CAUGHT BETWEEN THE ‘BLEEDING HOMELAND’ AND THE ‘SAFE HAVEN’: NEGOTIATING LOYALTIES IN TIMES OF CONFLICT A Case Study of the Second‐generation Sri Lankan Tamil Diasporic Community in Toronto Kalyani Thurairajah Department of Sociology McGill University, Montreal August 2013 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of PhD in Sociology Copyright © Kalyani Thurairajah 2013 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................... 5 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Résumé ....................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 The Study ........................................................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 1: Diasporic Communities and Conflicting Allegiances..................................................... 20 Diasporas and Transnationalism ............................................................................................................. 20 Diasporas and the Homeland .................................................................................................................... 24 Integrating into the Country of Settlement .......................................................................................... 33 Hybrid Identities and Dual Loyalties ...................................................................................................... 37 Ethnic Lobbying and Political Engagement ......................................................................................... 43 Conflicting Allegiances in the United States ........................................................................................ 47 Conflicting Allegiances in Canada ............................................................................................................ 52 Sri Lankan Tamil Diasporic Community: Negotiating Dual Identities and Conflicting Allegiances ........................................................................................................................................................ 58 Chapter 2: Historical Background and Methodology .......................................................................... 61 Historical Background .................................................................................................................................. 61 Tamils in Sri Lanka: The Homelanders ............................................................................................. 69 Exodus of the Sri Lankan Tamil Population ................................................................................... 72 Sri Lankan Diasporic Community: Suspect Minorities ............................................................. 77 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................................... 81 Participants .................................................................................................................................................. 82 Interviews ..................................................................................................................................................... 85 Interviews in the Diasporic Community .......................................................................................... 86 Interviews with Homelanders .............................................................................................................. 90 Analysis .......................................................................................................................................................... 94 Self as Researcher ...................................................................................................................................... 95 Chapter 3: The Tamil Ethnic Identity and the Ties that Bind the Diaspora to the Homeland ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 98 Understanding Ethnic Identity ................................................................................................................. 99 Tamil Social Networks ............................................................................................................................... 107 Connecting to the Homeland .................................................................................................................. 112 2 Protesting ‘Genocide’ as a Narrative of Injustice ............................................................................ 116 Protesting a Shared Identity ................................................................................................................... 122 The Homeland of the First‐generation ............................................................................................... 125 Protecting Ethnic Identity: An Episodic Occurrence ................................................................... 129 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................... 131 Chapter 4: “Who Are We Without The War?” The Homeland and its Relationship with the Diasporic Community ..................................................................................................................................... 135 The Tamil Ethnic Identity ........................................................................................................................ 137 Focus on the Past: Regret over the Loss of an Identity ............................................................... 141 Focus on the Present: Survival over Identity ................................................................................... 144 Focus on the Future: Technology, Development and the West ............................................... 146 Multiple Imagined Homelands ............................................................................................................... 148 The Perspective of Connection .............................................................................................................. 148 The Perspective of Disconnect ............................................................................................................... 155 The Perspective of Suspicion .................................................................................................................. 158 Diasporic Tamils as Suspect Minorities in the Homeland .......................................................... 166 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................... 169 Chapter 5: “I Bleed Red and White.” The Diasporic Community’s Connection to the Country of Settlement ...................................................................................................................................................... 173 The Canadian Identity: What does it mean? .................................................................................... 174 Canada as a Safe Haven ............................................................................................................................. 178 Canada and Multiculturalism ................................................................................................................. 181 Being Tamil Canadian/Canadian Tamil ............................................................................................. 187 Practicing the ‘Canadian’ Identity ......................................................................................................... 192 Engaging with Canada ............................................................................................................................... 200 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................... 208 Chapter 6: Canadians Under Suspicion: Diasporic Community as a Suspect Minority Group .................................................................................................................................................................................. 212 Tigers: Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? .......................................................................................... 213 Perceptions of the Protests ..................................................................................................................... 217 Filling the Void of the Tigers ................................................................................................................... 225 Tigers, Terrorists and the Tamil Identity .......................................................................................... 229 Multiculturalism