WOMEN COMBATANTS AND GENDER IDENTITY IN CONTEMPORARY CONFLICTS THE CASE OF THE LTTE Tamara Herath London School of Economics and Political Science A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON FOR THE PHD DEGREE UMI Number: U615261 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 U615261 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. 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 ? 6^ 2, i&SW8^ ABSTRACT Three decades of ethno-nationalist war in Sir Lanka has contributed to a major social change for Tamil women in Jaffna. An important component of this change has been the recruitment of women in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). This thesis explores the role of the women combatants from a gender perspective to identify how gender is constructed for women within the revolutionary movement, and the impact that construction has on civic society. The research is based on the narrative life histories of seven combatant women, one ex-combatant woman and seven civic women. In undertaking this research, the methodology had to take into account the researcher’s positionality through reflexivity, and the multiple identities that link and separate the researcher and participants. Through these life histories, the thesis investigates the link between displacement to LTTE controlled areas and women’s recruitment. It identifies the LTTE as providing an ‘alternative’ familial kinship founded upon friendship, which transcends caste and religion. It further enquires into the role of women suicide bombers, revealing a self-image of unselfish givers of a ‘gift’ to those they care for, including the Tamil nation. The main argument of the thesis is that combatant women’s paradoxical equality may differ from Western feminist notions of emancipation but represents a profound change within Jaffna’s patriarchal society. The engagement in armed conflict has transformed combatant women into female slayers of injustice and protectors of the Tamil nation, with a (re)constructed gender identity and empowerment (Ah-lu-mai). The combatant women and the war are a powerful force for change, and combatant women’s alternative roles radically alter the perceptions of women in civic society. The Gender (re)construction and form of equality that both combatant and civic women achieve accelerates a social change towards a new gender identity, ‘new’ women (Puthumai Pen). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is the result of the support of many, without whom I could never have completed the research and the writing. I would like to thank the women combatants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Tamil civic women of Jaffna who were willing participants of this research. I am grateful to them for giving their time freely and feel highly privileged for being allowed access into their lives. I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Mary Kaldor of Global Governance, and Dr Clare Hemmings of the Gender Institute, for helping me to formulate my arguments and taking me through the maze of writing a PhD dissertation. I would also like to thank Prof. Diane Perrons, Drs. Ross Gill and Karen Thorsby for their support over the years, both before and after field research. I am particularly grateful to Prof. Ann Phillips for granting me an opportunity to study at the Gender Institute where my mind was opened to a wider picture. She also gave me a letter of introduction to meet with the LTTE in the middle of the jungles of Vanni District, making me feel invincible (and I was!). I wish to extend a special thanks to the Gender Institute Manager Hazel Johnstone for her efficient assistance over the years. I would also like to thank all my feminist friends at the Gender Institute who have helped me to understand various intricacies in gender issues. I am grateful to my funding authority BTP and Centrex for awarding me a Fellowship that greatly facilitated my research and personal development. My gratitude extends to the family of S (in Jaffna), who took me in as their own, and taught me to appreciate the people and the culture, and to focus on the positive and the good in all situations. I would also like to thank A and D (in Colombo) for taking very good care of me during my field research period in Sri Lanka. I am extremely grateful to C (in London) who became invaluable for developing my understanding of Tamil language, its culture, and specifically on the topic of Tamil women of Jaffna. I would also like to extend a special thanks to JH who believed in my ability and gave me all the assistance I needed. I wish to thank my family for their understanding and patience, especially my father HMG for his unwavering encouragement. I wish to include a very special note of gratitude to Stephen for his support in reading every single word I have written in this thesis and offering suggestions and corrections throughout. Finally, I wish to acknowledge the death of CH, a civic woman participant, whose untimely death is a tragic loss. With the ongoing war, and lack of many basic items such as food and medicine, I fear there will be more deaths of those I have now come to know. Our differing ethnic identities were not held as barriers by the women combatants or by the civic women participants, raising hopes for a better future. ACRONYMS Please see the appendices for a list of acronyms used in the text. - 5 - NOTES ON THE LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS USED IN THE THESIS Note on Citations: I have used the commonly accepted English language spellings for Tamil words such asThambi (younger brother) or the name Prabhakaran for ease of accessibility. Note on Transliteration: The usage of Tamil language words in the text are based on phonetics as reflected in the writings of Tamil speaking authors. Note on research informants: Most participants were mono-linguistic (Tamil language) with a few who were bi-lingual (Tamil and English language). CONTENTS PREFACE.......................................................................................................................................10 CHAPTER l THE LIONS AND THE TIGERS A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE SRI LANKAN CONFLICT AND THE ROLE OF WOMEN.............................................. 16 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................16 The Evolution of the Co n fl ic t .................................................................................................................18 Background....................................................................................................................................................... 18 Ethnicity, Language and Nationalism ............................................................................................................19 Educational standardisation...........................................................................................................................22 Causes of Discontent........................................................................................................................................24 Present Political Situation: “nopeace no war”.......................................................................................... 27 An Overview: The Liberation Tigers o f Tamil Eelam (LTTE)....................................................................29 Impact of Violence........................................................................................................................................... 34 W omen in Jaffna ’s Tamil society .............................................................................................................35 Background.......................................................................................................................................................35 Colonial and post-colonial eras..................................................................................................................... 36 An overview o f modem Tamil women in Jaffna............................................................................................42 The Women and the LTTE............................................................................................................................... 44 Sum m ary ............................................................................................................................................................ 45 CHAPTER 2 ENTERING A TIGER’S LAIR: METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN GATHERING DATA................................................................................................................... 48 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 48 Reflex iv ity .......................................................................................................................................................50 Role of the Researcher in representing the Other through interviews......................................................