201 Ambivalent Attachments: Shifting Notions of Home among Displaced Sri Lankan Tamils Doctoral thesis by Diotima Chattoraj Institute of Development Research and Development Policy Ruhr University Bochum Germany Thesis supervised by Prof. Dr. Eva Gerharz Prof. Dr. Dieter Haller 2016 Declaration I do hereby solemnly declare that this submission is my own original work, undertaken independently and without any illegitimate assistance. To the furthest extent of my knowledge and conviction, it contains no material previously published by any other person in its current or similar form, neither has it been accepted as or part of a dissertation for the award of any other degree or qualification within the university or any other institution of higher learning. Where reference is made to previous academic work, due acknowledgement of the respective authors is made both in the text and in bibliography of this dissertation. Furthermore, I endeavored to maintain my study as adherent as possible to the “Guidelines for Good Scientific Practice” (Leitlinien guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis) cited under §9 of the Promotionsordnung des Promotionsstudiengangs “International Development Studies”, to the best of my ability. Errors and omissions in this document remain my personal responsibility. Diotima Chattoraj Bochum, Germany 2016 Page ii Contents Acknowledgment................................................................................................................................v Chapter 1: Introduction.....................................................................................................................1 1.1 The topic....................................................................................................................................1 1.2 Displacement in and across borders: the academic response.....................................................4 Displacement in the Sri Lankan context.....................................................................................5 The concept of 'Home'.................................................................................................................9 Tamils' conceptualization of Home...........................................................................................11 Belonging and its different forms..............................................................................................12 1.3 Filling up the gap: aim and research questions........................................................................13 1.4 Structure of the thesis..............................................................................................................16 Chapter 2: Setting up the context: An overview of internal and international displacement...19 2.1 Historical development: civil war and migration in the island................................................20 Civil war in Sri Lanka...............................................................................................................24 2.2 Sri Lankan Tamils and migration: an overview.......................................................................36 Migration in the island: causes..................................................................................................36 Migration to Tamil Nadu: Sri Lankan refugees in India...........................................................38 Migrating to Australia...............................................................................................................42 2.3 Post-war scenario: a summary.................................................................................................44 The case of Northern Sri Lanka................................................................................................44 Impact of the war......................................................................................................................47 Page i Developmental works: role of governmental and non-governmental agencies........................50 Reconstruction in the housing sector........................................................................................51 The Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu............................................................................................51 Housing and camp-life in a nutshell..........................................................................................52 Assistance from the Tamil Nadu Government..........................................................................53 2.4 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................53 Chapter 3: Methodological approach.............................................................................................57 3.1 Access to the field....................................................................................................................57 3.2 Towards multi-sited approach..................................................................................................62 3.3 Documentation of research and methods.................................................................................65 Focus group discussions, in-depth, informal and semi-structured interviews, and participant observations...............................................................................................................................67 Ethical considerations: my position in the field........................................................................70 3.4 Analyzing collected materials: Grounded Theory approach....................................................73 3.5 Concluding remarks.................................................................................................................74 Chapter 4: Theoretical overview and analytical framework........................................................77 4.1 The meaning of home: conceptualizing home.........................................................................77 Previous research on the concept of home among displaced persons worldwide.....................81 The importance of Ur in the Sri Lankan Tamil context............................................................84 Home and 'Ur' : their relationship.............................................................................................86 Building up the interest pursued in this thesis in relation to Ur................................................87 4.2 Belonging and its different forms............................................................................................89 Commonality.............................................................................................................................91 Page ii Mutuality...................................................................................................................................93 Attachment................................................................................................................................93 4.3 Relating the two concepts: home and belonging (attachment)..............................................102 Chapter 5: Shifting notions of Ur/Home......................................................................................105 5.1 Shifting meanings of Ur: different tales to tell......................................................................106 Time, socio-economic needs and aspirations to the good life.................................................106 Father versus son: conceptualizing Ur from two different age groups...................................112 From Mannar to Chennai: shifting meaning of Ur..................................................................121 Ur as a source of income: regaining lost status.......................................................................127 The idea of home changed with time: Shaliny's story.............................................................135 Ur as a prison: Padmini's accounts..........................................................................................139 Ur as a strange place...............................................................................................................145 5.2 Concluding remarks...............................................................................................................147 Chapter 6: Attachment...................................................................................................................151 6.1 Attachment to Ur : (actual) return to get related with past memories and people.................154 6.2 Attachment to Ur: (actual) return to get connected with broken memories...........................165 6.3 Attachment to Ur : nostalgia and ambivalence......................................................................173 6.4 From attachment to detachment.............................................................................................175 6.5 Detachment/ non-attachment.................................................................................................188 Attachment and its contrasting images...................................................................................194 6.6 Concluding remarks...............................................................................................................196 Chapter 7: Conclusion: an outlook...............................................................................................197 7.1 My findings in a nutshell.......................................................................................................197