life-world. As a response to the chal- with such demands, the Tamils were pushed lenges of being confronted with someone towards new creations, solutions and mean- different, Norwegians invited Tamils to as- ings. The following section expands on such similate into the community. The other side ingenuity, focusing on how humans create of assimilation is that whenever the native and perceive self and suffering. locals feel challenged (by a shortage of re- sources, for instance) they can hit back to mark the difference by way of stigma (Bau- Flexible Perceptions of Self and man 1995). Suffering From this position living on the edge or ‘on the borders’ between two home-worlds, the Tamils experience and express some of Merleau-Ponty argues that the body is an the uniqueness of being human (see Lacan active agent in perception and experience 1992). To my understanding, this uniqueness and intentionally communicates about its be- refers to the human need to actively extend ing in the world. Merleau-Ponty does not oneself and to be mirrored by the others; consider how these communications and ex- together these experiences provide a space pressions address what Lacan (1992) and for reflection and creation of meaning. When Nussbaum (1986) refer to as a certain un- forced to lead a life in exile on the border speakable or suffering knowledge about soci- between two home-worlds—one ruptured ety, values and social relations. I suggest that and splintered and the other only accessible this experience comes from the perspective in fragments—I propose that the Tamils dis- of being on the border, as mentioned pre- covered new values of community. viously. In this zone, distinct phenomena and When we consider that the knowledge and their identity appear both as they ideally and meaning of suffering is attained and embod- really are: spatio-temporal and open to con- ied by living in an everyday world on the nect with others or in other words, not closed edge and with borders, a complex Tamil and absolute. Merleau-Ponty discusses how agency appears. Through their pains and ill- we humans perceive the objects around us. nesses, the Tamils gain a new knowledge and His approach does not elaborate on how we make new meaning of their surroundings. perceive self and personhood, even though It was not only their intellect but also their his concept and exploration of ‘being-in-the- intentional body (Merleau-Ponty 1962), with world’ has implicit relevant implications. its passions and pains, which enabled them One implication is an emphasis on how the to create new social and religious practices body holds intentions rather than habituated and relations, as well as mend torn shreds impressions (see Bourdieu 1989). In the view of the same. This agency is not necessarily of Merleau-Ponty, the body, self and person seen as heroic actions in dramatic moments, become active and intentional through out- but the patient day-to-day work of living ward extension into the world. Hence, there with and suffering through the new knowl- is a focus on human creativity and agency. edge. The demands within the local Norwe- Such an approach supports an understand- gian home-world, such as at the health ing of Tamils’ illness not only as a socially centre, that accentuated a more autonomous produced ache written into their bodies, but

35 AiA Anne Sigfrid Grønseth

also as pain related to the effort and tension gians tended to not mirror and recognize the in reaching or extending one’s body, self and other or the Tamil refugee as part of human- person into a new and unknown environ- ity; for local Norwegians, humanity was con- ment, such as Arctic Harbor. In exploring stituted as being the first, the native or the this process, it becomes pivotal to also exam- one at home. Bearing this knowledge and ine how the pain is connected to perceptions pain with patience in their daily lives, the and experiences of self and personhood as Tamils intentionally extended their bodies, such. Here, I find Peirce’s semiotic ap- selves and persons by creating new social proach illuminating. arenas in search of room for reflection and When seeing not only the objects around meaning that could supply a minimum of us (Merleau-Ponty’s focus), but also our pleasure and well-being. When this struggle selves as flexible and temporal rather than did not bring satisfactory recognition, the absolute, we can see that self and person Tamils who had succeeded in raising family emerge as signs (see Daniel 1984; Colapietro and money chose to leave Arctic Harbor. The 1989) that are open-ended and thus prepared Tamils moved to places with larger Tamil to connect to others in various environments. communities that provided a clearer sense Not only do body, self and person serve as of a Tamil community and wholeness. A starting points for active perception and ex- question for further research is whether mov- perience, they are in themselves an adjust- ing reinforced a continuous flexibility and able part of an interactive process. This change in Tamil personhood in respect to appears clearly in Peirce’s (1932) under- adapting Norwegian values and practices or standing of the sign as a bundle constituted reinforced Tamil–Hindu components that of a triad: the First (the sign-vehicle), the strengthened a discontinuity. Second (the object) and the Third (the inter- pretant), which come together as part of in- terrelated processes in time. Hence, the When the Tamils Leave Arctic Harbor: process (being-in-the world) is a flexible and An Expression of Success or Failure? constant interaction that brings the triad together in a sign-cluster, or a self and person. This view gives meaning to how the Tamils The majority of Tamils who lived in Arctic express their sense of being ‘lost and alone’ Harbor and Finnmark County during my pe- and losing their grip on themselves riod of research have moved to Oslo and (Grønseth 2006c). In its new surroundings other parts of southern Norway. Oslo is the the triadic sign-bundle that commonly fits capitol of Norway and represents its largest together and makes the Tamil body, self and city. With more than 500,000 inhabitants, person is no longer congruent. Thus Tamils’ Oslo is the only city with metropolitan fea- sense of body, self and person threatens to tures of immigration and cultural (ethnic) fall apart and diminish. The bundle that each ghettos. Oslo’s Tamil population numbers one makes—the perceptive body, self and about 8000. The Tamil community offers a person—looses its form and unity. As the broad spectrum of organized activities that Tamils are confronted with the instability emphasize cultural continuity and, for some and uncertainty in their perception and con- at least, a political loyalty to Tamil Eelam. stitution of self, they experience pain, loss They have a Tamil–Hindu temple, various and aloneness. courses on Tamil–Hindu culture, such as On an interpretive level, Tamils’ pain and dancing, Hinduism and language, as well as illness tell a story about how local Norwe- sports and computer instruction.

36 Tamils’ Quest for Well-Being AiA

Whether or not Tamils’ movement from fering is not a natural phenomenon that one Arctic Harbor, and from Finnmark in gen- can measure and classify. Rather pains, like eral, to Oslo constitutes a success or failure other postmodern illnesses, are flexible social is an intricate question. To pursue the issue as states (see Martin 1994; Morris 1998). The a matter of failure highlights how the Tamils ambiguity of pain is attributable to the notion suffer from social conditions of which the that suffering is not fixed but is moved and local Norwegian population played a domi- changed by the narratives constructed along nant role within a system of relational power. with it. Whether we perceive the sufferer and It stresses how the Tamils lacked an inter- bearer of pain as an inexplicable stranger, active social space and recognition, and expe- martyr or a hero depends on whether the rienced stereotyping, (racial) stigma and sufferer falls into the shared moral com- ‘being the other’. Even though the Tamils in munity. Arctic Harbor were economically integrated, Defining the Tamils as refugees and as ‘the they remained socially segregated; as of to- other’ who live outside the Norwegian moral day nearly all of them have left. community, Norwegians are inclined (un- Another option is to see how Tamils’ consciously) not to acknowledge the agony choice to move away represents a success. I of the refugees. Instead, Norwegian policy have described the Tamils as suffering from makers and health care workers detach living on the border between differences in themselves from their pain by creating ‘mis- social principles and values that constitute meetings’ (Buber 1961) in which they can identity, person and self. Dealing with these treat Tamils’ and refugees’ suffering as if it challenges, the Tamils have used the period were an incomprehensible and culture- in Arctic Harbor as an interlude to repay specific behavior. Thus, one avoids ad- debt, raise money, regain a sense of personal dressing the social and human conditions safety, start a family, and succeed in moving that are linked to Tamils’ pains. So, in a subtle on to a ‘better place’ that includes greater way, the health care structure and the health features of a familiar Tamil-home-world. care workers’ continuous efforts in dealing This view emphasises how Tamils have been with Tamils’ pains keep the sufferers’ knowl- able to adjust creatively to demands in their edge about society within the body. Simi- new lives; by moving on they also succeeded larly, when the Tamils lack a sense of being in pursuing Tamil identity and community. treated with mutuality and recognition, they Rather than choosing between the two op- find no room for reflection and a voice to tions, I propose an understanding that ac- tell their stories. Experiencing being ‘lost and knowledges both possibilities. This choice alone’, Tamils move on and seek community corresponds to how I understand Tamils’ ill- and togetherness. Simultaneously, they are ness as ‘expressive signs’ that reflect self and identity as fluid and open multiple interpre- also forced into border zones between a tations. In a similar way, Tamils’ pains and Tamil-home-world and a Norwegian-home- choice to move are open for several interpre- world that generate new identities, meanings tations, which are insightful with respect to and practices. the complexities of community, identity, health, well-being and prosperity. One of the Anne Sigfrid Grønseth is a medical anthropolo- difficulties in assessing whether the Tamils’ gist and Associate Professor at Department of leaving Arctic Harbor was a success or failure Health and Social Science at University Col- also relates to the fluid quality of suffering. lege of Lillehammer. Her email is: anne.grons- Despite its links to biological processes, suf- [email protected].

37 AiA Anne Sigfrid Grønseth

Notes humanitarian grounds and had employment as a cutter in Arctic Harbor. His resi- 1. After conducting shorter (1–3 weeks) field dential and financial status established his studies in Finnmark County between 1996– right to be reunited with his wife in Norway. 1999, In September 1999 I was able to set 7. At the time of my extensive field research, out on a one-year anthropological fieldwork Geetha had two children (or ‘had given birth study among the Tamil refugees in one of to her second child’). the small fishing villages. I lived in a Tamil 8. One must remember that the sun does not household, carried out participant observa- appear above the horizon from November tion, and conducted semi-structured, open- through February. ended in-depth interviews with the Tamil 9. Martin (1992) discusses how images of the population and health staff. reproductive body and models of the body 2. Core symptoms of PTSD include persistent related in form and function to early-twenti- re-experiencing of the traumatic event, eth-century Fordist mass-production sys- numbness and avoidance of stimuli associ- tems. This is based on Henri Ford’s efficient ated with the trauma, and autonomic hyper- production of Ford cars, the method of pro- arousal (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric as- ducing large quantities of standardized sociation, 1994). Dissociative disorders, so- products assembled from standardized matization disorders and affective disorders components. are among other possible consequences of 10. By using the term ‘home-world’ I seek to exposure to traumatizing events (van der avoid and look beyond the often essentialis- Kolk et al. 1996). ing and objectifying aspects of the related 3. Typical work-related symptoms are muscu- term ‘culture’. By home-world, I mean to lar aches, tensions and inflammations in incorporate the social and cultural, creating arms, shoulder and back, sometimes also a bridge between the individual and collec- legs and feet. tive, and evoke an understanding that is 4. The inhabitants of Finnmarksvidda are closer to a ‘life-world’, as this is figured in mostly the indigenous Sami populations a nexus of historic, cultural, social and per- that traditionally make a living as reindeer sonal experiences and practices. As such, (caribou) herdsmen. Along the coast there home-world lies closely to Holland’s (2001) is a more mixed population consisting of concept of ‘figured-worlds’, but includes a Sami, who combine fishing and reindeer special focus on Tamils’ exile experience, keeping, and non-Sami Norwegian inhab- which requires distinctions between differ- itants. ently figured worlds related to movement in 5. I have translated the quotes of Tamil infor- place and time. Using the term home-world, mants from Norwegian. emphasizes an experience of fragmentation 6. Before his escape, Aranthan was imprisoned and tensions when differently constituted several times and charged with LTTE activi- worlds, one familiar and the other unfamil- ties, including bombing and teaching the iar, are brought together and challenge each politics of liberation, activities that he other. One could say that Tamils’ everyday claimed never to have done. Aranthan said life is lived in a constant movement back he understood that he had to leave the Tamil and forth (migration) between two differ- areas. He moved to Colombo, but he found ently constituted home-worlds, and some- that his only choice was to leave the country. times on the borders in between. After a long and complicated trip he made 11. Good’s study describes and analyses the it to Norway, where after several years of case of Brian who, from adolescence insecurity he was in a position to apply to through the age of twenty-eight, has experi- the Norwegian government for family re- enced terrible headaches that start in his union. He had been granted residence on jaws, dizziness, anxiety and depression.

38 Tamils’ Quest for Well-Being AiA

After detecting no abnormalities that were Fabrega, H. 1997. Evolution of Sickness and Healing, treatable by surgery, Brian underwent sev- Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. eral treatments including dentistry, physical Fuglerud, Ø. 1999. Life on the Outside. The Tamil therapy, medication and psychotherapy Diaspora and Long Distance Nationalism, Lon- without gaining lasting relief. Brian’s own don: Pluto Press. narrative goes back to when he, at the age Gadamer, H. 1996. The Enigma of Health: The Art of two years, was separated from his parents of Healing in a Scientific Age, Stanford, CA: Stan- and his mother was ill. ford University Press. Good, B. 1996. Medicine, Rationality and Experience. An Anthropological Perspective, Cambridge: References Cambridge University Press. Bauman, Z. 1995. Modernity and Ambivalence, Grønseth, A. 2001. ‘In Search of Community: A Cambridge: Polity Press. Quest for Well-Being among Tamil Refugees Bourdieu, P. 1989. Outline of a Theory of Practice, in Northern Norway’, Medical Anthropology Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Quarterly 15 (4): 493–514. Brox, O. 1987. ‘The Peripheri as “Buffer” in a ——— 2006a. ‘Experiences of Illness: Tamil refu- Mixed Economy [Periferien som en “buffer” i gees in Norway Seeking Medical Advice’, in H. en blandet økonomi]’, Sosiologi idag 3–4:35–45. Johannessen and L. Imre (eds) Multiple Medical Buber, M. 1961. Between Man and Man, London: Realities. Patients and Healers in Biomedical, Al- Fontana Library. ternative and Traditional Medicine, London: Ber- Butt, L. 2002. ‘The Suffering Stranger: Medical ghahn Press, 148–162. Anthropology and International Morality’, ——— 2006b. ‘Experiences of Tensions in Re-ori- Medical Anthropology 21: 1–24. enting Selves: Tamil Refugees in Northern Colapietro, V. 1989. Peirce’s Approach to the Self, Norway Seeking Medical Advice’, Anthropol- Albany, NY: State University of New York ogy and Medicine 13 (1): 77–98. Press. ——— 2006c. Lost Selves and Lonely Persons. Expe- Csordas, T. 1990. ‘Embodiment as a Paradigm for riences of Illness and Well-Being among Tamil Ref- Anthropology’, Ethos 18 (1): 5–47. ugees in Trondheim, Norway, Trondheim, ——— 1994 (ed). Embodiment and Experience: The Norway: Norwegian University of Science Existential Ground of Culture and Self, Cam- and Technology. bridge: Cambridge University Press. Haraway, D. 1992. ‘The Biopolitics of Postmodern Daniel, V. 1984. Fluid Signs. Being a Person the Bodies: Determinations of Self in Immune Sys- Tamil Way, Berkeley, CA: California Univer- tem Discourse’, in S. Lindenbaum and M. Lock sity Press. (eds) Knowledge, Power and Practice, Berkeley, ——— 1989. ‘The Semiotics of Suicide in Sri CA: University of California Press, 364–410. Lanka’, in B. Lee and G. Urban (eds) Semiotics, Holland, D., D. Skinner, W. Lachiotte Jr. and C. Self and Society, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, Identity and Aging in Cultural Worlds 67–100. Cain 2001. , Das, V. 1990. ‘What Do We Mean by Health?’ in Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. J. C. Caldwell (ed) What We Know about the Jackson, M. 1989. Paths Toward a Clearing. Radical Health Transition: The Cultural, Social and Behav- Empiricism and Ethnographic Inquiry, Blooming- ioural Determinants of Health, Vol. 1 Health ton, IN: Indiana University Press. Transitions Series No. 2, 27–46. Canberra: Jenkins, J. 1994. ‘Bodily Transactions of the Pas- Health Transition Centre, Australian Na- sions: El Calor among Salvadoran Women Ref- tional University. ugees’, in T. Csordas (ed) Embodiment and ——— 1995a. ‘Voice as Birth of Culture’, Ethnos Experience. The Existential Ground of Culture and 60 (3–4): 159–179. Self, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ——— 1995b. Critical Events: An Anthropological Kleinman, A. 1988. Illness Narratives: Suffering, Perspective on Contemporary, India, Delhi: Ox- Healing, and the Human Condition, New York: ford University Press. Basic Books.

39 AiA Anne Sigfrid Grønseth

Kleinman, A., V. Das and M. Lock (eds) 1997. Nussbaum, M. 1986. The Fragility of Goodness: Luck Social Suffering, Berkeley, CA: University of and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy, Lon- California Press. don: Cambridge University Press. Lacan, J. 1992. The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, New Peirce, C. 1932. Collected Papers, Cambridge, MA: York: Morton. Harvard University Press. Levi-Strauss, C. 1966. The Savage Mind, Chicago: Sartre, J-P. 1957. Existentialism and Human Emo- University of Chicago Press. tions, New York: Citadell Press. Martin, E. 1992. ‘The End of the Body?’ American Scarry, E. 1985. The Body in Pain: The Making and Ethnologist 19 (1): 121–140. Unmaking of the World, Oxford: Oxford Univer- Martin, E. 1994. Flexible Bodies: The Role of Immu- sity Press. nity in American Culture from the Days of Polio Sontag, S. 2002. Illness as Metaphor and Aids and to the Age of AIDS, Boston: Beacon Press. its Metaphors, London: Penguin Books. McElroy, A. and P. Townsend 2004. Medical An- Van der Kolk, B. A., D. Pelovitz, S. Roth, F. Man- thropology in Ecological Perspective, Boulder, del, A. McFarlane and J. L. Herman, 1996. ‘Dis- CO: Westview Press. sociation, Somatization and Affect McKeown, T. 1988. The Origins of Human Disease, Dyregulation: The Complexity of Adaptation Oxford: Basil Blackwell. of Trauma’, American Journal of Psychiatry Merleau-Ponty, M. 1962. Phenomenology of Percep- 153: 83–93. tion, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Morris, D. 1998. Illness and Culture in the Postmod- ern Age, Berkeley, CA: University of Califor- nia Press.